[Avodah] Everyone Does Not

[Jay F. Shachter]

> 
> So my first question is this: If shuman and chelev are so different,
> and English has words for each of them, why does everyone (Jewish or
> not) translate chelev as fat?
>

Everyone does not.  See, for example, "The Commentary of Abraham Ibn
Ezra on the Pentateuch: Volume 3: Leviticus", published by Ktav
Publishing House, Hoboken NJ (both the 1st and the 2nd editions are
out of print, but used copies can be found on, I think, amazon.com,
and perhaps elsewhere too) where, beginning with Leviticus 3:9 and
consistently throughout the remainder of the book, xelev is translated
as "suet", without exception.  The same is done in Volume 5, in the
translation of Deuteronomy 32:14 (the only place in that book where
the word appears).  If you have the impression that "everyone"
translates xelev as "fat", it is probably because in our generation,
the only people who translate the Hebrew scriptures into English, are
people who cannot speak English.


               Jay F. ("Yaakov") Shachter
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