Hebrew Synagogue has relaunched its website with the Text Repository at the centre of its commitment to preserve the original Hebrew and Aramaic texts and provide accurate, faithful and reliable translations.
The Repository currently brings together the original texts of all 39 books of the Tanakh. Its English and Yiddish translation programme, now approaching completion, includes trilingual Reading Notes explaining difficult wording, identifying interpretative decisions and keeping the reader’s attention firmly on the source.
The project addresses a fundamental responsibility: readers who depend upon translation must be able to distinguish what the original says from what a translator has understood, inferred or inherited from earlier inaccurate publishing conventions.
“The Hebrew and Aramaic are our source and our measure,” said Rabbi Rami ben Ze’ev, Executive Director of Hebrew Synagogue. “A familiar English expression does not become authoritative simply because generations of publishers have repeated it. Every translation decision must remain accountable to the text.”
A revealing example concerns the book identified in the Repository as קהלת — Kohelet.
Oddly, Sefaria, which describes itself as “A Living Library of Torah”, presents the book under the English title “Ecclesiastes”. That title derives from the Greek rendering transmitted through the Septuagint and later Latin tradition, although the Hebrew name Kohelet appears in the opening passage and is retained within the displayed English translation itself.
According to the tradition, preserved in the Letter of Aristeas, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus, commissioned scholars to translate the Torah into Greek for inclusion in his royal library at Alexandria in the mid-to-late 3rd century BCE. The undertaking served a Greek-speaking royal collection; its sponsorship should not be confused with the authority of the original Hebrew. The resulting Greek translation tradition subsequently became deeply embedded in Christianity and remains foundational to Eastern Orthodox usage. Within Rabbinic Judaism, the Hebrew remained authoritative, while Greek-speaking Jewish communities also turned to other Greek versions.
The Revised JPS translation displayed by Sefaria is based on the Hebrew text, yet the English heading uses the Greek-derived title “Ecclesiastes” in place of the Hebrew name Kohelet. Hebrew Synagogue’s criticism therefore concerns the continued prominence of the inherited Greek-derived title and the translation choices presented beneath it.
“A library presenting itself as a living library of Torah should be prepared to explain why an inherited Greek-derived title takes precedence over the Hebrew name,” said Rabbi Rami. “Our position is clear: the Hebrew name comes first. Jewish texts should be encountered through their own language and identity.”
The significance of translation becomes still more apparent in Perek 1, Pasuk 2. The Hebrew reads:
The words are: “הבל הבלים אמר קהלת הבל הבלים הכל הבל”.
The Revised JPS translation displayed on Sefaria renders this:
“Utter futility!—said Koheleth—Utter futility! All is futile!”
The Hebrew Synagogue Repository renders the same passage:
“Fleetingness of fleetingness, says Kohelet; fleetingness of fleetingness, all is fleeting.”
The Hebrew word הבל — hevel — carries the image of breath or vapour: something transient, elusive and impossible to hold permanently. Hebrew Synagogue’s chosen rendering preserves that image by foregrounding fleetingness.
This is a consequential distinction. “Fleeting” describes something that passes quickly. While, “Futile” can suggest something pointless, ineffective or unworthy of effort. A reader encountering those expressions may reach substantially different conclusions about the value of life and the purpose of human action.
“Life is brief. That makes our responsibility within it urgent,” said Rabbi Rami. “We should grasp the opportunities to learn, to act rightly, to fulfil our obligations and to serve G-D. The passing nature of life must not casually be confused with an absence of meaning.”
The Repository’s reading also considers the book as a whole. Kohelet calls for purposeful action during life and concludes with reverence for G-D and observance of His commandments. Its reflections on transience, frustration and human limitation must be understood alongside those demands.
Hebrew Synagogue recognises that hevel requires careful judgement in context. Its rendering of this opening declaration is a deliberate interpretative choice, explained openly rather than concealed behind the familiarity of an established English phrase.
The same discipline guides the wider translation programme. Names, family relationships and distinctions between parallel accounts are preserved. References to G-D are distinguished from references to human rulers or false worship. Figurative expressions are explained, and uncertainty is acknowledged where the wording admits more than one reasonable understanding.
The original Hebrew and Aramaic remain available for comparison. Readers able to study them directly are encouraged to do so; the translations and Reading Notes support that encounter and give other readers a dependable route towards understanding.
“No institution’s reputation removes the need to examine its editorial choices,” Rabbi Rami said. “That principle applies to our own work as well. Our responsibility is to preserve the text, explain our decisions and provide translations that readers can scrutinise against the original.
“The purpose of the Hebrew Synagogue Text Repository is to help people approach G-D’s word faithfully, with the care and seriousness it demands.”
About Hebrew Synagogue
Hebrew Synagogue is a Scotland-based company limited by guarantee, operating Beth Israel Synagogue and a family of services supporting learning, community welfare and Jewish life. We affirm that dividing Judaism into “Orthodox, Conservative and Reform” is an artificial construct. All Jews share one תורה. There are more-observant Jews and less-observant Jews, but we remain one people. We describe our approach as Tanakh-Observant. The Tanakh is the foundational and controlling authority in Jewish observance. We study and value the Oral Torah and later rabbinic authorities as sources of interpretation, tradition and wisdom, provided that their application neither contradicts nor circumvents the clear meaning and commandments of the Tanakh. For more information go to https://hebrewsynagogue.org.
ENDS