torah reading (and translation)
I chanted torah this morning (fifth aliya of B'reishit, the first
parsha in the torah). Last night I decided to translate from the
scroll instead of reading from a chumash; I knew most of these words
and practice took care of the ones I'd had to look up. The morning
minyan is forgiving and encouraging, so what better time to try
something new?
While my practice runs at home (from the tikkun) were smooth, doing it in front of people is different. So I was kind of nervous and I suspect it showed, and I accidentally skipped a line in the scroll and had to go back for it, but overall, I think it was a decent first effort. One person commented favorably to me; no one else said anything.
Here, then, is my translation of this passage. I'm writing this now from the Hebrew; I didn't memorize so this is probably a little different from what I said this morning. Because I am a beginner, I try not to take some of the liberties that professional translations can take; I try to stick to literal (but coherent) without smoothing out nuance, because I don't have a good feel for when to do that. That said, in a few cases I don't really know enough to translate, so I just took others' word for it in a couple places (marked with "[?]").
Genesis 4:19-26
And Lemech took to himself two wives. The name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second was Tzilah. And Adah bore Yaval; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and are shepherds [?]. And the name of his brother was Yuval; he was the father of all who play lyre [or harp?] and pipe. And Tzilah also bore Tuval-Kayin, maker of all instruments [?] of copper and iron. And the sister of Tuval-Kayin was Na'amah.
Lemech spoke to his wives: "Adah and Tzilah, hear my voice; wives of Lemech, give ear to what I say. Because a man I killed to my wound [?] and a boy to my hurt [?]. As[1] sevenfold Kayin was avenged, and Lemech seventy-seven. [2]"
And Adam again knew his wife and she bore a son, and she called his name Sheit [Seth], becuase "God provided to me seed [3] after, in place of Hevel, becuase Kayin killed him". And to Sheit also was born a son, and he called his name Enosh. Then [subject absent] [4] began to call in the name of God.
[1] One of "as" (or "because") at the beginning of the sentence and the "and" in "and Lemech" doesn't belong, but both are in the text. Is there some rule about gratuitious uses of "v'" (other than for flipping verb tense)?
[2] I don't think it actually says "seventy-seven-fold", but numbers aren't my strong suit and clearly that's the intent.
[3] The word here is "zera", which means "seed" in both the literal and figurative senses. It's not "ben" ("a son"), but rather a reference to offspring in general. (It's the same word that's used with the patriarchs.)
[4] This last part is usually translated "people (or men) began to call" etc. I don't actually see a subject in the Hebrew, but it's probably not unreasonable to infer it.
While my practice runs at home (from the tikkun) were smooth, doing it in front of people is different. So I was kind of nervous and I suspect it showed, and I accidentally skipped a line in the scroll and had to go back for it, but overall, I think it was a decent first effort. One person commented favorably to me; no one else said anything.
Here, then, is my translation of this passage. I'm writing this now from the Hebrew; I didn't memorize so this is probably a little different from what I said this morning. Because I am a beginner, I try not to take some of the liberties that professional translations can take; I try to stick to literal (but coherent) without smoothing out nuance, because I don't have a good feel for when to do that. That said, in a few cases I don't really know enough to translate, so I just took others' word for it in a couple places (marked with "[?]").
Genesis 4:19-26
And Lemech took to himself two wives. The name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second was Tzilah. And Adah bore Yaval; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and are shepherds [?]. And the name of his brother was Yuval; he was the father of all who play lyre [or harp?] and pipe. And Tzilah also bore Tuval-Kayin, maker of all instruments [?] of copper and iron. And the sister of Tuval-Kayin was Na'amah.
Lemech spoke to his wives: "Adah and Tzilah, hear my voice; wives of Lemech, give ear to what I say. Because a man I killed to my wound [?] and a boy to my hurt [?]. As[1] sevenfold Kayin was avenged, and Lemech seventy-seven. [2]"
And Adam again knew his wife and she bore a son, and she called his name Sheit [Seth], becuase "God provided to me seed [3] after, in place of Hevel, becuase Kayin killed him". And to Sheit also was born a son, and he called his name Enosh. Then [subject absent] [4] began to call in the name of God.
[1] One of "as" (or "because") at the beginning of the sentence and the "and" in "and Lemech" doesn't belong, but both are in the text. Is there some rule about gratuitious uses of "v'" (other than for flipping verb tense)?
[2] I don't think it actually says "seventy-seven-fold", but numbers aren't my strong suit and clearly that's the intent.
[3] The word here is "zera", which means "seed" in both the literal and figurative senses. It's not "ben" ("a son"), but rather a reference to offspring in general. (It's the same word that's used with the patriarchs.)
[4] This last part is usually translated "people (or men) began to call" etc. I don't actually see a subject in the Hebrew, but it's probably not unreasonable to infer it.