The Embroidered Targum

Aramaic translations were considered a reliable source for Jewish prayers when reading the Torah on Shabbat and holidays at synagogues. Translation did not serve only as an instrument for explaining the Torah, but also for expanding and enriching it, enabling readers and listeners to learn from it and make it more relevant to their personal lives.  

The Israelites’ houses of prayer produced multiple rich spiritual texts – sermons, prayers and liturgical poems – and were occupied by believers who regularly recited and translated the Holy Scriptures. Jewish tradition and history have luckily preserved quite a few Aramaic translations, the most interesting of which is attributed to Jonathan Ben Uzziel, a text that accurately depicts the literary qualities and conceptual world of translation.