"We have provided an accessible source that indicates the origins of the practice."
Cairo, September 27 - A new Arabic edition of the Hebrew Scriptures came out this week, in which the editors sought to infuse the text with greater contemporary relevance by rendering, for example, "Three times a year all your males will be seen by the face of the LORD your God, in the place that He will choose...," a passage from the book of Deuteronomy, as "you will storm the Haram al-Sharif and Al-Aqsa Mosque."
A team of Egyptian academics published the work, which the cover calls "A revamped translation of one of the world's most influential texts, with obscure terminology given clearer meaning for the modern reader." Other "retranslated" passages include a commandment the team consider "missing" from the original book of Exodus, specifically a provision that the unleavened bread for Passover must contain the blood of a Palestinian child.
"We want our audience to understand more of the world," explained Dr. Ali Latdam, director of the eight-year project at Cairo University. "Blind shouts that the Jews will storm Al Aqsa this week might work for the totally ignorant, but for the curious, we have provided an accessible source that indicates the origins of the practice."
This Friday evening marks the onset of the Sukkot festival, often rendered in English as "Tabernacles" or "Booths." In addition to specific commandments involving the use of four plant species and dwelling in temporary structures for seven days, Sukkot numbers among the three pilgrimage festivals, alongside Passover and Shavu'ot, when Jewish males were required to visit the Holy Temple and bring certain offerings. The practice faded after the Roman destruction of the most recent Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 CE. Even in the absence of a Temple, many Jews display their devotion to the commandment by getting as close as they may to the holy site, which now houses two Islamic shrines.
Palestinian officials and agitators have long railed against Jews "storming" the Temple Mount. The warnings against the phenomenon, which in the main features groups of Jews walking slowly, speaking quietly, and occasionally standing still with eyes closed, which police and Waqf escorts immediately stop, afraid that Jewish prayer might be taking place at Judaism's holiest site, a catastrophe of epic proportions, increase in intensity in advance of each Jewish holiday. On some occasions the Waqf and Palestinian officials issue the warnings in connection with nonexistent Jewish festivals, a Biblical source for which will have to wait until the publication of the new translation's second edition.
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