OzTorah

Q. Did Moses just write the Torah in Hebrew or did he or someone else translate it into other languages?

A. Rabbinic tradition says that he authorised translations of those sections which applied to the whole world and not just to the Jewish people.

One could ask why, if this was the case, the sages of a later generation decreed a fast on the day when the Greek translation – the Septuagint – was made (the story of the translation as narrated in the Letter of Aristeas says that 72 Jewish elders, six from each tribe of Israel, produced the work).

One answer is that the Greek translation was of the entire Torah, not just those parts that have universal application. Further, the motivation was different. Moses wanted the world to acknowledge God, and believed that in order to facilitate this, the nations needed to know God’s Word. Ptolemy Philadelphus (c. 285-247 BCE) of Egypt, who commissioned the Septuagint, was not concerned to spread belief in the Creator but to promote the assimilation of Jews into Hellenistic culture.

The rabbis who ordained the fast were seriously concerned that the Greek translation would supersede the Torah; Moses’ concern was to make the translation an aid to Torah and not its replacement. The rabbis also worried that the Greek translation was not completely accurate and could mislead people, in the same way in which in our day people often limit themselves to the English translation and miss the nuances of the Hebrew original. Very often we see the truth of the Italian saying, “A translator is a traitor”.

After centuries of certainty that the site of Mount Sinai was in the Sinai desert in a no-man’s land between Egypt and Israel, an Israeli archaeologist, Emanuel Anati, thoroughly researched the area and in the late 1980s wrote a book called “The Mountain of God” in which he argued that Sinai was really in the Negev in the wilderness of Paran.

After investigating over twenty theories as to the location of Mount Sinai he was sure that history had got the story wrong and the true Sinai was Mount Karkom in Israel in a place strewn with religious relics.

The validity of his argument is now in the hands of the scholars but if it is true there are a number of major historical implications that need to be addressed. There is a dimension of the problem that speaks to ordinary human beings, Jews and non-Jews alike. It is suggested by a D’var Torah I heard many years ago on the subject of the burial place of Moses.

The Torah insists (Deut. 34) that “no-one knows his burial place unto this day”. The D’var Torah I heard – and remembered – asserted, “Despite the Torah, I can tell you where Moses s buried. He is buried here in our own community where his Torah is neglected and spurned. That’s where Moses is buried – in our own midst”.

In similar fashion I might say that I know where Sinai is. Wherever the Sinai message is known, loved and heeded, that’s where Sinai is located. Where is Sinai? Wherever we take it seriously.

Jethro visits Moses, by Gerard Jollain, 1670

Yitro feared that Moses would wear himself out and had to learn how to ration his time. Working from morning to night was not good for anyone.

Rashi, however, is not nearly as critical as Yitro. He thinks it was good for the leader to be engaged in giving judgment all day long. He took every case seriously and didn’t rush through an issue perfunctorily or impatiently.

It is a lesson that we can all learn when we have a decision to make. Recently a problem I had at home illustrated the Rashi principle. We had a blocked sink; I called the plumber and told him, “It’s an easy one: it will only take you a minute”. In the event it took half an hour because the plumber was not prepared to rush through the job without looking at it properly and taking whatever time it needed to solving the problem.

This careful attitude is what Rashi recognised in Moses. Nothing could be rushed, even if it meant devoting a whole day to working things out from morning to night.

There was intense discussion a few years ago about the coming of the Messiah. Some said the Lubavitcher Rebbe was Mashi’ach: others were adamant that he wasn’t. Everybody agreed that when the Messiah arrived – whoever he was – the Jewish people and hopefully the whole world would sit up and take notice, and everything would be different.

Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, in the days of the Mishnah, had a different thought. He said it would all depend on what you were doing at that moment. In his view, if a message came to say the Messiah was here and you were engaged in planting a tree, you had to go on with your planting and only then go out and welcome him.

The background to this statement is essential to an understanding of what Rabban Yochanan was saying. The Temple had been destroyed, the Holy Land was in ruins, the people’s morale was low. Only the long-awaited Redemption would brighten the future. In what sense? The coming of a Divinely-appointed leader would regenerate the nation, but that was up to God. The regeneration of the land depended on rehabilitating the trees, forests and vegetation, and that was up to the people’s own will and effort.

Maybe that’s what the Torah is telling us in the words, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the Children of Israel to go forward!” (Ex. 14:15).

Q. Why can’t I play golf on Shabbat?

A. There are general as well as specific issues to be considered. The main general issue raises the nature of Shabbat. Fundamentally it is a day for spiritual and cultural concerns. Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler was asked whether children may swim on Shabbat and he asked, “Did they daven first?”

When rabbinic authorities addressed the question of sport on Shabbat many were sympathetic, but warned against incidental breaches of the Sabbath laws such as travelling or carrying, though the carrying issue is eased if there is an eruv (a symbolic boundary which encloses an area and allows carrying within it).

Breaches of the law which might be involved in playing golf include muktzeh (handling things that have a “weekday” character), and the prohibition of reaping (in this case, cutting grass) and ploughing (digging up soil). The consensus of rabbinic opinion is disapproving of golf on Shabbat.