[Avodah] Concordance of Onkelos

[Micha Berger]

On Sat, Dec 21, 2024 at 08:09:19PM -0500, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> Last week I noticed the word Aluf appear many times near the end of
> Vayishlach...

I think aluf is also etymologically related to "elef" and the name of the
first letter (and thus to oxen?).

Also, aluf is both the tribe and its leader. There *MIGHT* be totalitarian
leadership implications.

> This week, I saw the same thing about many of the Egyptians who Yosef came
> into contact with. They are described/titled as "s'ris", but Onkelos
> translates it consistently as some form of the word "rav"....

But in Leshon Chazal a saris is definitely one who was castrated or
rendered impotent. Sereisei chamah etc...

Thinking out loud: What may have happened is that Bavel, Paras and/or
Madai (I think we can rule out Yavan and Edom) who subjugated us before
the develpment of Mishnaic Hebrew... well maybe one of them only entrusted
delegated authority to eunochs and so the term for second-tier authority
became the word for a eunoch.


Personally, what I find most interesting about Unqelus is that he assumes
idiom in the same places the Rambam would. So here you have a tannaitic
era Rationalist whose understanding was so accepted, it became part of
a din deRabbanan -- according to the Tur, le'iquva! The gemara Megillah 3a)
even describes it as a recreation of the Arammaic version of the Torah
that was almost canonized (!) in Ezra's day.

So Unqelus was vehemently accepted as authoritative by Chazal. Meaning,
the gemara was willing to attribute a Rationalist Theology to Ezra. And
to mandate inculcating that theology among the masses.

Throws a real monkey-wrench in academic studies that emphasize the
newness of Rishonim's conception of the Divine in contrast to Chazal's.

And now that I went on a tangent about the acceptance of a Theology that
is consistent with the [Greek] Philosophers, I will ironically close by
wishing you all

A lichtikn un freilechn Chanukah!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Life isn't about finding yourself.
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   Life is about creating yourself.
Author: Widen Your Tent               - George Bernard Shaw
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF