
There are many "Jewish" languages: Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Italian. There are two "holy" Jewish Languages: Hebrew and Aramaic.
Hebrew is Holy because in its original formulation it has no words for the sexual act and the parts of the body associated with it or because it is the language in which the Torah was given (see Ramban to Shmos 30:13 and Rambam, Guide 3:8). Parts of the books of Ezra-Nehamiah and Daniel were written in Aramaic as well as the Talmud and the Holy Zohar.
According to Kabbalah, HaShem spoke and thereby created the world with the letters of Lashon HaKodesh. Aramaic, however, is less holy. We wrote
elsewhere that Aramaic is not only not truly holy but that it obscures the holiness of the Holy Tongue. For elaborations of this concept, see
here and
here. The source of this concept is the comments of Shach's commentary on the Torah. We also recently discussed how
Og represents the "back" of holiness. Similarly, Aramic represents the "back" of the Holy Tongue..
In this weeks parasha, the Aramaic translations, Targum Onkelos and Targum Yonason use different Aramaic words to translate the word "curse". Lubavitcher Rebbe noted and expounded on this fact,
here (from Likutei Sichos 19, 133, see also
here)
One way to understand how Aramaic is the backside of Hebrew is through the concept that it is an enclothing and concealment of kedushah.
This is further evidenced by a contrasting and differentiating
the perspectives of Rebbe Akiva and Nachum Ish Gam Zu. Rabbi Akiva said: "All that Hashem does it for Good", and he said it in Aramaic. His teacher, Nachum Ish Gam Zu formualted it differently. He said: "This is also Good", and he said it in Hebrew.
Likutei Levi Yitzhak and other sefarim quote the Kabbalah dictionary for the entry "tardema", which in English means sleep. This word is shown to be the same expression kabbailisitically as "Targum(translation)". Translation inevitably loses something, hence the expression, "lost in translation". Adam underwent "tardema" as Chava came into being out of him. Rabbi Levi Yitzhak explains that the splitting of Adam and Chava from one into two seprate beings disconnected their relationship leading to galus.
The mystical reason why Jews read "Shnayim Mikra v'echad Targum "
is (p.19) is to
repair the sin of speaking non-Jewish languages. For this reason, many Jews in the past spoke only Hebrew on Shabbos. Indeed one can see this contrast of Lashon HaKodesh and Aramaic as replaying the contrast between the
Land of Israel and Egypt .
Rectification of speech can take place through learning. Mishna is written in Hbrew whereas Talmud is in Aramaic. Aramaic terms represent greater distance from the Source than Hebrew. When one learns Mishna with its Aramaic explanation, one rectifies the separation between the two languages and brings Aramaic and Hebrew back together.
Comments