The Septuagint and the Geula

Dec 25, 2017 by Chaim David Targan

Today, December 26, 2017 – the 8^th of the Hebrew month of Tevet – is the day when the Septuagint was written. The Septuagint – Greek for “7o” – was the first (forced) translation of the Torah to another language – Greek – and called as such for the 70 Jewish Scholars who were put into separate rooms and each commanded by the Greek ruler Ptolemy Philadelphius to translate the Torah. Only by Divine intervention, did each of the 70 scholars “receive” the identical correct translation, avoiding what could have been a hillul Hashem – a desecration of G-d’s name of the highest order, by causing things to be misunderstood. And this day has historically been considered a tragedy by Chazal (our sages), as severe as the Het HaEgel (Sin of the golden calf) Just as other calamities of the past have been transformed into brachas (blessings), the translation of the Torah is now a bracha for the nations of the world in this time of the Geula (Redemption) we are in.

The Tragedy of the Septuagint

The reason that translating the Torah is considered such a horrible tragedy is as follows: The Torah was “brought down” by Moshe Rabeinu (Moes) through the highest level of nevuah – prophecy – in its original Hebrew, with its four levels of interpretations – Pshat (literal), Remez (contextual), Drash (allegorical) and Sod (the mystical secrets), and unlimited sub levels of each – from Hebrew – the Divinely created language that Hashem (the Hebrew word alluding to G-d) chose as the DNA of the Universe. The Torah is not a history book. It was designed with Hashem’s ultimate, unfathomable wisdom to continually unfold new and deeper understandings, with Klal Yisrael as a partner in this process. Translating it to another language makes it bereft of much of its meaning and koach (power). And in the case of this original Greek translation – The Septuagint – the attempt was NOT to learn of G-d’s wisdom, but to try to prove it was false. This was proven by the understanding that if the Greek ruler had intended this to be a benign translation to learn of G-d’s wisdom, he would have placed the 70 scholars into a large room, all together, like a modern day Beit Midrash (Torah learning center), to work with one another to come up with the “best” translation. Instead, Ptolemy Philadelphius, locked each of the scholars in separate rooms, with the anticipation that all 70 would not agree with each other – to create the illusion that the Torah was not Divinely created, Only through a revealed miracle, did Hashem bring down to each scholar through Ruach HaKodesh (Divine inspiration) the identical Greek interpretation – which as we can all imagine, was a great Kiddush Hashem (Sanctification of G-d’s Name) and caused disbelief and honor instead of scorn by the Greeks.

And this translation to Greek, was the harbinger for all future translations (except Onkolos), which had caused untold angst and pain for Klal Yisral (The People of Israel) throughout the ages.

The New Holy Reason for the Septuagint

As we are already in the “End of Days” – albeit in the concealed part – the people of the world are without realizing it, being forced to choose very quickly which side they are on – the side of kedusha (holiness) or the side of evil. And the translation of the Torah from its original Hebrew – however inadequate it may be and absolutely incomparable to reading it in the original Hebrew – is nonetheless allowing the people of the world to clearly see the world events unfolding before their eyes through the lens of Torah, and is enabling them to see the prophecies predicted in the Torah unfold before their eyes and to see Hashem’s hand in everything – thereby choosing the side of Kedusha – holiness.

We know everything from Hashem is good, but it is often not sweet by human standards and certainly has often not been sweet from Klal Yisrael’s perspective. And so it was when the Torah was translated the first time to another language – Greek- by order of Ptolomy Philadelphius – the Greek ruler from Alexandria.

BUT TODAY – we see the sweeter and real side start to emerge. As governments, the UN and others are further trying to delegitimize Israel in what has been their never ending futile desire to wipe out Klal Yisrael, we are starting to see the “The Revenge of the Righteous” (article to be published soon) – righteous non-Jews throughout the world, of all backgrounds, from all countries, clearly seeing Hashem’s hand in what is happening and coming to Klal Yisrael’s defense on all levels. This is a movement, while still in its infancy, is going to be a holy explosion of consciousness to the world.

And now we can appreciate Hashem’s hidden hand in bringing out the Torah to world

May Hashem continually show us and reveal to us how the pains and challenges of the past were actually just concealed sweetness.

Shabbat Shalom

Chaim David Targan
Erev Shaabbat Kodesh
8 Tevet, 5778. December 26, 2017
Jerusalem, Israel