FAQ

Ancient texts have reached us in fragments, which is natural given manuscript transmission (although during the era of the Second Temple in Israel, there arose individuals who were professionally engaged in the problem of the precise transmission of the text, and the verification and copying of manuscripts). Poetic texts, used in the prayer life of the people, were transmitted in an immense number of copies, in which variations inevitably emerged. Briefly stated, the miracle is that the extant versions, firstly, have reached us at all (the absolute majority of texts contemporary to the Bible are completely lost), and secondly, the differences between the versions are not so great. The most important thing, however, is that the less-than-ideal preservation of the texts most often does not alter their fundamental meaning.

The translation, indeed, is not always successful. Primarily, this can be explained by the fact that it is a translation: the selection of words and grammatical constructions corresponding to each individual word or construction of the ancient text. Conveying the content and significance of a text meant for an ancient person through means adequate for a modern person sometimes notably remedies the matter.