[Avodah] Aruch HaShulchan OC 62:4

[Micha Berger]

Sidenote: This se'if was recently studied by Arukh haShulchan Yomi. If you
want to join us learning AhS Yomi, see the tools -- calendar, text, RYGB's
YouTube playlist -- at http://www.aishdas.org/ahs-yomi !

AhS Yomi covers OC and the applicable portions of YD. (From egg spots to
aveilus.)

On Mon, Sep 07, 2020 at 12:41:23PM +0200, wolberg via Avodah wrote:
>> And therefore at this time it is forbidden to recite the Shema and
>> Tefillah and all brochas except in Hebrew.
>> And so paskened the Geonei Olam for about [the last] eighty years. And
>> this is the essential halocha."
...
> 1. Surely the use of Yiddish translations was very common and accepted?

For women, yes. In fact, there is a script called Vaibrteitch
because translations were in general considered for women. ("Women's
Translation". "Teitch" evolved from the language name "Deutch".)
Vaibrteitch is different than Rashi script. See examples at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaybertaytsh

> 2. Is this a response to the Reform use of German translations?

Likely. That bit about how they used to know Hebrew better is
suspiciously post-facto sounding. Maybe when translating to another
Semitic language, or to Greek using a millenia old tradition of Hebrew
to Greek equivalences, we could have done better than we can to English.

However, 600 years ago, translating to German, French or Spanish... No
matter how well you know Hebrew, there is simply no close parallel to
translate words to.

A personal favorite when teaching Mussar is "yir'ah". Yir'ah is a range
from awe to fear. Maybe the closest is "awareness of the magnitude of
what you're facing" -- whether with admiration (awe) or thinking about
risk (fear) or in another way. But because we are thinking "awe or fear"
instead of a single concept, we cannot think about the middah of yir'as
Shamayim in a fully authentic way. It's not two thing with an "or", or
with a second thought about how they're related. It's a single territory
that should be part of our gut's language about how we're feeling at a
given point in time.

In any case, it is true that real translation is impossible. I would
faster *guess* that a machloqes about how close a translation may be
got closed because the response to Reform forced our hand to choose one
shitah over the other.


> 3. While the translation of the Shema might be problematic, translation
> of shemoneh esrei and brochas is surely not the same issue?

Well, we cannot translation "Barukh Atah Hashem", at least not "barukh"
or "Hashem" in any precise way. So, maybe not.

I am not sure people really know what they mean when they say "blessed".

But what is Barukh?
- Source of increase
- Maximally increased
- May You -- in the form of the expression of Your Will in this world -- be
incresed
- An intentional ambiguity of all of the above?

And sheim havayah pronounced as Adnus...
- The Atemporal
- The All-Compassionate
- The Transcendent
- The L-rd of All
Etc...

I would faster think the baqashos would be okay more than berakhos in
general. Or maybe the body of the berakhah until the chasimah. As long
as the translation is close enough so that it opens and wraps up with
me'ein hachasimah.

But lemaaseh, the AhS says that's not what "we hold".


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 You are where your thoughts are.
http://www.aishdas.org/asp           - Ramban, Igeres haQodesh, Ch. 5
Author: Widen Your Tent
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF