Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Hebrew to Israeli in Israel: But it's the Bible

Today, on the campus of Bar-Ilan University, the second largest institution of higher education in Israel, there's an insider debate going on. Should the new Bible translation into everyday Hebrew, or Israeli, become standard in schools? Will old Hebrew then be lost?

The Jerusalem Post online in English gives world wide web readers on the outside a glimpse in. Linguist and "Israeli language" scholar Ghil'ad Zuckerman, on the one hand, is all for the new translation. Translator and writer Shira Leibowitz Schmidt, on the other hand, believes that "Israeli children today will be robbed" by the new version of the Bible. (Are there implications for women and men? Aren't there?)

At Bar-Ilan University, such questions about translation have already been asked. What happens when Jews translate their holy scriptures? What has happened, for example, when these sacred writings became "The Greek Bible"? Was it, is it, "Light or Darkness"?

When it's the "Bible" for the people of that book what does translation do?

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