When we mention Teveth, the immediate reaction is: soon it will be òùøä áèáú, the tenth, the date of the siege of Jerusalem, which culminated in the destruction of the first Temple. This day was designated by the Chief Rabbinate as the day of mourning for the Shoah.
This time I would like to mention another significant date in Teveth, the eighth day.
It is mentioned in Megillat Ta'anit, as one of three special days. In the ùìçï òøåê (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim ú÷"ô) it is written:
"áùîåðä áèáú ðëúáä äúåøä éåðéú áéîé úìîé äîìê åäéä çùê áòåìí ùìåùä éîéí"
On the eighth of Teveth the Torah was written in Greek in the time of King Ptolemy, and there was darkness in the world for three days.
Who was Talmai (Ptolemy) and what is the connection between the translation of the Torah and the three days of darkness?
One of the generals of Alexander the Great was Ptolemy, who established his rule in Egypt around 300 B.C.E. He had an extensive library and decided to add the Torah to it. According to our sources, he appointed seventy sages, isolated them in seventy locations to translate the Torah into Greek. Miraculously all the seventy translated the problematic words the same way. This is known as úøâåí äùáòéí, the Septuagint.
So we can take pride in the fact that the ruler of Egypt was so interested in the Torah that he spent a fortune to have it in his library. Some of our Sages were also pleased, because the Greek language is beautiful, and they saw in the translation the fulfillment of Noah's words:
"éôú à-ì÷éí ìéôú åéùëï áàäìé ùí"
"May the beauty given by God to Yaphet dwell in the tents of Shem…."
(áøàùéú è' ë"æ)
Others were not happy with having a Greek translation of the Torah. They foresaw the assimilation of the youth of Yehuda who abandoned the learning of the Hebrew sources, studied the Greek works, and ultimately left the ways of the Torah, ëé ðø îöåä åúåøä àåø.."", For a commandment is a lamp and the Torah is light…" says Shelomo in Proverbs (îùìé å' ë"æ). If we abandon the Torah, we walk in darkness. Our sages saw in dismay that the innocent translation brought about the abandonment of our Hebrew language and entering the darkness of a culture that worshipped human intellect and tried to wean us away from God given laws. We face the same danger now!
In our own time and amongst our own educators in various religious schools, there is no due respect given to the Hebrew language. Boys and girls, who come here to yeshivot and seminaries are taught in English and live isolated from the people outside. Parents should demand a change of this situation.
My hope is that this monthly ãáø úåøä will be written in the near future in our own holy tongue ìùåï ä÷ãù.
It is up to you!
ùìåí
Miriam Hauer
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