הרב אונקלוס הגר

Onkelos HaGer (first–second century) was a Roman nobleman of the imperial family who converted and became one of the tannaim — and whose name every Jew speaks weekly, for the Targum he composed accompanies the Torah itself. By the mesorah of the Bavli he was a nephew of the emperor; the aggadah tells that before converting he raised the spirits of Israel’s enemies to see how they fared in the world of truth, and that when the emperor sent soldiers to seize him, he spoke pesukim with them until legion after legion converted. Having joined himself to Yisrael, he fled the emperor’s wrath to Eretz Yisrael and became the talmid of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua.

From their mouths came his life’s work: “the Targum of the Torah — Onkelos HaGer said it from the mouth of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua.” The Targum Onkelos renders the Torah into the Aramaic of the people with exactness and with reverence — guarding the honor of the Avot, distancing every bodily expression from the Creator — and it became the authoritative translation, printed beside the text in every Chumash. The takanah of shnayim mikra v’echad targum fixed it in the week of every Jew; Rashi and the Rambam lean upon it as a pillar of peshat; the Jews of Yemen read it aloud beside the kriah to this day.

You can complete Shnayim Mikra V’echad Targum (Torah v’Onkelos) right here on this website each week, with our easy to use layout.

Of his conduct after his geirut the Tosefta preserves this: dividing an inheritance with his brothers, he was stringent with himself and cast his share of avodah-zarah proceeds into the Yam HaMelach. The nobleman of Rome had become a ger whose Torah covers the world.