Actually, the earliest rabbinic sources present the Greek
translation (the Septuagint) in glowing terms. In the Mishna,
Megillah 1:8, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is quoted as having said
that Greek is the only language, other than Hebrew, in which it
is permissible to write sifrei Torah. Commenting on this, the
Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah 71c) says that the sages checked and
discovered that Greek is the only language into which it is
possible to translate the Torah with its exact meaning.
Likewise, in the Babylonian Talmud (Megillah 9a), the origin
story of the Septuagint is presented, and one which testifies to
the miraculous nature of its composition. This origin story is
very similar to the earliest extant text that testifies to the
Septuagint's composition: a pseudepigraphic Jewish letter that
purports to be written by Aristeas, King Ptolemy's bodyguard.
The reality is that, by the time we come to the composition of
the extracanonical tractate, Sofrim, the attitude had changed
rather dramatically. There, in