Setting the record straight

[Paul Younan]

Shlama Khatan Christina,

Those who want to ask Murdock if what Andrew did is unethical are free do so at the resurrection, though I doubt that he cares.

As for Paul, why don't we ask him if what Andrew did was unethical. So Shamasha, do you think that what akhan Andrew has done is unethical?

Absolutely not, in fact I called Andrew a couple of days ago and chastised him for even gracing this charge with an answer.

Fact of the matter is that way back when MARI was still a mere thought in his heart, Andrew called me and lamented at the state of affairs in the world of the Aramaic NT...especially with regard to an English translation. I mean a proper translation, not a literal Interlinear. It was during the time when my mother was ill, on life support for nearly 10 months before she passed into life eternal. This event was followed by the illness of my sister, who also was on life support for nearly a year before she passed into the Arms of our Lord.

During this very difficult 2 years for me personally, Andrew communicated with me on multiple occasions both via email and over the phone about his intention to create MARI, the meaning of the name of his work, and his attribution to myself personally by incorporating my surname into the acronym MARI (despite my objections at the time.)

What many people may not realize is how instrumental Andrew (and others...but especially Andrew) has been to the work here on peshitta.org. There were times on the phone that we made breakthroughs. Discoveries over emails. And, over coffee at a Jewish restaurant in Los Angeles far away from our native Chicago and Philadelphia.

Andrew was a guest in my home, along with Dean Dana....and we spent many a night pouring over texts and our own ideas. We sat at the computer and translated interlinear chapters together. Dean Dana (who runs aramaicbooks.com), another CoE-baptized Jew (and one of my best friends, who I talk to almost daily), can testify to this.

I become really distraught when the work on peshitta.org is referred to by my surname. The fact of the matter is that the work here is in the public domain not from the goodness of my heart, or from a sense of humility on my part. It is in the public domain precisely because this work is the product of many hands, and like any other open-source project it may be used and reproduced freely.

You will notice that on no page of the Interlinear is my name to be found.

I do have one final request of everyone, and that does include you Akhi Dave - please refrain from calling this work the "Younan Translation." Certainly I do not refer to it as such, and this also goes for anything Mr. Lawrence Sheets has derived from these Interlinear chapters.

There is no such thing as the "Younan Translation." There is a Peshitta.org Interlinear, and many people have contributed to it over the years. No one owns it, and it is provided freely to all as a Korban by my own resources, for reasons that people who've been here long enough know.

Thank you in advance for your understanding.