The Liturgical Targum

The Aramaic Translation of the Torah in Mahzorim

Series: 

What happens when a community continues to recite and transmit sacred texts it no longer understands? The Targum, or Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, found its origins in the first centuries CE, and yet Jewish communities continued to transmit its contents well into the Middle Ages, when knowledge of Aramaic was considered to be scarce. This book explores the Liturgical Targum as it appears in festival prayerbooks (mahzorim). Drawing on previously unpublished manuscript fragments, it traces how different Jewish communities adopted and adapted the Aramaic translation in their liturgies. Readers of this book will discover how layers of copying, reinterpretation, and scribal creativity shaped the textual history of the Targum.
Copyright Year:
2026
E-Book (PDF)
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-51745-5
Publication:
12 Jan 2026
Hardback
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-74882-8
Publication:
12 Feb 2026
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About MyBook
Jeroen Verrijssen, Ph.D. (2024), is a postdoctoral researcher of History at Ghent University. He has published on the transmission of Hebrew and Aramaic textual traditions, as well as their reception from Antiquity to the Medieval periods.
Acknowledgements
List of Tables and Figures

1 Introduction
 1 A Definition and a Direction
 2 Targum in the Synagogue
 3 The Liturgical Targum

2 Methodology and Manuscripts
 1 Methodology
 2 Manuscripts

3 The Liturgical Targum
 1 An Independent Recension of Palestinian Targum
 2 An Independent Line of Transmission
 3 Linguistic Features
 4 The Textual Families of the Liturgical Targum
 5 Tosefta Targums

4 The Fragment Targums
 1 Background
 2 Liturgical Material in the Fragment Targums
 3 FragTgP and LTg
 4 The Decalogue
 5 Summary

5 The Influence of Targum Onqelos
 1 Background
 2 Onqelosization
 3 The Transmission of Targum Onqelos
 4 Summary

6 The Targumic Network
 1 Summary of Results
 2 The Targumic Network
 3 Relationships with Other Recensions of the Palestinian Targum
 4 The Textual Families of the Liturgical Targum
 5 Suggestions for Further Research

Bibliography
Index
This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of Aramaic language and literature, in particular Targum, as well as scholars and researchers interested in medieval European liturgical texts.
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