Targums

Targums
Public domain · source
Name	Targums
Language	Aramaic
Period	Second Temple period, Late Antiquity
Genre	Biblical literature, Exegesis

Targums Targums are Aramaic translations and interpretive renderings of the Hebrew Bible developed in ancient Palestine and Babylonia. They functioned as liturgical recitations, exegetical aids, and communal texts in synagogues, academies such as Yeshiva contexts, and among groups connected to authorities like the Sanhedrin and academies in Sura and Pumbedita. Their corpus influenced later commentators including Rashi, Maimonides, and Rabbi Akiva-era traditions.

Overview

Targums provide a bridge between the Hebrew Bible and vernacular Aramaic, combining translation with interpretation by incorporating traditions associated with figures such as Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, Hillel the Elder, Shammai, and scribal schools of Ezra the Scribe. They circulated alongside texts like the Masoretic Text, Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Samaritan Pentateuch and interacted with works from Jerusalem Talmud and Babylonian Talmud milieus. Communities from Alexandria to Ctesiphon used targumic practice in relation to events like the Bar Kokhba revolt and the rise of Christianity.

History and Origins

Scholars situate origin points in the Second Temple period and Late Antiquity, with early vernacular renderings linked to centers such as Jerusalem, Sepphoris, and Tiberias. Developments occurred within institutions like the Great Sanhedrin, the academies of Jamnia (Yavneh), and Babylonian academies including Sura and Pumbedita. Interactions with translators of the Septuagint and Hellenistic authors like Philo and Josephus shaped interpretive strategies, while responses to movements such as Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism produced variants. Influences trace to scribal activity associated with figures such as Ezra and later medieval scholars including Rashbam and Ibn Ezra.

Types and Major Targums

Major canonical and post-canonical forms include targumic texts tied to the Pentateuch, Prophets, and Writings. Prominent examples are associated with names of towns and scholars: Pellegic and Babylonian traditions from Babylon, Palestinian renditions from Tiberias and Sepphoris, and liturgical versions used in communities like Karaite and Rabbinic synagogues. Specific recognized corpora include versions paralleling Onkelos-attributed Pentateuch renderings, prophetic renditions aligned with Pauline-era contexts, and paraphrastic expansions reflecting homiletic traditions found in schools influenced by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi and teachers of the Mishnah. These are comparable in function to translations like the Septuagint and commentaries such as Midrash Rabbah and Sifra.

Language and Translation Features

Targums employ dialects of Aramaic—Western Aramaic in Palestinian forms and Eastern Aramaic in Babylonian forms—using lexical and syntactic decisions informed by contact with Greek language and Hebrew. They manifest techniques akin to dynamic equivalence and midrashic expansion, incorporating exegeses similar to Philo's allegory, Talmud-style legal reasoning, and narrative harmonization reminiscent of Josephus. Linguistic features include the use of Aramaic script orthography, loanwords from Greek and Middle Persian, and morphological patterns paralleled in inscriptions from Palmyra and documents from Nehardea.

Usage in Jewish Liturgy and Study

Targums were recited in synagogue settings during public Torah reading alongside practices codified in collections such as the Mishnah and elaborated in the Talmud Bavli and Talmud Yerushalmi. Liturgical use connected to authorities like the Geonim and later medieval rites in communities across Babylon, Spain, Ashkenaz, and Sepharad. Educationally, targumic renderings guided exegetical methods employed by figures such as Rashi, Nachmanides, Ibn Ezra, and influenced pietistic traditions like Hasidism and legal codifications by Maimonides and Rabbi Joseph Caro in the Shulchan Aruch era. They intersect with ritual practice, communal norms, and textual transmission in centers like Cordoba, Toledo, and Acre.

Textual Transmission and Manuscripts

Manuscript evidence survives in collections from libraries in Cairo Geniza, Oxford, Cambridge, Vatican Library, and archives at Saint Petersburg and Jerusalem. Witnesses include medieval codices, fragments from the Cairo Geniza, and editions produced in printing centers such as Venice and Amsterdam. Textual criticism engages tools used in editing the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint, with paleographic comparisons to manuscripts from Masada, scrolls akin to the Dead Sea Scrolls, and collation against rabbinic citations found in the works of Rav Ashi and Rabbi Hanina.

Modern Scholarship and Critical Editions

Contemporary research features critical editions, philological studies, and digital projects hosted by institutions like University of Oxford, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Cambridge, Yale University, Jewish Theological Seminary, and the National Library of Israel. Notable editors and scholars include those following methodological precedents set by figures associated with the Encyclopaedia Judaica, critical apparatuses resembling those used in editions of the Septuagint and Masoretic Text, and interdisciplinary studies connecting targumic material to archaeology in Israel, epigraphy in Mesopotamia, and comparative work with Syriac literature and Christian patristics involving names such as Origen and Eusebius. Modern commentaries, concordances, and translations continue to appear from presses in Leiden, Berlin, Princeton, and Jerusalem.

Category:Aramaic translations