Jewish English Bible translations: Encyclopedia II - Jewish English Bible translations - Lack of centrality

Jewish English Bible translations - Lack of centrality

In general, English Bible translation has been less central and not as widespread among Jews as among Christians (the latter having produced dozens of modern translations and versions in English along with sets of initials to distinguish them). This is partially due to the fact that English became the major spoken language among Jews only in the era since the holocaust. Before then, even Jews in English-speaking countries were still part of an immigrant culture to a large extent, which meant that they could either understand the Hebrew Bible in its original language to a certain degree or, if they required a translation, were still not fully comfortable in English. Many translated Bibles and prayer books from before the holocaust were still in Yiddish, even those published in countries like the United States.

A further reason that English Bible translation is less central to Jews than Christians is that often, those Jews who study the Bible regularly still do so, to a greater or lesser extent, in its original language, as it is read in the synagogue. Even those who require translations often prefer a bilingual edition.

Nevertheless, Jewish translations of the Bible to English have become far more widespread, especially since the 1980s, and been made available in numerous complementary versions and styles. This article lists many Jewish translations with short descriptions (and sometimes with links to fuller, in-depth articles about specific translations).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Lack of centrality", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki