Texts in Conversation
The description of ritual impurity after childbirth in Leviticus 12 is softened in the Aramaic translation of Targum Onkelos with language meaning “distance” or “separation.” This avoids the directness of the Hebrew and reflects a tendency in the Targums to use neutral language when depicting sensitive subjects.
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Leviticus 12:2
Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a woman produces offspring and bears a male child, she will be unclean seven days, as she is unclean during the days of her menstruation. 3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin must be circumcised.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Onkelos Leviticus 12:2
Targum
1 And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: 2 Speak with the children of Israel, saying: A woman, when she hath conceived and borne a male child, shall be unclean seven days; according to the days for the removal of her uncleanness, she shall be unclean. 3 And on the eighth day he shall be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin;
Date: 100-200 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Onkelos renders Scripture’s niddat as richuk, literally “far,” “distant,” or “rejected.” This rendering seems at first blush to reflect Rashbam’s view that the root of niddat is n-d-d, “to wander away [and be far from her husband during the menstrual period].” However ... it has been shown that Onkelos uses the somewhat amorphous word richuk as an evasive term for several quite different biblical nouns to avoid defining them ..."
Drazin, Israel, and Stanley M. Wagner
Onkelos on the Torah, Leviticus: Understanding the Bible Text
(p. 85) Gefen, 2006
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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