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THI SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, Not. 2, 1962
Face Six
Communication With
By BEN KATAN
The Jewish Publication Society
has announced that it will issue
next January a translation of the
Five Books of Moses which will be
the first to be transalted directly
into English from the traditional
Hebrew text.
The translation could conceiv
ably produce something of a shock
reaction from many of the mil
lions of American Jews who pos
sess and read the standard Eng
lish-language version of the Holy
Scriptures published by the Jew
ish Publication Society. Dr. Harry
Orlinsky, the editor-in-chief of
the tremendous project, which will
eventually publish a complete new
translation of the Old Testament,
has described the new Chumash
as “the most accurate translation
ever made into English — clear,
modem and easily - understood
English for today’s reader.”
It was inevitable that, with the
wealth of information uncovered
in the recent upsurge of archaeo
logical excavations throughout the
entire Middle East area, a great
deal of the factual—as against
what might be termed legendary
■—aspects of the Old Testament
would become outmoded. As Dr.
Orlinsky put it at a press con
ference announcing the projected
publication of *he new Penta
teuch, the translation incorporates
“the vast new knowledge” about
biblical times and writings which
has come to light in recent years
as a result of both archaeological
and linguistic discoveries in the
Middle East.
Dr. Orlinsky gave some ex
amples at the press conference.
One of the most striking is the
new translation of the Third
ADL’s “LEGACY
AWARD” VOTED
FOR PRESIDENT
NEW YORK (JTA)—President
Kennedy will be awarded Amer
ica’s Democratic Legacy Award
for 1963 by the B’nai B’rith An
ti-Defamation League, it has been
announced here by Henry Ed
ward Schultz, national chairman
of the ADL.
Mr. Schultz said the President
voted the award for his "ded
ication to democracy as reflected
in his efforts to broaden the ben
efits of civil rights and to assure
the application of constitutional
principles of freedom to all Amer
icans.” The award, a silver med
allion, will be given the President
in Washington, at a dinner to be
held January 31.
Commandment which for millions
of American Jews—if not for most
religiously-oriented Americans —
has meant a warning against the
use of profanity. Not so, says Dr.
Orlinsky. The more accurate
translation reads: “You shall not
swear falsely by the name of the
Lord your God; for the Lord will
not clear one who swears falsely
in his name.” It is a command
ment against perjury.
Prseumably, the modern Ameri
can Jew can adjust to this radical
revision in his understanding of
the Ten Commandments, perhaps
the most pervasive set of moral
principles in all the moral litera
ture of the western world. But
what about the elimination of the
“thou” and “thy” forms and the
“est” and “eth” endings for verbs
such as “goest” and “bringeth-
eth?”
Dr. Orlinsky clearly cannot be
faulted for commenting that such
“archaic” forms “have led many
people to believe that the Word
of God was given in the Elizabeth
an English of the 17th century,”
except for the point that perhaps
most American Jews are not so
English as that comment implies.
What does present a problem is
ZBT AWARDS
GOTTHEIL MEDAL
TO R. BUNCHE
Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, United
Nations Under Secretary for Spec
ial Political Affairs, was present
ed Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity’s
Gottheil Medal on October 16.
The award, established in 1925
by Zeta Beta Tau in honor of the
late Dr. Richard J. Gottheil,
world-renowned educator, is pre
sented annually to the individual
whose activities best promote bet
ter human understanding and re
lations among people.
The presentation was made by
Harold Riegelman, past national
president of Zeta Beta Tau, coun
sel to Citizens Budget Committee
and former United States Delegate
to the 14th General Assembly of
the United Nations, at ceremonies
in Dr. Bundle's office.
Among the previous recipients
of the Gottheil Medal are Philip
M. Klutznick, U. S. Representa
tive to the United Nations Eco
nomic and Social Council; Abba
Eban, former Israeli Ambassador
to United States and United Na
tions; Edward R. Murrow; Mrs.
Franklin D. Roosevelt; the late
Dorothy Thompson; Bernard M.
Baruch; Franklin D. Roosevelt;
and Herbert H. Lehman.
VOTE FOR
T. M. ALEXANDER, JR.
For Senator From The 38th District
NOVEMBER 6 GENERAL ELECTION
1. Successful and highly respected insurance executive
and civic leader.
2. Member of Fulton County Surplus Food Council.
3. Member of Board of Directors M.A.C.S. (Metropolitan
Atlanta Community Services).
4. Vice Chairman of National Board of Y.M.C.A. of
U.S.A. and Canada.
5. 1961 Delegate to World Council Y.M.C-A. Geneva
Switzerland representing the U.S.A.
6. Listed in “Who’s Who in America.”
“A Vote Every Citizen Will Be
Proud to Cast”
THIS AD PAID FOR
BY A FRIEND OF T. M. ALEXANDER
the Divine
well acquainted with Elizabethan
one that might be described as
psychological rathre than linguis
tic. It Is certainly arguable that
most Jews — and perhaps most
Christians, who also eventually
will be affected by this radical
language changeover—look upon
the “archaic” language as some
how embodying a proper attitude
of deference in communicating
with the divine, a proper distinc
tion between the everyday lang
uage of “you” in talking to one’s
wife, or children and the special
language of “thou" in talking to
God.
It will be interesting to find out
—when the new Chumash even
tually replaces the present Eng
lish-language standard version in
American Jewish homes — how
many of those Jews are going to
feel uncomfortable about reading
a Holy Scripture printed in the
common language of the day. One
assumes, for example, that the
modem version will have Ruth
the Moabite saying: “Where you
go, I will go. Your people will be
my people.” To some, it has a
curious flatness, devoid of the
majesty of the original, archaic as
it may be.
Nor is this all of the likely pro
blem. Substantial sections of the
prayerbooks which have English
translations draw heavily on the
Old Testament. Will a chasm de
velop between the ultra-modern
English-language version of the
Old Testament and the language
of the prayerbooks which are used
perhaps more frequently than the
Holy Scriptures themselves?
Such concerns possibly will be
dismissed as obscurantism, a pro
duct of failure to keep up with the
modem spirit of scientific inquiry.
Yet one wonders whether many
an American Jew is not going to
find it embarrassing and even
difficult to speak to God in the
language of eviryday conversa
tion.
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