TheYeshiva.net - Rabbi YY Jacobson

Megillah 8b-9b: Translating the Torah Into Greek

Why the Greek Language Was Welcomed Into the Jewish Tent

1 hr 12 min

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Class Summary:

This class was presented on Tuesday Parshas Terumah, 30 Shevat, 5780, February 25, 2020, at the Ohr Chaim Shul, Monsey, NY

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Gemarah Megillah

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S
Sara -4 years ago
The Translation
Interesting story about the translation. Amazing that all 72 translated exactly the same. That is probably the most impressive part of the story, but I'm thinking that without the benefit of the commentaries, and the commentaries that we have and the Oral Torah handed down, many people including Jews who didn't/don't believe in the Oral Torah would have thought the same thing about those verses as the Greeks thought. If those 72 sages were concerned about the interpretation, which they obviously were, it makes me wonder why the verses were written by Gd in a way that would be so easily misinterpreted. I know and am learning that there are many layers t Torah and I understand that that allows for diversity, but why so much confusion and why not clearer for people to understand. Wouldn't that bring us together more? I also understand that GD has HIS ways and many, most we have no clue about, but again, doesn't the confusion and misinterpretations/interpretations separate us more than brings us together?
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- Anonymous -4 years ago
  this shiur might help
  
  https://www.simpletoremember.com/media/a/Rational_Approach_Divinity_Oral_Tradition-B/
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Anonymous -4 years ago
72
Look at The Vina Gaon's Perush to Shir Hashirim (1:2) with the explanation of Rav Shlomo Brevda Ztl and he references the gemara in Megilah that 72 is representing the Sanhedrin.
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Anonymous -4 years ago
72
ישנם מקורות נוספים המזכירים שבעים ושניים חברים בסנהדרין. האדם הנוסף הוא מי שמכונה המופלא שבבית הדין. את הנקודה הזאת מסביר הרב ראובן מרגליות (בספרו מרגלית בים הסנהדרין). הוא מביא מספר מקורות המעידים על כך שהמופלא הוא בעל חכמה גדולה מאוד, שלמרות שהוא אינו נמנה בין חברי הסנהדרין הרשמיים, יש לו זכות וטו. המופלא שבבית הדין מכונה בדרך כלל אב בית הדין. אם אב בית הדין נמצא במיעוט המתנגד לפסיקה מסוימת, אזי לא יכולים לפסוק על פי הרוב. אמנם אין בכוחו של אב בית הדין לגבור על הרוב ולפסוק הלכה כמותו, אך לא ניתן לגבור עליו. באופן זה יכול להיווצר מצב בו מחלוקת בסנהדרין אינה מגיעה להכרעה, במידה ואב בית הדין נמצא במיעוט.
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M
Moshe -4 years ago
Imagine you were one of the 72 sages
What went through your mind? (How did each know Greek anyway?). Each had to ask himself whether to translate accurately into Greek, or to say "Hashem will help me and my brothers " and make the necessary changes and rely that their individual changes would match the others.

But, we don't rely on a miracle?!

Is it possible that each wrote on parchment whatever he wrote, accurate translation or not, changing none or some or all the difficult phrases accordingly, and then AFTER they all finished, Hashem made a miracle and changed all 72 writings to be the same? Like He does with the miracle of the scapegoat and the red thread, like krias yam suf, like the suspended letters in the luchos,like the suspected adulteress procedure, etc.?

With that explnation the 72 did not rely on a miracle but it occured after they were done.
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