torah translation

[cellio]

I chanted torah this morning and, as I did last time, I translated from the scroll instead of reading it out of a chumash. This time I explicitly asked my checker to also check me on translation, which seemed to work well. I was less nervous this time but still fumbled in places; biblical Hebrew has a lot of verb-subject orderings, so when translating into English you have to read ahead sometimes. I also stumbled over "ito" (with him) and "oto" (him, direct object), which are identical without the vowels. (You have to know enough grammar to just know.)

Here is approximately my translation of the fifth aliya of Vayeishev. As before, I'm translating this fresh as I type, and no two of my renditions are exactly the same.

Faithful translation:

Genesis 39:1-6

And Yosef was taken down [1] toward Egypt and Potiphar bought him [2] -- he was a courtier of Paro, chief of stewards -- and the Egyptian bought Yosef from the Ishmaelites who brought him down there. And God was with [3] Yosef and he was a successful man [4] in the house of his lord the Egyptian. And his lord saw that God was with him and all that he did God made successful in his hand. And Yosef found favor [5] in his eyes, and he [Potiphar] gave him charge of [6] all his house, and all that was his he gave into his [Yosef's] hand. And it was from the time he charged him with his house and (upon) all that was his, God blessed the house of the Egyptian on account of Yosef, and God's blessing was on all that was his in the house and in the field. And he left all that was his in the hand of Yosef, and he did not concern himself [7] except [with] the bread [food?] he ate. And Yosef was well-built and handsome [8].

[1] Literally: was caused to go down

[2] The word order from here to the end of the verse is convoluted. Literally it's closer to "bought-him Potiphar (subject), courtier of Paro, chief of stewards, an Egyptian man, from the hand of the Ishmaelites etc". By the time we get to the "from", though, it's been a while since the verb. So I rephrased here.

[3] It doesn't really say "with", but that's the only way I can make sense of the first clause -- "vay'hi [God] et-Yosef, vay'hi ish matzliach, etc".

[4] I left unaddressed what seems a stray "vay'hi" here. That might be bad.

[5] Favor: literally "grace".

[6] Approximate; I'm taking others' word for the verb phrase here.

[7] Concern himself: literally "know with him".

[8] Well-built and handsome: totally taking a chumash's word for it on this.

More-literary translation/adaptation:

When Yosef was taken down to Egypt Potiphar, a courtier of Paro and chief of his stewards, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. God was with Yosef and made him a successful man in Potiphar's house. His master Potiphar saw that God was with him, and Yosef found favor in his eyes. Potiphar put Yosef in charge of all his household and made him responsible for all his property. From this time God blessed Potiphar's house on Yosef's account; God's blessing was on all of Potiphar's property, in the house and outside. Potiphar left Yosef to run his house, and he concerned himself only with the food he ate. Now Yosef was well-built and handsome.

Comments

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

I'm a little confused on mechanics. You're translating as you read, or afterwards? Since I know you're someone who cares, are you concerned about keeping within the halachic parameters for that?

[cellio]

Not interspersed. Opening bracha, chant entire aliya, translate entire aliya, closing blessing. The order of the last two is an interesting question; my reasoning is that (1) when we do interspersed translation (some do) then of course you've gotten all the translation before the final blessing, and (2) when running translation was common (I believe the talmud talks about this) you had the leiner and then someone translating into the vernacular (Aramaic) moments later, like interpreters do today. So there, too, the translation was lumped with the leining, not treated as a thing outside the bracketing blessings.

(For a longer aliya I might chant/translate in chunks, but yes, I would break it up per the halachic restrictions.)

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Right, well, I meant more about the translation itself. So as far as I know, the only form of translation halachically permitted, as done by the Yemenites today, is actually reading from the Targum by a meturgaman, separate from the reader. The Targum was an "official" translation (actually there are two) and so not done on the spot, as it were. In fact in places it's more like a paraphrase than a direct translation, since halachically there's a conviction that a literal translation is often a misinterpretation. And since you are translating within the brachot, you're really saying (in halachic symbolism) that your translation is the same as the word of God. (The tripartite scheme of oleh-reader-gabbai is symbolic of how revelation was performed at Sinai.)

Again, you're perfectly within your rights on Reform grounds, but in the world of halacha I would think there are problems with improvising a translation in a ritual setting (even though I find it pretty impressive that you can do that!). You understand that I only bring it up because I know you're into those kinds of things. I didn't remember you mentioning doing this before.

[cellio]

Ah! Thanks; I hadn't considered that doing it between the brachot might lend it more sanction than it deserves. In most congregations there's no translation at all (you can follow in a chumash if you want), so I thought this was merely an optional addition. I will keep the translation because that's the minhag in my congregation, but in the future I'll move it outside the brachot to lower its perceived status.

You understand that I only bring it up because I know you're into those kinds of things.

Of course. I want to know about issues with what I'm doing so I can make informed decisions. (I initially thought your comment was about not breaking up the Hebrew reading into parts smaller than valid aliyot.)

This is only the second time I've done this; the first was for B'reishit.

[cellio]

Oh, I should also clarify that I'm not exactly improvising; I'm not nearly that good. I practice at home and consult outside sources where I'm unsure, and after I come up with a mental draft I then read the passage in a chumash looking for differencs. (This is part of my self-guided Hebrew education. Like homework.) But what I'm doing isn't pure memorization, either; I'm letting experience with the passage in these ways guide what I say when I translate, but when I do it I'm doing it from the sefer and not from memory. So not rote, not cold -- something in between.

I'm pretty sure my rabbi improvises his translations -- but then, you don't get to where he is without becoming awfully familiar with Hebrew and torah. :-)