Targum Onkelos TB Avodah Zarah 11

Open any classic Hebrew Chumash and it will contain Rashi’s commentary and Onkelos Aramaic translation or Targum. Of all the ancient translations this one is the most favorite of all. I once went to a Yemenite synagogue in Jerusalem and during the Torah service the reader read one verse in the original Hebrew and then repeated it in Aramaic using Onkelos’ translation. There is a custom when studying the weekly Torah portion you read each verse thrice. The first and third time you read the original Hebrew verse and in between you read Onkelos’ translation. Today’s daf TB Avodah Zarah shares a story highlighting his great persuasive skills

“The Gemara mentions other Romans who converted to Judaism. It relates: Onkelos bar Kelonimos converted to Judaism. The Roman emperor sent a troop [gunda] of Roman soldiers after him to seize Onkelos and bring him to the emperor. Onkelos drew them toward him with verses that he cited and learned with them, and they converted. The emperor then sent another troop of Roman soldiers after him, and said to them: Do not say anything to him, so that he cannot convince you with his arguments. The troops followed this instruction, and took Onkelos with them.

“When they were walking, Onkelos said to the troop of soldiers: I will say a mere statement to you: A minor official [nifyora] holds a torch before a high official [apifyora], the high official holds a torch for a duke [dukasa], a duke for the governor, and the governor for the ruler [koma]. Does the ruler hold a torch before the common people? The soldiers said to Onkelos: No. Onkelos said to them: Yet the Holy One, Blessed be He, holds a torch before the Jewish people, as it is written: “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light” (Exodus 13:21). They all converted.

“The emperor then sent another troop of soldiers after him, to bring Onkelos, and said to them: Do not converse with him at all. The troops followed this instruction, and took Onkelos with them. While they grabbed him and were walking, Onkelos saw a mezuza that was placed on the doorway. He placed his hand upon it and said to the soldiers: What is this? They said to him: You tell us.

“Onkelos said to them: The standard practice throughout the world is that a king of flesh and blood sits inside his palace, and his servants stand guard, protecting him outside; but with regard to the Holy One, Blessed be He, His servants, the Jewish people, sit inside their homes and He guards over them outside. As it is stated: “The Lord shall guard your going out and your coming in, from now and forever” (Psalms 121:8). Upon hearing this, those soldiers also converted to Judaism. After that, the emperor sent no more soldiers after him.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Leonard Greenspoon wrote a wonderful book Jewish Bible Translations: Personalities, Passions, Politics, Progress. He analyzes all the translations from the Septuagint to modern translations like Adin Steinsaltz’s, Richard Friedman’s, and Robert Alters English translations. I highly recommend this interesting and informative book

Greenspoon writes “Linguistically, Targum Onkelos combines elements of Western (“that is, Jewish literacy”) Aramaic and Eastern (that is, Babylonian) Aramaic, giving rise to several theories on his origins. What I would call the intermediate position, that the Targum originated in Palestine and was later redacted in Babylon, now claims a majority of scholarly adherence. This position counts for both the predominance of distinctive Palestinian linguistic and theological expressions and the small amounts of characteristic Babylonian language and theology.

“Of the Targums to the Pentateuch, Onkelos is the most literal, by which I mean that contains the least number of interpretive additions. A careful study demonstrates that they translators work with the Hebrew text that was, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to MT…

“For the most these of Aramaic translators devised nonliteral sections to invite their intended audience with an accessible way to understand the Hebrew that was also consistent with the theological views being promoted by those responsible for the Targums. Thus, for example, they regularly replaced Hebrew place names with geographical designations more familiar to those in the Targumist’s own community… These translators also typically rendered figurative phrases according to sense rather than literal; more generally, they simplify difficult words, phrases, or ideas.

“Of special knowledge of the many efforts to guard against what translators saw as a potential serious misunderstanding of the nature of God. For this reason, they restyled anthropomorphism’s (applying human physical attributes to nonhumans) and anthropopatheisms (furnishing nonhumans with human emotions) related to God so as to avoid even the possibility of thinking that God really had a human type of body or human emotions. They also avoided the suggestion that other beings could be categorized, however mistakenly has ‘gods.’” (Pages 32-34)

For more information read his entire book.