929/Gen. 31-36: Aramaic

Elijah said to me: What voice did you hear in that ruin? I responded: I heard a Heavenly voice, cooing like a dove and saying: Woe to the children, due to whose sins I destroyed My house, burned My Temple, and exiled them among the nations. And Elijah said to me: By your life and by your head, that voice cries out three times each and every day. Moreover, when Israel enters synagogues and study halls and answers in the kaddish prayer, May His great name be blessed, the Holy One, shakes His head and says: Happy is the king who is thus praised in his house. How great is the pain of the father who exiled his children, and woe to the children who were exiled from their father’s table.

why does the world continue to exist when the merit of the Temple is no more? By the sanctification that in the order, and by the response: Let His great name be blessed, etc., which is recited after the study of aggada. As it is stated: “A land of thick darkness, as darkness in the shadow of death, without any order” (Job 10:22), which implies that if there were orders, the land would emerge from the darkness.

(1) The Laws of Kedushat Uva Le'tzion. Containing 2 Se'ifim:
We translate the k'dusha of "Uva l'tzion" and one needs to be very careful to say it with concentration. Rem"a: Concerning whether one who is praying alone says it, it is like the k’dusha in “Yotzer” (the first bracha of Kriat Shema) - see above siman 59. And with the k'dusha that is translated, the individual says it but two [people praying together] do not, and it should not be said out loud. (Beit Yosef - siman 59)

(4) One who reads from the Torah should not read fewer than three verses. And, he should not read to the translator more than one verse, so that the translator will not become confused. And with regard to the Prophets, three verses (since there's no risk it might lead to an error in practice). If the three verses constitute three separate paragraphs, one must read them to the translator one by one. One may skip while reading the Prophets, but one may not skip in the Torah reading. How far may he skip? As far as he can roll while the translator is still translating.

Was the translation of the Torah really composed by Onkelos the convert? Didn’t Rav Ika bar Avin say that Rav Ḥananel said that Rav said: that which is written: “And they (Ezra) read in the book, the Torah of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, and they caused them to understand the reading” (Neh. 8:8)? The verse should be understood as follows: “And they read in the book, the Torah of God,” this is the scriptural text; “distinctly,” this is the translation. “And they gave the sense,” these are the divisions into separate verses. “And they caused them to understand the reading,” these are the cantillation notes. And some say that these are the Masoretic traditions. The ancient Aramaic translation was forgotten and then Onkelos came and reestablished it.

This is the bread of destitution that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Anyone who is famished should come and eat, anyone who is in need should come and partake of the Pesach sacrifice. Now we are here, next year we will be in the land of Israel; this year we are slaves, next year we will be free people.

(1) Before reciting the Ten Commandments,

(2) I first ask permission and approval

(7) All vows, and things we have made forbidden on ourselves, and oaths, and items we have consecrated to the Temple, and vows issued with the expression “konum,” and vows which are abbreviated, and vows issued with the expression “kanos,” that we have vowed, and sworn, and dedicated, and made forbidden upon ourselves...

(7) Rabbi Shimeon said: When we take the Torah scroll in a congregation, the gates of Heaven of mercy open themselves, and we arouse Love on High, and it is required that a person say the following:

(8) Blessed is the Name of the Master of the Universe,...