“The difference
between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between
lightning and a lightning bug.” –Mark Twain
On several occasions, I have lectured and written about the challenges that
translation poses. Through translation, we are exposed not only to different
languages, but also to the lifestyle, customs, and world view of those who speak
those languages. Such “cultural exchanges,” through their creators prompted
people like George Steiner to say: “without translation, we would live in
districts that border silence.” The same tone emanates from Anthony Borgess who maintains that “Translation is
not a matter of words only; it is a matter of making intelligent a whole
culture.”
This brings me to this week’s
Parashah, B’Shalach. It gets its name from the verse that opens it “VaYehi
B’Shalach Par’o et ha’am” Shemot (Exodus) 13:17. The English translation
of the verse states: “When Pharaoh let the People go…”
The Hebrew verse and its English
translation, I believe, do not convey the same message. Their incongruity is an
example of the difference between “denotation,” the literal definition of the
word and “connotation” which is an idea or feeling that the word evokes aside
from its literal definition. The translation, in my view, misses a very
important aspect of the history of our Jewish culture.
The Hebrew word, “shalach,” literally
means “sent.” Yes, it also means “release.” However, the translation into “let
go” is, in the words of Twain, not “the right word,” it is, rather, “the almost
right word.” Had the Torah wanted to tell us that Pharaoh ‘Let” the people go,
it could have used a different Hebrew word such as “"תן which means precisely “let” or “allow” and which expresses the same notion as the English
translation purports.
There is a reason, in my view, that
the Torah uses the word “shalach”. It is a major component of the story
of the Exodus and plays a big role in forming the essence of what has later
become Am Yisrael. In fact, the choice of that specific word has engaged many Biblical
scholars over the centuries.
Ohr HaChaim (Rabbi Moshe ben Atar 1696-1743)
not only wonders about the choice of that word. He also goes one step further
and poses the following question, “why did the Torah use “when Pharoah sent”
rather than “when G-d took us out of Egypt?”
The root, “shalach,” is used
each time Moshe turned to Pharaoh in a plea to release the people. G-d,
according to Ohr Ha’Chayim, wanted to teach Pharoah a lesson. He wished to
coerce Pharaoh into releasing and sending away the people against his will, if merely
to avenge for the latter’s boldness and audacious statement:
“who is the Lord that I should obey him and send Yisrael’ I do
not know the Lord nor shall I send Yisrael” (5:2). Furthermore, G-d delivered
on his promise to Moshe to not only bring Pharoah to release the people but to
banish them, drive them out: “Then the Lord said to Moshe, I will bring one
more plague on Pharoah and on Egypt. After that, he will send you from here and
when he does, he will drive you out completely” (11:1). And that is what indeed
happened. Following the plagues that G-d brought upon Egypt, Pharoah eventually
caved in and, at the right moment, called Moshe and Aharon in the middle of the
night, begged and urged them to hasten their departure, take the people, get
out of Egypt and go worship G-d (12:31).
Ohr Ha’Chayim also notes that, according to the Mekhilta*, throughout the
negotiations with Pharoah, Moshe keeps asking him to
send, liberate his people, “Shalach et Ami,” which is of paramount
importance. The Exodus must have Pharoah’s stamp of approval. Hence the first
verse of this Parashah, “When Pharoah sent the people,” comes to tell us that
the people left Egypt with permission and lawfully. In fact, all of Egypt implored
them to leave: “The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. ‘For
otherwise,’ they said, ‘we will all die!’” (12:33).
The message of this Parashah is that
the people did not leave clandestinely, under the cloak of darkness. They left
in broad daylight along with their livestock and other possessions. Moreover, in 14:5, the Egyptians themselves
later admit that they sanctioned the Exodus which is added proof that the
people did not run away or leave without prior approval. It is of prime
importance to G-d that every human being recognizes that Pharoah and the
Egyptians sent the people out of their free will.
Rash”i further elaborates on the choice of the word “shalach.” According
to him, the use of the word suggests that Pharoah sent his officials to escort
the people to ensure that they return to Egypt after three days (14:5). Rash”i claims
that these officials were nothing but “איקטורין”
(actors, imposters, even spies). That is what “Erev Rav,” (multitudes)
mentioned in 12:38, he explains, means. They were Pharoah’s emissaries disguised
as the Children of Yisrael. Their task, suggests Rash”i, was to incite, confuse
and cause the latter to sin and eventually return to Egypt.
That, however, is a subject for
another article, dear readers.
Shabbat Shalom Am Yisrael and fellow Jews
and a wonderful weekend to all
*A rule of scriptural exegesis in Judaism,
attributed to any several authors.
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