The Babylonian Talmud on Translating the Scriptural Reading

It was taught: [This] is not the case with regard to [reading] the Torah, [which may be read only by a single person]. The sages taught: [When reading from] the Torah, one [person] reads and one may translate [the reading into Aramaic for the congregation], provided that there are not one [person] reading and two [people] translating, [because two voices cannot be heard simultaneously]. And [when reading from] the Prophets, one [person] reads and two may translate, [as there is less of a need to ensure that everyone hears the precise translation, as the Prophets do not teach halakhah. This is the case] provided that there are not two [people] reading and two translating. And [when reciting] Hallel and [reading] the Megillah, even ten [people] may read and ten may translate.

Translation adapted from the Noé Edition of the Koren Talmud Bavli.

Notes

Words in brackets appear in the original translation.

Credits

From Koren Talmud Bavli, Noé Edition, trans. Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019). Accessed via the William Davidson digital edition, sefaria.org. Adapted with permission of Koren Publishers Ltd.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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