Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' Speech at AIPAC, Haggadah Translations and the Use of the Present Perfect Tense

"But in every generation, they did so" - That is an interesting use of the past tense, especially as the Hebrew uses the present "But in every generation, they DO so." In the Jonathan Sacks Haggadah, translated by Jessica Sacks (his niece?), and published in the same year as this speech, we read the following translation: "For it was not only one man who rose up to destroy us: in every single generation people rise up to destroy us."

From the very first English translation of the Haggadah, translators have struggled with how to translate this sentence. Alexander, who was the first to translate the Haggadah into English in 1770 in London, rendered it: "even in several generations they arose up against us to destroy us." Not in every generation and certainly not in the present. This ties in with translators who have had difficulties translating anything which could be understood as anti non-Jews for example the Sfoch Chamatcha sentences.

But one can hardly accuse Rabbi Sacks of these sentiments. The whole continuation of his speech shows clearly his views on present-day antisemitism and I think his past tense use should be placed within the context of the anecdote from his youth. Still, in my opinion, the use of the present perfect (which is also a past tense) would have been better here: "in every generation, they have done so" because that links the past to the present (and they still do).

I've often heard people say that British English uses the perfect tenses far more than American English so it might be that Sacks was unconsciously adjusting his language-use to suit his audience. That he was aware of language differences between these two groups can be seen from his opening remarks:

"Beloved friends, I am actually only here to give you a change of accents. I just hope you don't need simultaneous translation"

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