Several years ago I wrote in this column about the Piyut Yetziv Pigam which is recited on the second day of Shavuot before the reading of the Haftara.
I remarked that in some English renderings of this Piyut– including that printed in the Artscroll Siddur– the translation of the first two lines was not entirely correct.
Following are some comments on the translation of Yetziv Pitgam which appears in the recently published Artscroll Mahzor for Shavuoth.
The translation of the first line is identical with that offered by the Artscroll Siddur. The translator or translators of both ignored the fact the the first line alludes to B.T. Hagigah 16a and should be translated accordingly.
In the complete Metsudah Siddur, too the first line’s translation is not entirely correct.
As for the second line, the Artscroll Mahzor offers a translation which is altogether different from that of the Artscroll Siddur, but it too is “off the mark.”
Here are the Hebrew text and translation:
Ana Ana Beminyana Defasslin Arabe’ah Turim.
“I shall call out this praise among the numbered tribes that are inscribed in the four rows [of the Kohen Gadol’s breastplate].
The translation of the second part of this line is untenable and unacceptable.
Passlin doesn’t mean “are inscribed (or carved)”. In order to have the meaning which the translator ascribes to it, the text must read, Psilan with the preposition Al or Be (see Targum Onkelos Devarim 6:11). Moreover, the Hebrew word Turim (rows) has a different connotation than the Aramaic Turin. The latter means mountains.
Before continuing, I repeat the correct translation of the Piyut’s first two lines.
“True is the word (praise) for Him, Who is the ensign and model among the myriad myriads of angels. I say (the praise) among men “who are engaged in hewing four mountains” (i.e. Studying four orders of the Talmud, B. T. Megillah 28b).
In the article in Yetziv Pitgam I wrote:
The Piyut goes back to the time when Haftarot were still translated into Aramaic in the synagogue. After the reader had begun to read the Haftara, the Metargem (translator) – prior to embarking on his translation– recited a Reshut in which he sought permission from G-d and from the sages of the community to perform his task. At the end of the Reshut, he praised Jonathan Ben Uzziel, the translator of the Prophets, whose translation he was about to use.
In the Yetziv Pitgam included in the Mahzor Vitry, the line before the last refers explicitly to the translator. “As I stand and translate….” This line was omitted from the Yetziv Pitgam after the practice of translating the Haftarot ceased, I added:
The Mahzor Vitry, which was published from manuscript in 1889 includes a number of Reshuyot for the translator as well as Aramaic versions of some Haftarot. The publication of the Mahzor helped scholars identify the Yetziv Pitgam as a Reshut for the Metargem.
The translator of the Piyut in the Artcroll Siddur correctly explained that Yehonatan, referred to in the last line was Yehonathan ben Uzziel, the translator of the Prophets.
I was therefore, greatly surprised to discover that in the translation of the piyut, included in the Artscroll Mahzor, the name Yehonatan was eliminated and the word interpreted to mean: “G-d presented (the Torah)”. In the complete Metzudah Siddur, too Yonathan is translated in this manner.
This interpretation of the Piyut’s Yehonatan is not new. It is found in older translations. But then people were not aware of the true nature of Yetziv Pitgam and justly asked themselves what Yehonatan was doing there. Nowadays we know better. The Paytan did, indeed, refer to Yehonathan ben Uzziel.
One more point. In reading the acrostic of the Piyut, one must take into account that one line (the line before the last) of the original versions is missing in our editions. Consequently the acrostic is not Yaakov BeRabi Meir Levi– but as scholars have pointed out Yaakov BeRabi Meir, with the initials of the last four lines forming no word at all. (See Sh. H. Kook Iyunim UMekhkarim vol. 2 pp.203-204. No meaning should be atached to Levi (as do the editor of the Metzudah Siddur and others), for this word does not figure in the authentic acrostic. Some scholars believe that Rabbenu tam (Rabbi Yaakov ben Rabbi Meir) was the author of the Piyut.
The Jewish Press, Friday, May 31, 1991