Editing Targum (section)

==Two major targumim==
{{Bible related}}

The two most important targumim for liturgical purposes are:<ref name="BrotzmanTully2016">{{cite book|author1=[[Ellis R. Brotzman]]|author2=Eric J. Tully|title=Old Testament Textual Criticism: A Practical Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZ7_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT77|year=2016|publisher=Baker Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-4934-0475-9|page=77}}</ref>
* [[Targum Onkelos]] on the [[Torah]]
* [[Targum Jonathan]] on the [[Nevi'im]]
These two targumim are mentioned in the Babylonian [[Talmud]] as ''targum dilan'' ("our Targum"), giving them official status. In the synagogues of Talmudic times, Targum Onkelos was read alternately with the Torah, verse by verse, and Targum Jonathan was read alternately with the selection from Nevi'im (i.e., the [[haftara]]), though in the case of Nevi'im it was permitted to translate in units of up to three verses. This custom continues today in Yemenite Jewish synagogues.

Besides its public function in the synagogue, the Babylonian Talmud also mentions targum in the context of a personal study requirement: "A person should always review his portions of scripture along with the community, reading the scripture twice and the targum once" (Berakhot 8a–b). This, too, refers to Targum Onkelos on the public Torah reading and to Targum Jonathan on the haftarot from Nevi'im.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Medieval biblical manuscripts of the [[Masoretic Text]] sometimes contain the Hebrew text interpolated, verse-by-verse, with the ''targumim''. This scribal practice is rooted in the public reading of the Targum and the requirement for private study.In these manuscripts, and in [[Mikraot Gedolot|rabbinic Bibles]] up to and including the second printed Venice edition, Targumim were written or printed with [[Hebrew cantillation|cantillation marks]].

The two "official" targumim are considered eastern (Mesopotamian, called "Babylonian"). Nevertheless, scholars believe they, too, originated in [[Syria Palestina]] because of a strong linguistic substratum of [[Jewish Palestinian Aramaic]]. Though these targumim were later "orientalised", the substratum belying their origins remains.

When most Jewish communities ceased speaking Aramaic in the 10th century, the public reading of Targum, along with the Torah and Haftarah, was abandoned in most communities, Yemen being a well-known exception.

The private study requirement to review the Targum was never entirely relaxed, even when Jewish communities had largely ceased speaking Aramaic, and the Targum never ceased to be a major source for [[Jewish exegesis]]. For instance, it serves as a major source in Shlomo Yitzhaki's Torah commentary, "[[Rashi]]," and has always been the standard fare for [[Ashkenazi Jews]] onward.

For these reasons, Jewish editions of the Tanakh which include commentaries still almost always print the Targum alongside the text, in all Jewish communities. Nevertheless, later halakhic authorities argued that the requirement to privately review the ''targum'' might also be met by reading a translation in the current vernacular in place of the official Targum, or else by studying an important commentary containing midrashic interpretation (especially that of Rashi).