Tanakh (Jewish Bible)

Post by **ColleenMc** » January 8th, 2018, 3:25 pm

Am I correct that we don’t yet have a complete audio edition of the Tanakh or Jewish Bible? All I find is the 5 books of the Torah in their Jewish (JPS) editions. On archive.org there is a 1917 edition of the Tanakh (what Christians call the Old Testament) in English put out by the Jewish Publication Society. A project to get all books in this edition recorded and available seems like a good one. Or has it been done and I’m not searching for it correctly?

Link: https://archive.org/details/1917JewishPublicationSocietyTanakh

Note: while all the books of the Old Testament may be available as part of an overall recording of the Bible, the King James and other Christian editions are not exactly the same as the JPS version and I think a specifically Jewish version of the books should be available just as the 5 books of the Torah are.

Post by **TriciaG** » January 8th, 2018, 3:54 pm

You are correct; the first 5 books and the Hallel (is it called "the Hallel" or just "Hallel"?) have been completed: https://librivox.org/author/5601

You (or whomever) are welcome to work on completing the whole text. I'd suggest doing one book at a time; it's less intimidating that way, and each book can be released to the public as soon as it's done rather than waiting for it all to be recorded.

The other books' texts are these:
http://www.archive.org/details/holyscripturesac028077mbp (appears to be the same text as you found)
http://opensiddur.org/tanakh/translations/tanakh-the-holy-scriptures-a-new-translation-jps-1917/

I didn't explore closely, but the opensiddur site might have text that's easier to coordinate from than a large PDF.

Elizabby · Post by **Elizabby** » January 9th, 2018, 1:14 pm

Great idea! Just one tricky part to consider is that there appears to be Hebrew scattered through the text. I don't know what it is, not being a Hebrew reader, but the BC taking any of this on should probably try to find out.

Also be aware that all the names of people and places appear in their Hebrew forms, which may lead to some pronunciation issues.

Great project though - or series of projects!

I'll have a think about doing some minor prophets myself. I've always liked Micah, and it's very short!

Post by **ColleenMc** » January 9th, 2018, 2:30 pm

Okay so, the Hallel is just a chunk of the book of Psalms that are inserted into the regular daily service during special holiday periods (they are all big "check out all the miracles God has done for us" psalms). And I think you can call it either Hallel or the Hallel, I seem to remember hearing it both ways.

The Open Siddur project is primarily designed to allow people to make their own prayerbooks (siddurs) from public domain and creative commons texts, and the 1917 Tanakh is linked there for that purpose. I'm a little leery of using it for our purposes because it doesn't appear to have the direct page images like the archive text does, and the primary purpose of the site isn't to preserve the texts in any kind of most correct or authoritative version like the Archive or Gutenberg.

I'm partial to the text that I found on archive because the print seems a little larger and clearer than the other archive link. It looks similar to the print from the modern (1980s) Tanakh I have at home, maybe that's why I'm comfortable with it!

For reading from archive.org texts, I have been downloading the PDF and then opening the file with my Kindle, which allows me to adjust the image somewhat for easier reading (the .mobi edition is an OCR transfer and is sometimes good, sometimes not, so I've gotten away from using those) and also makes navigation a little easier with bookmarking and such.

Just poking around the text a bit, it looks like the only Hebrew is the occasional one line in the first few books. If that is the case, they are probably the names of the Torah portions (parshiot). The Torah (first 5 books) is read in its entirety each year by dividing the 5 books into sections. Each portion or parshah has a name like Parshah Toldot or Parshah Sh'mot and usually covers a couple of chapters (the chapter divisions were put in later and may even be carried back over to the Jewish text from the way Christian Bibles divide up the books, but the chapter numbers don't relate directly to the parshiot at all). The Hebrew in the 1917 edition is just showing where the one portion ends and the next begins. Since those books have already been completed, the Hebrew wouldn't be an issue. In skimming around the books beyond the Torah or Pentateuch section, I haven't yet seen any Hebrew, but I guess we could deal with it if we came across some.

Definitely adding "record books of Tanakh" to my list of projects I want to do or take part in!

linny · Post by **linny** » January 16th, 2018, 9:50 am

The Torah (first 5 books) is read in its entirety each year by dividing the 5 books into sections.

I BCed this project. These recordings are broken down by parshah. https://librivox.org/search?q=torah&search_form=advanced

PM me. I'm certainly interested in completing more projects in this arena.

shushudolphin · Post by **shushudolphin** » April 13th, 2018, 10:12 am

What does BCed mean? This sounds like a fun project. I can read Biblical Hebrew and can help with pronunciation.

YouTube · Post by **Darvinia** » April 13th, 2018, 10:16 am

A BC is a Book Coordinator so BCed is BookCoordinated.

Which is to say, set it up for people to read it and keep it running smoothly as it progresses.

shushudolphin · Post by **shushudolphin** » April 13th, 2018, 8:11 pm

Cool

I’d love to be a part in this project. I am currently working on finishing the whole Tanach in Hebrew. It was this years resolution. I’m about 2/3 through and already read it in English. Bible, archaeology and anthropology was a lot of what I studied 5 years ago in when I was at university Jerusalem.

To clarify, the Tanach consists of the books of the Old Testament, but does not include the apocrypha which is in Catholic Bibles. It is also in a different order. The “Old Testament” ends with Malachi and his prophecy that Elijah would be coming. The Jewish Tanach ends with the “ketuvim” which I will explain...

Tanakh is an acronym. The T stands for Torah, the five Books of Moses, the first five books, “The Law.” The N stands for Neviim (Prophets). The prophetic books are those ascribed to prophets (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah), and also several books of prose which, according to the Talmud, were written by prophets, and also contain stories of prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings). The K stands for Ketuvim, meaning “the writings.” These are books without prophetic intent, such as wisdom literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job), fun stories (Ruth, Esther, Daniel), and Poetry (Psalms, Lamentations, Song of Songs). At Jewish religious schools, there is often “Nach” class. Nach is the Tanakh minus the Torah and so the acronym just means “Neviim and Ketuvim.”

The last book of the Tanakh is probably one of the least read called “Chronicles.” I finished it last week. Let’s just say that the Tanakh doesn’t end with a bang. The first 9 chapters is a giant geneology. I am proud, and kind of a little embarrassed, to say that I read every name.

There probably won’t be much that would affect pronunciation. But there is a well called Beer-lahai-roi and a dude named Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

AtalieH · Post by **AtalieH** » April 17th, 2018, 1:35 pm

I would love to help record on this project but I cant find the project page. Is there one? Where can I go to volunteer to read for this project?
Thanks!

Elizabby · Post by **Elizabby** » April 17th, 2018, 2:35 pm

This project is in discussion but is not actually launched yet. I'm thinking about doing it, but as I don't read Hebrew at all it would be a challenging undertaking! If I decide to launch it I will post here, so you can subscribe to this thread to get notifications.

AtalieH · Post by **AtalieH** » April 17th, 2018, 5:07 pm

Ok, thanks. I do read Hebrew and would be glad to help however I can.

shushudolphin · Post by **shushudolphin** » April 18th, 2018, 11:17 am

Elizabby wrote: ↑April 17th, 2018, 2:35 pm This project is in discussion but is not actually launched yet. I'm thinking about doing it, but as I don't read Hebrew at all it would be a challenging undertaking! If I decide to launch it I will post here, so you can subscribe to this thread to get notifications.

Hey, I know this may sound a little ambitious, but could this be a solo project for me? I would have no problem with the Hebrew, and I am very familiar with the text. I’d do a high quality job.

Elizabby · Post by **Elizabby** » April 18th, 2018, 2:00 pm

We could do one book together to start with? Pick your favourite book from the Jewish Bible and I'll DPL it for you - that will help me with familiarity with the text as well and you'll get some backup.

shushudolphin · Post by **shushudolphin** » April 18th, 2018, 2:55 pm

How about I start at the beginning with a recording of Genesis (B’reisheet in Hebrew)? I’m going to buy a better microphone before I start the project. I’ll get on that.

shushudolphin · Post by **shushudolphin** » April 18th, 2018, 3:04 pm

I looked at this one, and I’m torn whether I think the organization is a good idea:

https://librivox.org/genesis-jpsa-by-jewish-publication-society-of-america/

The “parashah” is the weekly Torah reading in Jewish synagogues. The Torah (first five books) is divided into 54 “parashiot” (plural). The Torah is read completely after a span of a year. Religious Jews would enjoy being able to access the parashah of the week on audio. But this division is completely foreign to most non-Jews, and I think it might be easier to do 5 chapters at a time and I could mention in the reading when the parashah changes.