Epistle

I have seen that you have broken with the custom of [reciting] the Aramaic translation of the Torah in your synagogues, and in this, you have submitted to the ignorant among you, who claim they do not need it and that they know the whole Hebrew language without it. [They are convinced of that] to such an extent that some people from among you mentioned that they had never read the Targum of either the Pentateuch or the Prophets. But the Targum—may God bestow honors upon you—was never put aside by your forefathers, nor was it rejected by your ancestors. The sages never stopped studying it; your forefathers were always in need of it. Your fathers knew its usefulness, and your grandfathers were never lax in teaching it in Iraq, in Egypt, in Africa, and in al-Andalus. [ . . . ]

Therefore, I thought it appropriate to compose this book for those who possess understanding and intellect, so that they may know that Aramaic words are scattered in the holy language of scripture, that Arabic expressions are mixed in it, and that foreign and Berber words can be found in it. [This is true] particularly [of] the Arabic language, for many of its peculiar words we have found to be pure Hebrew, to such an extent that the only difference between Hebrew and Arabic is substitution of the [Hebrew letter] ṣād and the [Arabic letter] ḍād, the gimel and the jīm, the ṭā’ and the ẓā’, the ‘ayn and the ghayn, the ḥā’ and the khā’, and the zāy and the dhāl. The reason they are similar and have been mingled is both the proximity of their territories and the closeness of their lineage, since Terah, the father of Abraham, was Syrian [and so spoke Aramaic], and Laban was also Syrian. Ishmael and Kedar [the Arabs] began to speak Arabic from [the time of] the generation of the division [of the languages] at the time of the confusion [of the languages] in Babel. But Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—peace be upon them—retained the holy language from [the time of] Adam, the first man. And the [three] languages became assimilated due to the mingling [of the people], as we can see in the case of every land that is adjacent to another land having a different language: some of their words become mixed, and they borrow each other’s language. [ . . . ]

For my name’s sake I defer my anger [api, my nose] and for the sake of my praise I restrain [eḥeṭam] [myself] for you, so that I may not cut you off (Isaiah 48:9).

The word nose in the language of the Mishnah is ḥoṭem, and the word noseband [of a camel] [khiṭām] is ḥaṭam, as it [the Mishnah] says in [the passage] concerning the Sabbath: “Under which conditions can an animal go out on the Sabbath? The camel can go out with a halter, and the female camel with a noseband [ḥaṭam]” [m. Shabbat 5:1]. For the nose has three names: af, ḥoṭem, and neḥirayim. [ . . . ] Their meanings [i.e., the corresponding Arabic words] are anf, mankharayn, and kham, since when a person is angry and furious, this is associated with the nose, because when the heart burns [with wrath], it [i.e., the nose] is where the breath becomes short, and inhalation is compressed. [ . . . ]

Words such as these, indicating corporeality, as well as qualities and attributes, have been said with respect to God. All this is merely how people talk, as the sages have said; the Torah speaks in the language of man. Therefore [the following things] were attributed to God: nose, lips, mouth, tongue, and spirit, which all seem to indicate anger and fury. They all actually mean the infliction of punishment and recompense [for sin]. [ . . . ]

[Positive] attributes do not apply to God, not [even] keeping silent, resting after moving, being tranquil after unrest, or speaking aloud after silence. Rather, [scripture], as we have already mentioned, uses [phrases that are] close to the minds of the people [and that reflect] what they say and what they understand from their [physical] states and natural dispositions. And he who interprets all [such difficulties in scripture] in accordance with [the principle that] the Torah speaks in the language of man avoids recklessly stating abominable things about God. His mind is freed from doubts and is protected from [thinking] irrational things about the attributes of the Creator. He will not need to invent impossible translations or insert awkward interpretations that do not accord with either Hebrew or Arabic, [or] that emerge from unsatisfactory places. [ . . . ]

The first thing we say is that the Aramaic words that can be found in scripture might be isolated cases that have neither equivalents nor parallels in the language. [ . . . ] Or they might be similar to other [words in] the Hebrew language in pronunciation but different in meaning, having been detached from the Hebrew by being separated from the category of Hebrew and being assimilated to Aramaic.

[Hebrew:] ḥashav—[Arabic:] ḥasaba

[The Hebrew verse:] ve-lo yeḥashevu et ha-anashim [can be translated into Arabic as:] they reckoned [yuḥāsibū] not with the men (2 Kings 12:16). The Hebrew and the Arabic also correspond [in the words for] an opinion that a man thinks about, since God said: My thoughts [maḥshevotay] are not your thoughts [maḥshevotekhem] (Isaiah 55:8); What do you devise [teḥashevun] against God? (Nahum 1:9). And it is said in the Qur’ān: He thinks [yaḥsabu] that his property will make him immortal (Qur’ān 104:3); Does man think [yaḥsabu] that he will be left uncontrolled? (Qur’ān 75:36).