Who's Who

Onkelos was a famous Roman proselyte, the nephew of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who became acquainted with Judaism through Jewish scholars who travelled to and from Rome.

He settled in the Holy Land, where he became a disciple of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya.

Onkelos is most famous for his Targum, the Aramaic translation of the Torah.

He feared that during the Babylonian exile many Jews had forgotten Hebrew, since they had become accustomed to using Aramaic and other dialects.

In addition to being a translation, the Targum is also a simple commentary.