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Theprioritythusassignedtocomplyingwiththenormsof‘pure’Hebrewwasto
protecttheemergingnewculturefrombeingsubmergedundertheweightofa
hugevolumeofimportedtexts.
Themodelwithinwhichatranslator,likeanywriter,wasobligedtomanoeuvre
wasinfactmuchnarrowerthanthesumtotalofHebrewresources,because
onlythelanguagedocumentedintheOldTestamentwasmadeavailablefor
actualuse.Thedecisiontorestrictthelanguageusedtothemostclassicalform
ofHebrewwasideologicallymotivatedagain:itwaspartoftheoverallstruggle
againstanythingthatsmackedoftheJewishOrthodoxyofthetime.
Paradoxicallyenough,thisextremearchaization,whichwastogovern
acceptabilityduringtheearlyHaskalaperiod,hadanimportantinnovative
effectonHebrew,asthekindoflanguagenowmadecompulsoryhadforalong
timebeenoutofuse.TheBiblewasnowregardedbothasasourceofmatrices,
tobefilledwithnewlinguisticmaterial,andasareservoirofactualizedforms,to
beusedasfixedexpressions.Longandcomplexlinguisticitemscametobe
regardedasmostappropriateperse.Theywere,inasense,targetlanguage
segmentsinsearchofsourcelanguageitemstoreplace.Longwordchains
wereoftenformedbyconcatenatingaseriesofphrasestakenoutoftheir
originalcontexts,andthispreferredmodeofusageobviouslynarroweddown
thetranslators’optionsevenfurther,whichmightexplainthehighlevelof
uniformityinthetextsproducedthroughoutthisperiod.Veryoften,textswere
notidentifiedastranslations;atanyrate,itwascommonpracticetoassigna
translatedtextfirstandforemosttoitstranslator.Therangeofactivities,
strategiesandtextsassociatedwithtranslationwasthusbothbroadandhighly
diffuse,especiallyasmanycompositionswhichdidnotdrawdirectlyon
individualforeigntextswerestillbasedonimportedmodels.
GiventhatHebrewEnlightenmentmadeitsdebutinGermany,itwasnaturally
thelocalculturewhichwascalledupontoactasasupplieroftextsandmodels,
especiallysincemasteryofGermanwasanotheridealoftheHaskalaitself.
However,ratherthanturningtothemodelcultureinitscontemporarystate,the
newculturalparadigmusuallyplayeditsafebyusingearlierformsofGermanas
areferencepoint,selectingitemsandmodelswhichhadonceattainedsome
canonization.Manyofthetextsandauthorsselectedfortranslationhadindeed
occupiedapositionneartheepicentreofthelivingGermansystem,butmostof
themhadsincebeenrelegatedtoamoreperipheralpositionorwereconsidered
significantfromahistoricalperspectiveonly.Forawhile,inclusioninaGerman
anthology,thekindofsourcewhichrarelyreflectscurrenttastes,seemstohave
beenanimportantcriterionforselectingatextfortranslation,especiallysince
manyHaskalawritersinitiallycameintocontactwiththeGermantextsthrough
suchcollections.ThistimelagexplainswhynopoemsofSchillerandGoethe,
forexample,weretranslateduntilthefirstquarterofthenineteenthcentury.
BothpoetslaterbecameextremelypopularinHebrewcirclesandremainedso
foratleastacentury,oftenobstructingthetranslationofcontemporarywriters
andtextsandhenceperpetuatingtimelagandstagnation.
DuringthefirstdecadesoftheHaskala,translationwaslargelyrestrictedto
shorttextsorfragmentsoflongerones,notonlybecauseshorttextsare
inherentlyeasiertohandle,butalsobecausetheyareparticularlysuitablefor
periodicalsandreaders,whichiswhereallfirsttranslationsandmanyofthe
subsequentoneswereinfactpublished.Thisispartlywhyittookalongtimefor
novelsanddramatictexts,andevennovellasandshort(er)stories,tobe
selectedfortranslation.
QuiteanumberofthetextswhichweretranslatedfromGermanwere
themselvestranslationsfromotherlanguages.Thus,theemergingnewHebrew
culturedidcomeintocontactwithotherculturesaswell,ifonlythroughthe
mediationofGerman.Themediatingculturenaturallyadaptedtheforeigntexts
andmodelstoitsownneeds.Aculturewhichgivesprioritytolinguistic
acceptabilityintermsofitsownnormsandpayslittleattentiontothefeaturesof
thesourcetextisunlikelytoquestiontheadequacyofamediatingtextand,
indeed,foraverylongtimeproponentsoftheHebrewHaskalahardlystopped
toponderthispoint.Theoveralltoleranceforindirecttranslation–again,quitea
whileaftertheGermanmodelculturehadcometoregarditasnolonger
appropriate–wasreflectedinaproliferationofsecondhandtranslations,
startingwiththeveryfirstmodern