Robert Alter - Parshat Vayakhel Exodus 35:1-38:20 - Alter's Correct Translation of One Word Upholds Women, Their Mirrors and Love of Their Husbands - and Rashi's Affections

And conversely: How much good Alter does by correcting an error!

Here is one example of Alter's techniques for noticing an error in one sentence, comparing the reading to Rashi and traditional interpretations, and rendering a meticulous close-reading in context, from over 3,000 translated pages of Tanach.

JPS translation: Did Jewish women perform services at, or in, the Tent?

Note the JPS translation of the word צָֽבְא֔וְֹֹּּ֣֔.

Alter's Translation of one line: Exodus 38:8 "And he made the laver of bronze and its stand of bronze from mirrors of the women who flocked to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting."

[MS: In Exodus 38:8, buried in the midst of many paragraphs describing the building of the Tabernacle, a simple sentence could easily be passed over without comment. Much depends on one word.

Did the women flock, assemble or gather at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting?

Or did they perform tasks there?

Anyway, what difference does it make, one word in dozens of paragraphs about building the Tabernacle?

What are the consequences of mistranslation? (Hint... this mistake in translation demeans Jewish women and reverses the meaning of Rashi's beautiful thought.

Will future translations read Alter and correct the mistake? See at bottom. ]

6 And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 And he brought the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it, hollow boarded he made it. 8 And he made the laver of bronze and its stand of bronze from the mirrors of the women who flocked to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. 9 And he made the court for the southern side, the hangings of the court were twisted linen, a hundred cubits. 10 Their posts twenty and their ...

[MS: Emphasis, formatting and comments supplied]

8 . the mirrors of the women who flocked to the entrance. The verb here, tsavʾu , can mean either “to perform service,” as in an army, tsavʾa , or “to make up a multitude or crowd,” as in the epithet for the stars, tsevʾa hashamayim , the “host,” or array, of the heavens. Although most modern interpreters opt for the sense of service, there are two difficulties with that construction. The cult was administered by males, and there is scant evidence of a quasi sacerdotal function performed outside the sanctuary by women. ...

And if there really were such a group of women doing some sort of sacred service, their numbers would have had to be relatively limited, whereas the sanctuary required large quantities of bronze (see verse 28) donated by the masses. ...

It thus seems more plausible to imagine crowds of devoted women flocking to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, where they would not have been permitted to go in. (Compare 1 Samuel 2:22, in which the same verb is used. [MS: See below. In this verse, it states the women "flocked" to the entrance - Alter's translation is "flocked" - and the evil sons, by force or deception, lay with the women,... ) at the entrance. The women did not perform services nor volunteer sexual conduct.] )

....Mirrors in the ancient world were made of polished bronze, not glass, and were an Egyptian luxury item. Several medieval commentators [MS: See Rashi below] note that the very objects used by the women for the purposes of vanity, or in the cultivation of their sexual attractiveness, are here dedicated to sacred ends. This verse complements the emphasis on the prominent role of the women in the donations that was brought forth in Exodus 35:22.

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במראת הצבאת

THE MIRRORS OF THE WOMEN — The Israelitish women possessed mirrors of copper into which they used to look when they adorned themselves. Even these did they not hesitate to bring as a contribution towards the Tabernacle. Now Moses was about to reject them since they were made to pander to their vanity, but the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Accept them; these are dearer to Me than all the other contributions, because through them the women reared those huge hosts in Egypt!” For when their husbands were tired through the crushing labour they used to bring them food and drink and induced them to eat. Then they would take the mirrors, and each gazed at herself in her mirror together with her husband, saying endearingly to him, “See, I am handsomer than you!” Thus they awakened their husbands’ affection and subsequently became the mothers of many children, at it is said, (Song 8:5) “I awakened thy love under the apple-tree”, (referring to the fields where the men worked). This is what it refers to when it states, מראות הצבאת “the mirrors of the women who reared the hosts (צבאות)” (Midrash Tanchuma, Pekudei 9). And it was for this reason that the laver was made of them (the mirrors) — because it served the purpose of promoting peace between man and wife ....

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In March 2023 Drisha republished Yeshiva University and Drisha Professor Aaron Koller's 5 minute video talk on Exodus 38:8. It does not reference Robert Alter, whose comments may not have been known or were ignored. It does raise similar questions to Alter's about the translation, but with problematic answers. Professor Koller accepts the translation that the women "served" or "provided services" at or in the Tent of Meeting and did not only "gather or flock" there, as Alter argues. Alter disputes the standard translation and the follow-on arguments for the reasons cogently stated in his Note above.

Published in 2004, Alter's translation and notes, if known better, could usefully transform that discussion going forward.