Translation of the Torah into Greek: Global Honor or Terrible Disaster?

The Septuagint translation raised the status of the Jews in Egypt. Ptolemy ordered the translated Torah books to be kept in the library, where they would remain pure. He invited the seventy elders to his palace occasionally to learn from their Jewish wisdom and gifted each with precious presents, also sending immense gifts to the High Priest, Elazar, in Jerusalem. A large Jewish community was established in Alexandria, composed of thousands of freed slaves by Ptolemy and many who joined them. They built the largest synagogue in the world.

Throughout the Hellenistic world, the significance of Jewish laws, previously unknown, began to be recognized. King Seleucus Nicator, ruling from Syria to India, granted Jews citizen rights in the polises he established, equal to those of Greeks. Since Jews avoided non-Jewish oil, they received a special allowance for kosher oil according to Jewish laws wherever they went. This right was honored for centuries, respected even by the Romans. During the time of Roman Marcus Agrippa, two hundred years after Jewish rights laws were established, a Greek delegation complained about this law, arguing: if Jews are honored like Greeks, why don't they worship Greek idols? The defense for the Jews was a famous historian, Nicolaus of Damascus, who wrote world history in one hundred and forty-four volumes (144!). In his books, he mentioned Noah after the flood, Abraham, 'Moses, the lawgiver of the Jews,' and King David. He showed that the Greeks received ancient Jewish traditions and proved the Jewish religion's antiquity and value. Indeed, the laws didn't change.

Theophrastus, a disciple of Aristotle, said Jews were 'the philosophers among the Syrians.' Clearchus, another student of Aristotle, described a meeting between Aristotle and a Jew, where Aristotle was impressed by his counterpart's philosophical greatness and the unique moral laws of the Jews. He particularly noted that the Jew 'knew how to conquer his desires' and that Jewish education and study brought special wisdom. Aristotle said that Judea is a state of philosophers. A Greek writer named Hermippos recorded in his first book on lawmakers that the Greek scholar Pythagoras drew philosophy from the Jewish people and introduced it among the Greeks. Writers Hecataeus of Abdera and Megasthenes, living in Ptolemy's time, wrote that Jewish belief is abstract, wise, and grasps the unity of the universe and the unity of God.

When comparing the Jewish people's honor rise after the translation and the non-Jews' recognition of the Torah's contents, we might assume that this greatly pleased the Jewish sages. But that wasn't the case. The sages said: 'The day was as difficult for Israel as the day the golden calf was made, because the Torah could not be fully translated' (Tractate Soferim 1:7). Not only that, but they also designated that day as a fast, as darkness fell upon the world: 'On the eighth of Tevet, the Torah was written in Greek in the days of King Ptolemy, and darkness came upon the world for three days' (Seder Olam Rabbah).

Why? The explanation given by the sages is that 'the Torah could not be fully translated.' Indeed, in the Holy Tongue, in which the Torah was given by Hashem, all secrets and mysteries are embedded, and every letter and crown has meaning and reason. In Greek translation, there is no way to convey this fully, true and solid. Yet, the Torah remained mostly written in the Holy Tongue, with a Greek copy in Ptolemy's library. Where is the great disaster? After all, didn't this elevate the prestige of Israel?

We will see the answer in the following chapters.

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