Wednesday, July 3, 2019

history - Why don't we use a translator during Torah reading?


Outside of the Teimanim I am not aware of any other segments of Judaism that still employ a meturgamen (translator) during kriat ha'torah. Why has this practice fallen into disuse?



Answer



The Shulchan Aruch OC 145:3 says that:



האידנא לא נהגו לתרגם, משום דמה תועלת בתרגום כיון שאין מבינים אותו:
And nowadays the custom is not to translate [to Aramaic] because what benefit is there to do so since we do not understand it.



Additionally, the Tur there quotes a Yerushalmi that says that the meturgeman is not me'ackeiv (prevents the fulfillment of the mitzva of reading the Torah).


Also, Tosfot (Megillah 23b sv Lo) learns from the gemara there that even at the times of the gemara, only some places had meturgemanin and some did not, implying that it was only a custom, not an obligation. This helps explain why we can just drop it when it doesn't serve it's intended purpose.



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