The Bi’ur – Mendelssohn’s Bible Translation

From 1780-1783 Mendelssohn published his monumental translation and commentary on the Pentateuch, formally titled Sefer Netivot Hashalom and informally known a the “Bi’ur.” The translation was in German in Hebrew characters while the commentary was in Hebrew. Mendelssohn produced the entire translation and a portion of the commentary. The commentary aimed to explain the translation choices made by Mendelssohn and drew heavily on traditional medieval Jewish Bible commentators.