I put this post together in 2015, but it is relevant for the three weeks:
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Today we commenced a small period of mourning, spanning the 8th, 9th and 10th of Tebheth. On the 8th (in the year of 3515 (246/410BCE)), Talmai (Ptolemy Philadelphius) forced the hand of 72 Jewish scholars to prepare a translation of the Torah into Greek [1] [2] [3].
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While it might have been thought that the translation would have been a great support to Torah study to the community of 100,000 Jews who had been forcefully relocated to Egypt and had begun losing their fluency of the Hebrew language, a separate source recounts this event as well as an earlier failed attempt at a Greek translation whereby Ptolemy convened five scholars, as a day as tragic as the day the Children of Israel engaged in the sin of the golden calf. The reasoning given being that “the Torah could not be fully translated [as intended]” [4].
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This loss of lingual sovereignty can be understood even through a modern lens, as there have been significant studies that speak of the detriment to a traditional community losing its language. This linguicide, as has been termed, contributes to and is symptomatic of a cultural breakdown, and is associated with poorer physical and mental health outcomes, as well as lowered life expectancies [5].
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Referring back to the tragedy of the translation of the Torah, and the following day of mourning, the 9th of Tebheth, the translation would greatly have reversed the efforts of `Ezra the prophet who passed on that day in the year 3448 (313/477BCE), and who had tried to turn the tide of Jewish assimilation after the destruction of the first temple.
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Going even further back in time to the year 3336 (425/589BCE), and the 10th of Tebheth for which a public fast day was instituted - as opposed to the other two days, on which it is considered appropriate but only some people have a tradition to fast (refer back to note 1) - to remember the tragic loss that was about to befall the remnants of Israel when the Babylonian King, Nebukhadnesar laid a siege on Jerusalem. The siege continued for three years, until the 9th of Tammuz 3338, when the walls were breached and then finally the first temple destroyed on the 9th of Abh.
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The 9th of Tammuz interestingly is commemorated by one segment of Jews, those who hail from Ethiopia, and who believe to be of the lost tribe of Dan. While most communities who did not lose contact with the rest of the Jewish world would fast on the 17th of Tammuz regarding the breaching of the walls by the Romans, those of the Tribe of Dan would not have known about the second temple having been destroyed, and so continued to fast on the 9th of Tammuz.
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As in recent times, may the nation of Israel merit to continue the ingathering of exiles.
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===Footnotes===
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[1] Shulhan `Arukh, 'Orah Hayim, 580:2
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[2] Talmudh Babhli, Meghillah, 9a
א"ר יהודה אף כשהתירו רבותינו יונית לא התירו אלא בספר תורה ומשום מעשה דתלמי המלך דתניא מעשה בתלמי המלך שכינס שבעים ושנים זקנים והכניסן בשבעים ושנים בתים ולא גילה להם על מה כינסן ונכנס אצל כל אחד ואחד ואמר להם כתבו לי תורת משה רבכם נתן הקב"ה בלב כל אחד ואחד עצה והסכימו כולן לדעת אחת
“...said R Judah, even though our rabbis allowed Greek [translation of texts], they only allowed this for a Sepher Torah, because of the saga of Talmai the King....from whom we learn that he assembled and then placed seventy two elders in seventy two separate houses and did not tell them for what reason he had assembled them, and then told each elder separately “write for me the Torah of Moses your teacher. God gave counsel to each and everyone of the elders so that they wrote the translation with the same opinion…[then a few instances in which non-literal translations into Greek are listed; translated non-literally as to do so would have produced erroneous understandings of the text].”
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[3] Regardless the abovementioned is thus concluded:
רשב"ג אומר אף בספרים לא התירו שיכתבו אלא יונית: א"ר אבהו א"ר יוחנן הלכה כרשב"ג וא"ר יוחנן מ"ט דרשב"ג אמר קרא (בראשית ט) יפת אלהים ליפת וישכן באהלי שם דבריו של יפת יהיו באהלי שם ואימא גומר ומגוג א"ר חייא בר אבא היינו טעמא דכתיב יפת אלהים ליפת יפיותו של יפת יהא באהלי שם:
that is, indicating that Greek is the language of the offspring of Yepheth (one of Noah’s sons) and that “the elegance of Yepheth will be found in the tents [i.e. the study halls] of Shem”
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Maimonides similarly concludes in his restatement of law, that there is some allowance for having holy texts written in Greek, but that since that [dialect of] Greek has been forgotten we do not do so:
משנה תורה - ספר אהבה - הלכות תפילין ומזוזה וספר תורה - הִלְכּוֹת תְּפִלִּין פֵּרֶק א
יט אֵין כּוֹתְבִין תְּפִלִּין וּמְזוּזוֹת, אֵלָא בִּכְתָב אַשּׁוּרִי. וְהִתִּירוּ בַּסְּפָרִים, לְכָתְבָן אַף בִּיוָנִי בִּלְבָד; וּכְבָר נִשְׁתַּקַּע יְוָנִי מִן הָעוֹלָם, וְנִשְׁתַּבַּשׁ וְאָבַד--לְפִיכָּךְ אֵין כּוֹתְבִין הַיּוֹם שְׁלָשְׁתָּן, אֵלָא אַשּׁוּרִי…
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[4] . מסכת סופרים - פרק א, הלכה ז
“והיה אותו היום קשה לישראל כיום שנעשה בו העגל, שלא הייתה התורה יכולה להתרגם כל צרכה”
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[5] First People's reference
