Response ·
The Mind and Man Behind Philologos
By Hillel Halkin, Jonathan Silver, Andrew KossA conversation about Jews and language.

Response ·
A conversation about Jews and language.

Observation ·
Neither Jewish nor Christian traditions call the Decalogue by its biblical name, but the phrases they choose reveal something about their different approaches to divine law.

Observation ·
In the end, one doesn’t know what to be struck by more: the fact that a computer can translate Hebrew at all, or the fact that when it does, it does so atrociously.

Observation ·
The Hebrew of the Bible has many more ands than does modern English prose, a feature that's surprisingly crucial to its literary power.

Response ·
Robert Alter himself conspicuously does not call his own version Jewish in any way. Can we?

Monthly Essay ·
Finished after decades of labor, this one-man English translation is a stupendous achievement. How does it hold up against the masterpieces (and follies) that have come before?

Observation ·
The 400-year-old translation is denigrated because of its archaic language. That's one of its greatest strengths.

Observation ·
Why we read the book of Ruth on Shavuot.

Observation ·
The Song of Songs and the old men, filled with longing, who sing it.

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