Rabbi Elhanan Wasserman on Maimonides, and Maimonides on ‘Reb Elhanan’

This chapter discusses Maimonides' and Rabbi Elhanan Wasserman's different understandings of the nature of Torah. It cites a Maimonidean commentary on several key passages in Rabbi Wasserman's writings. It also shows that Maimonides and Rabbi Wasserman read the Torah in two different languages and points out how Rabbi Wasserman did not understand the language of Maimonides' Torah. The chapter analyses the vast gap between Maimonides' world and that of Rabbi Wasserman that relates to a meaningful truth concealed within the well-known Italian pun, traduttore-traditore. It mentions translators that are well acquainted with the problems of transmitting ideas from one language to another in theological contexts.