''Me'am Lo'ez'' ( he, מעם לועז), initiated by Rabbi
Yaakov Culi Rabbi Yaakov Culi (a.k.a. Kuli or Chuli; he, יעקב כולי) was a Talmudist and biblical commentator of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who died in Constantinople on August 9, 1732.
Biography
He belonged to an exiled Spanish family, a ...
in 1730, is a widely studied
commentary on the
Tanakh
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
'' Judaeo-Spanish
Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew script: , Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: ), also known as Ladino, is a Romance languages, Romance language derived from Old Spanish language, Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain ...
. It is perhaps the best known publication in that language.
History
''Me'Am Lo'ez'' marked one of the first major printings of Judaeo-Spanish text in the Ottoman Empire. Following the
expulsion of Jews from Spain
The Expulsion of Jews from Spain was the expulsion from Spain following the Alhambra Decree in 1492, which was enacted in order to eliminate their influence on Spain's large '' converso'' population and to ensure its members did not revert to Jud ...
in 1492, many Sephardi Jews settled in the Ottoman Empire. These Jews bought with them their customs, culture and Judaeo-Spanish language. Hebrew remained the language of ritual, prayer and scholarship, but its comprehension by the Jewish masses had decreased. As time passed, many community leaders became concerned about the intellectual gap between the Jewish masses and their cultural leadership. This led several Jewish scholars to conclude that, in order to bring Judaism to the Jewish masses in the western Ottoman Empire, it should be done in their own language, Judaeo-Spanish, as educated men could read it, and it was in written in
Hebrew script. This major initiative was launched in 1730 with the printing of the first volume of ''Me'Am Lo'ez'', which was to be a thorough commentary on the Bible in Judaeo-Spanish. The printing of Me'Am Lo'ez marked the emergence of large scale printing activity in Judaeo-Spanish in the western Ottoman Empire in general and in Istanbul in particular.
Content
In Rabbi Culi's time, many individuals in Turkey were not sufficiently fluent in the
Hebrew language
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserve ...
to study the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
and its
commentaries in the original. Rabbi Culi thus undertook the "colossal task" of writing a
compendium
A compendium (plural: compendia or compendiums) is a comprehensive collection of information and analysis pertaining to a body of knowledge. A compendium may concisely summarize a larger work. In most cases, the body of knowledge will concern a s ...
of the major fields of Torah study. The commentary was to be user-friendly and was thus written in
Judaeo-Spanish
Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew script: , Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: ), also known as Ladino, is a Romance languages, Romance language derived from Old Spanish language, Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain ...
, the
Jewish language spoken by the
Sephardic
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
Jews in Turkey
The history of the Jews in Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Yahudileri or ; he, יהודים טורקים, Yehudim Turkim; lad, Djudios Turkos) covers the 2400 years that Jews have lived in what is now Turkey. There have been Jewish communities in An ...
.
The book was divided according to the
weekly Torah portion
It is a custom among religious Jewish communities for a weekly Torah portion to be read during Jewish prayer services on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The full name, ''Parashat HaShavua'' ( he, פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ), is p ...
(''
Parashat hashevua''); Rabbi Culi explains each chapter in detail according to the
Midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
and
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
, as well as discussing the relevant ''
Halacha
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...
'' as based on the
''Shulchan Aruch'' and ''
Mishneh Torah
The ''Mishneh Torah'' ( he, מִשְׁנֵה תּוֹרָה, , repetition of the Torah), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' ( he, ספר יד החזקה, , book of the strong hand, label=none), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law ('' ...
''. In his introduction Rabbi Culi personally guarantees that "everyone who reads the ''Me'am Loez'' every day will be able to answer in Heaven that he has learned the ''whole'' Torah, because all aspects of the Torah are covered on it".
Authorship
While Rabbi Culi died only two years later after completing the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...
and 2/3 of
Exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* E ...
, due to its mass popularity—and the extensive notes already written by Rabbi Culi—a decision was taken to complete the commentaries. Rabbi
Yitzhak Magriso
Yitzhak( ()) is a male first name, and is Hebrew for Isaac. Yitzhak may refer to:
People
* Yitzhak ha-Sangari, rabbi who converted the Khazars to Judaism
*Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995), Israeli politician and Prime Minister
*Yitzhak Shamir (1915– ...
completed
Exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* E ...
, and wrote the commentary on the books of
Leviticus and
Numbers
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
.
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...
was done by Rabbi
Yitzhak Bechor Agruiti. The commentary on
Joshua
Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...
was written by Rabbi
Rachamim Menachem Mitrani. The
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther ( he, מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, Megillat Esther), also known in Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the Jewish '' Tanakh'' (the Hebrew Bible). It is one of the ...
was done by Rabbi
Raphael Chiyya Pontremoli. Rabbi translated the works into Hebrew, although greatly deviated from the originals on their Nach commentaries and the book of Avoth. He also continued the Meam Loez work in Hebrew on many of the books of Nach that the sages before him did not write.
Translations
The ''Me'am Loez'' quickly became extremely popular in the Jewish communities of
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
, Spain,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
. With the decline of Judaeo-Spanish after the Holocaust, various
translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
s were produced, and the work can still be found in many
Orthodox synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...
s to this day. In 1967, a Hebrew translation, ''Yalkut Me'am Lo'ez'', was produced by Rabbi
Shmuel Kravitzer. The first English translation, the ''Torah Anthology'', was written (primarily) by Rabbi
Aryeh Kaplan
Aryeh Moshe Eliyahu Kaplan ( he, אריה משה אליהו קפלן; October 23, 1934 – January 28, 1983) was an American Orthodox rabbi, author, and translator, best known for his Living Torah edition of the Torah. He became well known as ...
. This translation made use of both Yerushalmi's Hebrew translation as well as Judaeo-Spanish manuscripts—which Kaplan checked against Yerushalmi's translation. The resulting work introduced Me'am Lo'ez to the broader
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
world.
In 1964, Gonzalo Maeso and Pascual Recuero, two
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
scholars, from the
University of Granada
The University of Granada ( es, Universidad de Granada, UGR) is a public university located in the city of Granada, Spain, and founded in 1531 by Emperor Charles V. With more than 60,000 students, it is the fourth largest university in Spain. Ap ...
produced a modern
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
printing. Their printing received criticism for the authors lack of knowledge in Turkish and Judaeo-Spanish, resulting "in an edition filled with inaccuracies".
Salvaremos el Meam Loez del olvido
' , Karen Gerson Sarhon, Institut Sepharade Europeen
An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body.
In some countries, institutes can ...
.
In 2000, Pilar Romeu published a critical edition of the indexes with a concordance and analysis. Another Spanish scholar, Rosa Asenjo, published a translation of the
Song of Songs (''Šir ha-širim'') volume authored by Hayim Y. Šakí (Constantinople, 1899).
[Asenjo, Rosa: El Meam loez de Cantar de los Cantares (Šir ha-širim) de Hayim Y. Šakí (Constantinopla, 1899) (Barcelona: Tirocinio, 2003).]
External links
Moznaim Publishing - ''Meam Loez''by Rabbi
Aryeh Kaplan
Aryeh Moshe Eliyahu Kaplan ( he, אריה משה אליהו קפלן; October 23, 1934 – January 28, 1983) was an American Orthodox rabbi, author, and translator, best known for his Living Torah edition of the Torah. He became well known as ...
Jacob Culi's Hebrew Introduction to ''Me'Am Lo'Ez''
''Me-am lo'ez'': Commentary on the book of Ruthcourtesy
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...
''Me-am lo'ez Turkish Translation by Gökhan Duran
References
{{Authority control
Hebrew Bible studies
Sephardi Jewish culture in Turkey
1730 books
Judaeo-Spanish literature
Sifrei Kodesh