Sunday, March 14, 2010

Koren Sacks Siddur: Lost in the translations

As a native English speaker with a B.A. in French, I should know better than to expect logic from languages. Still, since I use the siddur (prayer book) as one of my tools for learning Hebrew vocabulary, I find that the multiple meaning of many milim makes milah mastery, er, challenging. (Sorry, I ran out of m's. :) )

Let me illustrate the problem I have with the siddur's milim (words).

Take the milah (word) "chiktah," for example.

In the early part of the P'sukei D'Zimrah (Verses of Song) section of Shacharit (Morning Service), there are a number of paragraphs/sections (depending on a siddur's layout) of miscellaneous biblical quotes. The paragraph beginning "Hoshiah et amecha (Save Your people)" contains the verse "Nafsheinu chiktah laShem . . .," from Psalm 33. At this place in the Koren Sacks Siddur, it's translated "Our soul longs for the Lord . . ." Yet, on Shabbat (Sabbath) and Yom Tov (Festival), when we read the entire psalm at a later point in P'sukei D'Zimrah, the Koren Sacks Siddur translates the exact same words "Our soul waits for the Lord . . ." There are two different translations for the same verse in the same siddur?! It's a conspiracy to confuse me, I tell ya. :)

Then there's "misgav," found in the first brachah (blessing) before the Sh'ma in the Shacharit l'Chol (Weekday Morning Service).

Here's the way it's laid out in the Koren Sacks Siddur:

"Adon uzeinu, tzur misgabeinu
Magen yish'einu, misgav baadeinu."

And here's the translation:

"Lord of our strength, Rock of our refuge,
Shield of our salvation, You are our stronghold."

A short pronunciation and grammar lesson is necessary here. First, Ashkenazi Jews pronounce the letter "vet" like a V if it has no dagesh (dot) in the middle, but like a B if it has a dagesh. Second, almost all Hebrew words are built on a three-letter shoresh (root). One of my strengths, when I was in Ulpan Hebrew class a few years ago, was that I could spot a shoresh a mile away, and it's clear to me that "misgabeinu" is just a possessive form of "misgav." It means, "our X," whereas "misgav" means "X." But what's "X"? In one line, "misgav" (misgabeinu) is translated "(our) refuge," and in the very next line, it's translated "stronghold"!

It gets better, folks. In my opinion, the winning entry comes from Maariv l'Shabbat v'Yom Tov (Evening Service for Sabbath and Festival):

"V'ne'emar,
'Ki fadah HaShem et Yaakov, u-g'alo miyad chazak mimenu.'
Baruch . . . ga'al Yisrael."

Here's the Koren Sacks translation:

"And it is said,
'For the Lord has redeemed Jacob
and rescued him from a power stronger than his own.'
Blessed [is the One], who redeemed Israel."

Holy mismatched milim, Moshe!

1) Is "redeemed" the translation for "fadah" or for "ga'al?"

2) Since "g'alo" is obviously a form of the verb "ga'al," why is "g'alo/ga'al" translated "rescued (him)" in one sentence and "redeemed" in the very next sentence?

3) Does "podeh" (past tense "fadah") mean "redeem(ed)," as it's translated here, or "liberate," as it's translated in the Sabbath and Festival morning Nishmat Kol Chai prayer?


Related: Koren Sacks Siddur--tempest over a typo

People like me must be a translator's worst nightmare. :)

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12 Comments:

Blogger The Reform Baal Teshuvah said...

Think first of how many words used in the translation are semantically similar, and bear in mind that Sacks is aiming to produce a pleasing translation (as opposed to artscroll which is literal except in those word choices that advance it's editorial theology).

Now, to פדה, this is to redeem, at a cost. The cost of redeeming Israel from Egypt was the first born sons of the Egyptians, which is the reason givon in Torah for the custom of Pidyon HaBen. גאל is close in meaning to this, is more about liberation/salvation than redemption. I suspect Sacks wants his seal to echo the opening.

Working my way up - משגב this looks to be a piel participle. To all intents and purposes it's a noun here. Refuge, fortress, stronghold. The shoresh is סגב without the pi'el participial prefix means things like greatness and sublimity.

Now, חכתה from חכה, means waiting. So why longing during the week but merely waiting on shabbat? Possibly for the same reason we recite shir hama'alot with the Birkat Hamazon on Shabbat; so as not to mourn the temple, but to take joy in shabbat. So "longing" connotes feeling a like while "waiting" suggests mere biding our time.

It is not accidental that Onkelos is numbered among the parshanut - every act of translation is an act of interpretation. Sacks' choices are not there to teach us Hebrew, but to advance a theology that is very different than the theology of Artscroll. His is the ONLY contemporary translation for use in worship of which I am aware that renders "שטן" as "the adversary" rather than some variation on the theme of "evil inclination/temptation/spiritual impediment. His translations promote a more progressive and, frankly, a more raw Judaism than artscroll. But rendering nuance from one language to another is always a subjective exercise.

Sun Mar 14, 11:38:00 PM 2010  
Anonymous jdub said...

You're putting way too much thought in it. Somewhere, perhaps in the intro, Chief Rabbi Sacks makes clear that he was not necessarily going for a literal translation, but was trying to get close to the literal translation while preserving the poetry inherent in the tefilah, so he would translate the same word twice when it made sense to do so to preserve the sense of poetry. Now, your first example doesn't fit that, but now you know two separate meanings of the word!

Mon Mar 15, 08:15:00 AM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Reform BT, I guess I'm just hopelessly literal when I translate. I am amused, though, by your statement that the translations in the ArtScroll siddur (prayer book) are "literal except in those word choices that advance it's editorial theology)." :)

"I suspect Sacks wants his seal to echo the opening." That appears to be the case.

Re "misgav," I guess I see "refuge" as being closer in meaning to "shelter" than to "fortress" or "stronghold." Also, "misgav" is spell with the letter "sin," but the shoresh (root) is spelled with the letter "samech"? That strikes me as a bit unusual.

You think that perhaps "chiktah" is translated differently in the Shabbat (Sabbath) section in order "not to mourn the temple, but to take joy in shabbat." That's an interesting idea.

"Sacks' choices are not there to teach us Hebrew,"

So I've noticed.

. . . but to advance a theology that is very different than the theology of Artscroll.. . . His translations promote a more progressive and, frankly, a more raw Judaism than artscroll."

I'll certainly keep that in mind. I did notice the translation of "Satan" as "adversary," and found it most intriguing.

"You're putting way too much thought in it," quoth JDub. Oh, probably. :)

" . . . now you know two separate meanings of the word!" So much for Sacks' choices not being there to teach us Hebrew. :)

But you're right about Rabbi Sacks striving for a slightly less literal and more poetic translation. I should really keep that in mind.

Mon Mar 15, 01:31:00 PM 2010  
Blogger The Reform Baal Teshuvah said...

Also, "misgav" is spell with the letter "sin," but the shoresh (root) is spelled with the letter "samech"? That strikes me as a bit unusual.

That would be because that was a typo on my part. Shoresh should be Sin-Gimel-Vet.

Mon Mar 15, 03:32:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Thanks for the correction.

Mon Mar 15, 04:05:00 PM 2010  
Anonymous jdub said...

I find his translation to be the most lyrical of the translations, and far better than the hamhanded translation of Artscroll which rams their theology down into a horrible translation.

That said, I've been gravitating back to my all hebrew Rinat Yisrael for its ease of use.

Mon Mar 15, 04:44:00 PM 2010  
Blogger The Reform Baal Teshuvah said...

"I did notice the translation of "Satan" as "adversary," and found it most intriguing."

I've got a little d'var tefillah sitting on my hard drive on this topic that I've been trying to decide if I should try to publish somewhere, or just put up on my blog.

If you'd like to read it, throw a comment up on some blog post of mine, and I'll email it to the address you supply.

Mon Mar 15, 11:02:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

JDub, I frequently davven (pray) Mincha (Afternoon Service)& Maariv (Evening Service) using the tiny Hebrew-only siddur that Rabbi Gili Houpt was kind enough to give him at the last kumzitz that he led in Central Park before moving to New Jersey. (When I saw him at the Carlebach Shul this past Hoshana Rabbah, I thanked him for having given me the only siddur than I could hold after breaking both wrists.) But I prefer to davven from a Hebrew-English Siddur on Shabbat (Sabbath) and Yom Tov (Festivals), when I have more time to focus on the meaning of the prayers. My Hebrew just isn't good enough.

Reform BT, my son says I should become a writer after I retire. Maybe you have more of a knack for getting paid to write, if you know how to "publish somewhere." I can't imagine getting paid to write, unless the salary I get for editing office documents counts. :)

I'd be interested in seeing that d'var torah. My e-mail address is onthefringe_jewishblogger at yahoo dot com.

Tue Mar 16, 10:54:00 AM 2010  
Blogger The Reform Baal Teshuvah said...

Maybe you have more of a knack for getting paid to write, if you know how to "publish somewhere."

If I'd had such a knack, it would have been published by now.

PDF will be on its way shortly. I would be grateful for feedback.

Tue Mar 16, 05:29:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Thanks, Reform BT. I'm looking forward to reading your d'var Torah.

I forgot to mention that I use that teeny siddur from R. Houpt when I'm praying on the subway--it's so tiny that it weighs almost nothing, a serious consideration for someone who's always trying to empty her backpack to stop her shoulders from hurting. Fortunately, my eyes can still handle the tiny print (for the time being).

Tue Mar 16, 09:42:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Reform BT, as you can see from your inbox, I finally checked my mail and spotted your d'var Torah. Thanks! I like. You really should post it.

Tue Mar 16, 10:03:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Unknown said...

I recently ordered a Koren Sacks Siddur. I plan on using it to learn Hebrew...to acquire the vocabulary anyway. None of the example you give seems like a big deal to me. You encounter the same thing when comparing the text of the Tanakh to the KJV. Much worse if you use any other translation.

Sat Oct 05, 12:35:00 AM 2013  

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