[Avodah] Targumim from Sinai

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 03:09:16PM +0000, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: I've heard it argued that they *did* speak Aramaic for regular
: conversation. (I don't remember where I heard that. Possibly the Vayoel
: Moshe. Sorry.)

Lavan, when trying to reinvoke the gods of Terach and Nachor, he speaks
in Aramaic -- "Yigar Sehadusa". Already given was a maqor from
Chazal that Adam harishon spoke it (Sanhedrin 38b).

And in the Yardein somewhere is a pile of stones with the Torah written
on it in 70 languages. One of them is in Aramaic. So, why couldn't it
be the Targum? Other than the technical difficulty of maintaining a
word for word oral tradition.

However:
I could (and did) argue that miSinai means "as sure as Sinai", not
literally dating back to the first Shavuos. I would also argue that
"Aramaic" could equally as well mean "a language other than lashon
haqodesh", which is the role it served through much of our history.
And 70 is more often "many" than an exact number...


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 47th day, which is
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