Harry M. Orlinsky (14 March 1908 21 March 1992) was the editor-in-chief of the New Jewish Publication Society ( NJPS) translation of the Torah (1962).
Early life and education
Harry Orlinsky was born in 1908 to Yiddish-speaking parents in Owen Sound, Ontario on March 17. Growing up, pool was one of his favorite pastimes. He attended the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
and began his religious studies with a Bible class taught by Theophile Meek. Under Meek’s mentorship, Orlinsky went on to earn his PhD at Philadelphia’s Dropsie College for his work on the translation of the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...
, the Jewish Greek translation of the Bible. While there, he met his future wife Donya Fein. Orlinsky then completed a year of post-doctoral work at the
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public university, public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein ...
in Jerusalem. Upon his return to the United States, he started working at the Baltimore Hebrew Teachers College (1936-1944). During this time he also studied at
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, Albright was unable to secure the necessary funds for Orlinsky to become a permanent member of the faculty at Hopkins. Instead, Orlinsky, with the help of Albright, was able to secure a post with the Jewish Institute of Religion in 1943 (now merged with the
Hebrew Union College
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
) and it is here that Orlinsky spent the rest of his career.
Orlinsky married Donya Fein in 1934 and they had two sons, Walter (Velvel) and Seymour (Zeke).Harry Meyer Orlinsky Papers at ead.ohiolink.edu /ref> Orlinsky died on Saturday 21 March 1992 at North Oaks Retirement Community in
Owings Mills, Maryland
Owings Mills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Baltimore. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,674. Owings Mills is home to the northern terminus of ...
Perhaps the greatest result of Orlinsky’s work on Torah translation was the creation of a gender-free translation of the Bible. Since the translator must interpret and explain the text, it behooves him (or her) to understand why certain words were used. If a language has a preference for masculine pronouns, is that because the reference is really to males, or does it have to do with the way a language functions? A similar example from modern times is the use of "guys" to refer to a group of people in general, regardless of gender. If the rest of the text did not use a masculine pronoun but rather used a more gender-neutral term such as "one," then Orlinsky felt it was safe to say that the translator can use that term as well for the masculine pronouns within a given text.
Orlinsky's work earned him the position as a key translator on not one but two new Bible translations. Starting 1952, he helped the Protestant National Council with their
Revised Standard Version
The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. This translation itself is a revision of the Amer ...
(RSV) of the Bible and then again with the
New Revised Standard Version
The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches.Walter Harrelson, the vice-chairman of the 1989 translation committee, said that Orlinsky was instrumental in the translation. He helped to keep the committee on track in using the older Massoretic text rather than the easier-to-translate Septuagint, which is a Greek translation. Harrelson recalls Orlinsky's constant reminder, "We’re translating Hebrew Scriptures. We're not translating from the Greek Hebrew Scriptures."Briggs, David. "Bible Scholar Defended Integrity of Text." The Associated Press
Following the success of the RSV in 1952, Orlinsky turned his attention to a new translation of the Bible for Jews. He urged the
Jewish Publication Society of America
The Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English. Founded in Philadelphia in 1888, by reform Rabbi Joseph Krausko ...
(JPS) to take up the task, since it was they who were responsible for the 1917 version still in use at the time. Orlinsky became the editor-in-chief for the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
, which was published in 1962. He was also instrumental in helping to get The Prophets (1978) and The Writings (1982) published as well. Orlinsky helped move the translation of the Bible away from the literalism of the King James Version to the exegesis that was the hallmark of JPS’s 1917 translation and Orlinsky’s translation work.
Mr. Green Affair
In 1954, the
Israeli government
The Cabinet of Israel (officially: he, ממשלת ישראל ''Memshelet Yisrael'') exercises executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of ministers who are chosen and led by the prime minister. The composition of the governmen ...
sought to authenticate four
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...
being sold in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The Metropolitan of the Syrian Monastery of St. Mark in Jerusalem ran a small ad in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', which was then brought to the attention of the Israeli Consulate in New York. The scrolls themselves had been at the center of a negotiation between the Metropolitan and Professor Eleazar Lippe Sukenik, the founder of the Hebrew University Department of Archaeology, which had been founded following the
1948 Arab-Israeli War
Events January
* January 1
** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect.
** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form Britis ...
. Unfortunately, since the newly founded
State of Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
was unable to fund the purchase of the scrolls in 1948, the Metropolitan then moved the scrolls to the United States and deposited them in the Trust Company of New Jersey in Jersey City. It was at this point that the existence of the scrolls came to the attention of
Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin ( he, יִגָּאֵל יָדִין ) (20 March 1917 – 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, soldier and politician. He was the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and Deputy Prime Minister from 1977 to 1981.
B ...
, from the office of the Consul-General of Israel in New York. Yadin felt that these scrolls belonged to Israel and should be housed there. He was positive, though, that the Metropolitan would not willingly sell the scrolls to Israel. This meant that he had to find someone who was knowledgeable about the scrolls but was not directly connected to Israel.
On July 1, 1954 at noon, Orlinsky received a phone call from Yadin and was summoned Israeli Consulate. Once there, Orlinsky was ushered into the presence of Mr. Harman, the Israeli Consul-General, and Mr. Yadin. They then revealed that the reason for the strange summons was that the Dead Sea Scrolls were currently sitting in the vaults of the Trust Company of New Jersey. Orlinsky was told to assume the name of Mr. Green and examine the scrolls for the Israeli Government.
Orlinsky was instructed to take a taxi to the Lexington Avenue entrance of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel and make sure that he was not being followed. Once there, he would meet with Sydney M. Estridge. Each man had been given a code to identify the other. Once this had been accomplished, they would proceed together to a vault located in the basement and meet with a representative of the Metropolitan. Finally, he was to examine the scrolls, keep his speech to an absolute minimum, and respond to no other identification than Green.
Following the authentication process, Orlinsky called an unlisted number and spoke the code "lechayim," confirming the scrolls' authenticity. Later, at the Consulate, Orlinsky signed a statement confirming the same, and after he and his wife were sworn to secrecy.Orlinsky, Harry. "Focus on The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Mysterious Mr. Green." ''Reform Judaism'', Spring (1992): 46–48.
Written works
* ''Ancient Israel''. 1954. Cornell University.
* ''Studies on the Second Part of the book of Isaiah: The So-Called "Servant of the Lord" and "Suffering Servant" in Second Isaiah''. 1967, (enlarged edition 1977). Leiden: Brill.
* ''Understanding the Bible Through History and Archaeology''. 1969. Ktav Publishing House.
* ''Essays in Biblical and Jewish Culture and Bible Translation.'' 1973. Ktav.