E. van Staalduine-Sulman

A Variety of Targum Texts

This chapter presents the results of describing, naming and categorizing all the manners, in which the Targum texts are handed down, including their direct context and paratexts. The first category of handing down Targum consists of continuous texts, that is to say, an Aramaic translation of an entire Biblical book. The way in which the Targum is presented within a continuous manuscript or edition varies. A vast majority of the manuscripts including a continuous Targum text provide this text together with the Hebrew original. A few anthologies of targumic texts are known, of which the so-called Fragmentary Targum is the most famous. These texts do not form an integral part of the official Targums, Onkelos and Jonathan, but stem from the Palestinian Targums. Some continuous and liturgical Targum texts include this material, others give selections in the margin under headings such as Jerushalmi or Tosefta. Keywords: Aramaic translation; Hebrew text; Targum texts

The ‘Jewish’ Rabbinic Bibles versus the ‘Christian’ Polyglot Bibles

The year 1517 is a special year in the history of the Targum, because two major editions were published, both of them in Southern Europe. In Venice the so called first Rabbinic Bible was edited and printed, and in Alcala de Henares the so-called Complutensian Polyglot Bible was edited by a team of scholars under the supervision of Cardinal Jimenez de Cisneros. This chapter explores the first and second editions of both traditions, i.e., the first and the second Rabbinic Bible as well as the Complutensian and Antwerp Polyglots. These editions describe from three perspectives: their marketing and success, where it becomes evident that the marketing strategies were different but that problems with clerical and political powers were comparable; their contents, where the differences outnumber the similarities; and their paratexts, where some influences from the Rabbinic Bibles on the Antwerp Polyglot becomes clear. Keywords: Complutensian Polyglot Bible; Rabbinic Bible

Christian Arguments for Including Targums in Polyglot Bibles

Several scholars and printers in the sixteenth and seventeenth century made plans to produce a polyglot Bible. They were all Christians, some of them aided by converted Jews. Nevertheless, most of them included, or planned to include, the Aramaic text of one or more Targums. That choice was not self-evident, because many Christian scholars opposed the dissemination and study of Jewish literature. This chapter focuses on what arguments did the makers of polyglot Bibles give to include the Targum? It considers the arguments why Jewish literature, and specifically the Targum, would not have been fit for the Christian readership. These objections form the background against which the editors defend themselves in their prologues and letters. The chapter groups the arguments in ten categories, which discusses in their order of appearance in the letters of the editors. The conclusion reviews the arguments by country, Christian denomination, and other features. Keywords: Aramaic text; Christians; Jewish literature; polyglot Bible; Targum