Читать книгу Post-Biblical Hebrew Literature: An Anthology онлайн

7 страница из 46

The translations are obviously based upon the Hebrew volume of this Anthology. A reader comparing my translation with other editions of the extracts will therefore come across some discrepancies. A few examples may suffice to illustrate this point. The printed editions of the Mishnah have a word denoting “silver” which is here rendered by “golden” (II, 2, l. 7). Of course, my edition has the correct word which is found in the famous Munich manuscript. In the Pesikta extract there is an additional sentence not found in any of the editions that have hitherto appeared: A messenger came and said unto me: “Thy husband died in the city across the sea” (V, 1, l. 10). My reading, however, is derived from the Parma manuscript. In Judah ha-Levi’s poem entitled “Meditations in Mid-Ocean” (XVIII, 2, l. 6 from end) my translation reads: The waters and the sky are like brilliant and bright ornaments on the night. The word “ornaments” does not occur in any of the printed editions, and, instead, they all read two words which signify “until the sea,” which are entirely unsuitable for the context. My rendering is the result of a slight emendation involving merely the joining of the two words into one and a change in the vocalization. In the notes to the Hebrew volume the reader will find ample justification for the rather numerous variants. In order not to render this volume cumbersome, those notes have been omitted here.