The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

GROSSFELD Onqelos, Halakha and the Halakhic Midrashim 231
individual, the translation had to reflect the Halakha with which they
were not entirely familiar. A literal translation by Onqelos at this
point would have entirely misled the masses.
3. Deut. 6.9—This example is very representative of the conciseness
that typifies Targum Onqelos in general when reflecting a Halakha 9
within his translation. The Hebrew reads: ~pa ninra bv anaroi 'You
shall inscribe them on the doorposts of your house'. It is rendered by
Targum Onqelos as: "pa 'soa prmpm ]mra by prarom—'You should
inscribe them on Mezuzot and affix them on the doorposts of your
house'. It is easy to foresee the consequences of a literal translation in
Onqelos had he chosen not to follow the Halakha here. The biblical
injunction is so simple that the average individual would simply have
inscribed the texts on the stone or wooden doorposts of his house. As
this injunction, however, was one aimed at the masses, Onqelos felt
compelled to insert, through an economy of words, the correct way of
carrying out this commandment as reflected in the Halakha.
The problem with this theory is that it is simply not foolproof, as
Chajes himself acknowledged in the following three cases; all of which
are Yab rrmoQ—'the concern of the court', and yet Onqelos reflects the
Halakha in his translation, though the court officials knew it anyway.
1. Deut. 22.18, where the Hebrew reads TDK Tien—'they should discipline
him', and Onqelos renders rrrv pp'ri—'they should flog him', in
agreement with the Halakha. 10
2. Deut. 24.16—The Hebrew has: by innv vb D^ai D'3a by ma» mar vb
ma»—'the fathers should not be put to death on account of the children,
and the children should not be put to death on account of the
fathers', translated by Onqelos as: pmn' vb pai pa DID by pma« pmcr »b
pma» DIS bv—'the fathers should not be put to death on the mouth [i.e.
testimony] of the children, and the children should not be put to death
against boiling and benefiting from this mixture as well.
9. Cf. b. Men. 34a:
(Jer. 36.18)
'Our Rabbis taught "and you shall write them", I would think you shall write them
upon stones, therefore it says here "writing" and there "writing", just as there it
means on a scroll so here it means on a scroll. . . just as it says "and I wrote them
with ink on a scroll."' Cf. likewise Sifre pnnK XXXVI, p. 66.
10. b. Ket. 46a: mp'ra nt—riO'i; also Sifre K*n 'D CCXXXVIII: 18, p. 270—
irons ,im« riO'i—'"they should discipline him" that is by flogging'.