Jewish Family Education with Candace R. Kwiatek, The Dayton Jewish Observer

Years ago, my girlfriend noticed her new co-worker surreptitiously examining her throughout the day.

Puzzled, she finally asked why and was stunned to learn that her co-worker was looking for horns.

Egregious misconceptions about Jews and Judaism are common: Jews are a race; all Jews are smart, affluent, and Democrats; “chosen people” means superior; Jews use human blood for rituals.

Fallacies surrounding the Hebrew Bible are equally abundant. In no order of importance, here are some of the more frequent and interesting misconceptions about Judaism I have encountered.

Jews have horns. Michelangelo sculpted his famous image of Moses with two horns protruding from his head based on an early mistranslation of the Hebrew word karan in the Bible, which describes Moses’ face as he descended Mt. Sinai with the Tablets.

In context, karan meant shone, radiated, or beamed. But karan also means ray (as in light) or horn (as for a ram).

Unfortunately, when translated into Greek and Latin, Moses’ face was inaccurately described as horned rather than radiant.

In the era of the Crusades, this mistranslation was seized upon to depict all Jews with horns, like the devil, an anti-semitic image that persists in some quarters even today.

There’s little difference between reading the Bible in translation or in the original Hebrew. Karan is not the only mistranslation with far-reaching consequences.

In the Decalogue, the sixth commandment is often written as “Thou shalt not kill,” although the Hebrew clearly states lo tirtzach, do not murder.

Connotation can also influence translation: the Hebrew in Isaiah 7:14 describes a young maiden, alma, about to give birth to a son named Immanuel. Using the connotation of virgin rather than the literal meaning young maiden for the word alma, this verse appears in the Greek as a virgin giving birth, familiar imagery in Christian tradition.

Words may be changed in a translation. Perhaps influenced by Greek mythological symbols, the Latin version transformed Eve’s unidentified forbidden fruit into an apple, an image later popularized by Renaissance art. Not everyone can read the Hebrew text, but be aware of these and other pitfalls of translations.

The Jewish people are legalistic. The word Torah means direction (from its root in archery, yareh, meaning to shoot an arrow to hit its mark), teaching, instruction, or doctrine.

The same root is at the core of teacher, moreh, and parent, horeh. Torah’s direction includes laws, traditions, ethics, rituals, history and more.

However, when Greek and Latin scriptures translated Torah as “law,” they ignored its linguistic roots and captured only a sliver of its meaning, conveying the image of a narrow legalism rather than a rich multi-faceted tradition.

Kashrut is a primitive health code. Certainly a kosher diet emphasizing fruits, vegetables, and grains along with those animals least likely to carry disease offers many health benefits.

But how do prohibitions against boiling a kid in its mother’s milk, using the blood, or engaging in hunting or trapping fit the health code notion?

Furthermore, if health were at stake, how could the Torah explicitly allow the sale or donation of non-kosher foods to strangers or foreigners (Deut. 14:21), in direct conflict with the command not to wrong or oppress a stranger?

Kashrut is a pathway to self-discipline, moral sensitivity, and holiness and only tangentially to a healthy diet.

The Hebrew Bible commands love, not hate. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” the Torah teaches, and expressions of loving are woven throughout the biblical text. But don’t be misled; the Bible also commands hate, as expressed in Ecclesiastes: “A season is set for everything… A time for loving and a time for hating…”

But biblical hatred is limited to one target: evil. If we don’t hate evil, commentator Dennis Prager cautions, we will try to avoid it, ignore it, or escape it with dire consequences. Only hatred can incite us to morally transform evil.

In the Bible, Abraham smashes idols, Moses grabs coals, and spiders save David. Midrash, rabbinic commentary to clarify or interpret a law or text, is often mistaken for the text itself, especially when written in story form.

Such is the case of these three commonly but wrongly attributed tales. All three are midrash and cannot be found anywhere in the biblical text (you can find these tales in midrash, folktales, and online).

The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and the Christian Old Testament are identical. While all Bibles begin with the Five Books of Moses and generally contain the same books, the Tanakh and Old Testament are different.

The Tanakh continues with Prophets — Joshua through Kings followed by the Minor Prophets — and ends with the Writings, including such books as Esther and Psalms. The Old Testament continues with the Historical Writings (Joshua through Kings, Chronicles, Ruth and Esther); Poetry and Wisdom (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon); and Prophets.

This rearrangement places the Prophets closest to the New Testament. Despite the altered arrangement of texts, occasional differences in verse numbers and texts, and additional books in Catholic Bibles, I find a variety of Bibles in research and classroom studies enhances the learning potential.

Ben Azzai is quoted in the Talmud as saying, “He who, for the sake of learning, lowers himself by exposing his ignorance, will ultimately be elevated.” Exposing our myths and misconceptions works much the same. Join the journey to a higher elevation.

Family Discussion: Which of these misconceptions was familiar? A surprise? What misconceptions about the Bible might you hold, and how would you know?

Literature to share

The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah by Leslie Kimmelman. A familiar children’s tale is retold with a bit of Yiddish, some unexpected twists, and lots of humor. Perfect for early elementary ages, it includes a recipe for matzah-making and a brief explanation of Passover. A great addition to a family book collection.

An Officer and a Spy: a Novel by Robert Harris. Named Thriller of the Year by the Crime Writers’ Association, this captivating fictional account of the Dreyfus Affair is cleverly narrated by the investigator who broke open the case, Georges Picquart. Fans of crime novels, historical fiction, and legal thrillers will be gripped by the chilling tale and Harris’ masterful storytelling.

Candace R. Kwiatek is a writer, educator and consultant in Jewish and secular education. She is also a recipient of an American Jewish Press Association Simon Rockower First Place Award for Excellence in Commentary, and an Ohio Society of Professional Journalists First Place Award for Best Religion/Values Coverage.

To read the complete February 2015 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.