Targum Onkelos – New and Improved for 5783!

19 Oct 2022
Torah Blog

Last year, we introduced a new series, entitled Targum Onkelos – in English! The series was designed to assist users with fulfilling the obligation of Shnayim Mikra v’Echad Targum, reviewing the weekly Torah portion twice in the original Hebrew and once with the Aramaic translation/commentary of Onkelos. What we didn’t tell you was that Targum Onkelos – in English! was only the first step in a larger project.

Targum Onkelos – in English! was the first draft in a project that has now been published as The Complete Targum Onkelos. (Volume 1 – Bereishis and Shemos is currently available from Kodesh Press and on Amazon.) And, as much as author Rabbi Jack Abramowitz would love it if you bought the book, you can learn from The Complete Targum Onkelos online with OU Torah.

Aside from being revised and corrected, there are several differences between The Complete Targum Onkelos and its earlier incarnation. First, The Complete Targum Onkelos includes the text of the Chumash in Hebrew, followed by the translation of Onkelos in Aramaic and English. (The English highlights where Onkelos deviates from a straight translation of the Torah text.) Next, rather than being posted once a week in OU Torah’s parsha slider, an aliyah of each Torah portion will post each day in the “Daily Learning” slider (see here). Finally, links to The Complete Targum Onkelos are being added to OU Torah’s daily “Shnayim Mikra” parsha email. (Sign up for that and other OU Torah daily emails here.)

Shnayim Mikra v’Echad Targum is one of our most important obligations, and one that is widely overlooked. You can learn all about this very special mitzvah with the aptly named series All About Shnayim Mikra v’Echad Targum. Once you’ve done that, check out The Complete Targum Onkelos and fulfill this duty the way that Chazal intended… with Onkelos!

The Complete Targum Onkelos and other OU Torah parsha series can be found on the OU Torah web site or by using the OU Torah app for iOS and Android. (And, of course, if you’d care to buy the book, Rabbi Jack wouldn’t object!)