Select Parsha
Channels
OURadio Channels
V’Echad Targum (Onkelos Highlights)
1. Jethro, the chief of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, heard all that the Lord had done for Moses and for Israel his people, that the Lord had delivered Israel from Egypt.JETHRO. The Mekhilta and the Babylonian Talmud (Zevachim 116a) point out that the Bible uses seven different names in referring to the father-in-law of Moses: Re'uel, Yeter, Yitro (Jethro), Chovev, Chever, Keni, and Putiel. Each name, it is said, is used for a specific reason. Onkelos renders every one as written, without any explanatory elaboration.
CHIEF OF MIDIAN. The biblical kohen, "priest," or "minister," which the Targum translates here as "chief," is first applied to an Israelite in 19:6, where the entire nation is called upon by God to become a "kingdom of priests" who will minister to the world. Ultimately, Moses is told to bring Aaron and his sons to "minister to" God (28:1). Aaron's descendants became the kohanim, charged with specific responsibilities in the service of God and the Jewish people. The word itself has an Arabic cognate, kahin, a title given to the "soothsayer" of the tribe. In Genesis 14:18, Malkitzedek is described as a "kohen of God, the Most High," and Onkelos there translates kohen as a verb "ministering before God, the Most High," rather than as a noun. Yet, in Genesis 41:45, Poteephera is referred to as "kohen of On," and our targumist translates it, as here, "chief."
THE LORD. The Aramaic substitutes the tetragrammaton for Elohim.
Excerpted with permission from Onkelos on the Torah by Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, published by Gefen Publishing Company.
Recent Daf Yomi
How to Listen
WindowsMedia Player
