Tagging the Psalms
Post date: Oct 21, 2015 11:56:57 AM
In order to be able to compare multiple texts, I am manually tagging the translations using generic tags. For example, names of persons in the text (like "Rabbi Akiba", "the master of the house", "the wise son") are tagged with the <np></np> tag. Names of locations (like "Jerusalem", "Raamses", "Bnei Brak") are tagged with <nl></nl>, names of God ("God", "Lord", "Eternal") with <nd></nd> and names of nations ("Egyptions", "Children of Israel", "Armenian") with <nn></nn>.
But sometimes the tag to be placed is ambiguous. Take for example the following text which is the beginning of Psalm 114 and appears in the Haggadah just before the meal starts: "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of alien tongue, Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His domination ." (1)
The first Israel here is the Jewish nation who went out of Egypt and should therefore be tagged with <nn>. Egypt is obviously <nl>. Although the "Jacob" in the next part would seem a person, the expression "house of Jacob" actually stands for the Jewish nation as well, hence again <nn>.
The next "Judah" and "Israel" are more problematic. The Hebrew "Judah" can mean the person Judah, son of Jacob in which case it should be tagged <np>, or the geographical area of Judah (Judea) in which case it is a location <nl> or the Tribe Judah in which case it is more like a nation <nn>! The same goes for "Israel" which can be, according to the context of the text, a person (Another name for Jacob), a place or a nation...
The Artscroll Tanach Series on the Book of Psalms (2) offers commentaries anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic and
Rabbinic Sources. It's explanation of Psalm 114 tells us that after the departure of Israel from Egypt, it was the prince of the tribe of Judah, Nachshon ben Aminadav, who was the first to jump into the threatening waters of the Sea of Reeds (before the waters split). He did so, in order to show his confidence in God and thus sanctified God's name by Judah's willingness to face martyrdom (Rashi). Therefore. "Judah" here means the tribe of Judah and should be tagged <nn>
"Israel" in this text is obviously not the present State of Israel, which came into being only in 1948, nor the Land of Israel because the text states that Israel became HIS (meaning God's) domination. The Children of Israel had not yet reached the Land of Israel and it would take them another 40 years to get there. Artscroll offers the explanation of the Maharal who explains that because of (the tribe of) Judah's devotion to Him, God entered into an intimate relationship with Israel. That would also explain why the feminine form of the verb for "Judah became" is used in the Hebrew (היתה) with God as bridegroom and Judah styled as the bride. as shown here, "Israel" in this case means "The People of Israel" and should be tagged <nn>.
Throughout the tagging of the psalms, many problems like these pop up and in several cases only a thorough study of secondary sources helps to disambiguate the multiplicity of meanings in the Hebrew original.
(1) בצאת ישראל Translation taken from Elias, J. Rabbi (1977), Artscroll Haggadah, Mesorah Publications Ltd., NY
(2) Feuer, A. C. Rabbi (1977), Artscroll Tanach Series - Psalms. Mesorah Publications Ltd. NY