Translating a Bible has always been risky, and today the language of gender often fires up public opinion. Now entering the lists of controversy is a “gender-sensitive” English translation of Judaism’s core scriptures.
The 135-year-old Jewish Publication Society is releasing its first new translation in four decades for the full Tanakh—the Hebrew acronym for the five books of Moses known as the Torah, Prophets, and writings including Psalms, Proverbs, and more. The print version goes on sale in October and will be available for free online at the nonprofit website Sefaria in time for the Jewish high holidays in mid-September.
“Our goal is to provide the most historically accurate English translation and one that will resonate with contemporary readers, to give them a window into the conversations and the teaching in the Bible,” says JPS director Elias Sacks. There’s no wholesale substitution of masculine or feminine pronouns, according to the “Notes on Gender in Translation,” which the JPS posted online along with sample passages comparing this new translation to the 1985 JPS version.
For example, the JPS 1985 translation of Genesis 1:26–27 read, “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.... And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.’ ” The new translation is: “And God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness.... And God created humankind in the divine image, creating it in the image of God—creating them male and female.’ ”
Sacks acknowledges that “there has been some feedback and some pushback” on what he calls the major initiative. One Orthodox rabbi told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency wire service that the translation is “an unholy source” and another decried it for translating with a progressive agenda. Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, an Orthodox political advocacy organization, criticized the move on X (formerly Twitter), writing that, next, “to be more inclusive of atheists, they’ll provide a ‘historically accurate translation’ that avoids mention of the Supreme Being. ‘In the beginning, heaven and earth were created.’ ”
Despite his dig, Menken tells PW that the translation is no laughing matter. “Not more than 15% to 17% of Jews living in America can read and understand a Hebrew text. And with this book they would be relying on a translation that is deliberately not true to the text. Hebrew is a gendered language. The Torah was given in a gendered language. That’s the package it comes with. We want to understand the original faithfully, whether we like it or not.”
At Sefaria, which has already posted the Prophets portion of the new edition, director of education Sara Wolkenfeld says they’ve seen no dent in their monthly average of 650,000 unique visitors. “We are first and foremost a library of Jewish texts, and like any library, we offer lots of choices including translations from Orthodox sources. Our mission is to make Jewish texts accessible to anyone who wants to learn.”
The broader reception to the complete The JPS Tanakh remains to be seen. Consider the fate of another scripture, one that was touted as “gender accurate”: Today’s New International Version, created by the International Bible Society and Zondervan, and released in part in 2002 and in full in 2005. It ignited such a fury that it was rejected by two denominations and major Christian bookstore chains, and ultimately withdrawn in 2011. However, nothing really disappears today: there are copies of the 2005 version of The TNIV Bible: Timeless Truth in Today’s Language for sale on Amazon.
Cathy Lynn Grossman is a veteran religion writer living in Washington, D.C.
