(Courtesy of The Steinsaltz Center) The Steinsaltz Center (www.steinsaltz-center.org) has announced the publication of “The Steinsaltz Humash,” the long-awaited English version of Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz’s pioneering translation and commentary on the Torah. The volume features several innovative elements that makes the text accessible to all, including Rabbi Steinsaltz’s topical and textual elucidations, an original English translation that reflects both the commentary and modern archaeological and scientific findings and color photos that identify items and illustrate complicated concepts.
While a limited-edition version of “The Steinsaltz Humash” was presented to attendees of the gala dinner honoring Rabbi Steinsaltz at the Orient Hotel in Jerusalem on Sunday, June 10, a regular version of the volume will be released by the Steinsaltz Center and Koren Publishers Jerusalem in time for the Jewish New Year.
“Above all, we see it as our mission to ensure the accessibility of Jewish knowledge through programming and educational tools that encourage in-depth study and creative engagement with the texts. For decades, the most powerful tool in our pedagogical toolbox has been the publication of books that provide future scholars and lay people alike with fluid explanations of core Jewish sources,” said Meni Even-Israel, executive director of the Steinsaltz Center and Rabbi Steinsaltz’s eldest son.
“Every book launch is a celebration for us, like a birth in the family, but the publication of “The Steinsaltz Humash” is especially exciting because it allows us to share this thought-provoking and uniquely accessible commentary of the holiest Jewish text, the foundation of our tradition and culture, with the entire English-speaking world. As a daily study guide or weekly synagogue companion, this new volume will add depth and meaning to the learning experience. With the keys to Jewish knowledge in hand, every reader will be able to achieve personal enrichment and intellectual growth.”
A multi-generational labor of love, the Steinsaltz Center is recognized as an unparalleled purveyor of Jewish knowledge, having established venerated educational institutions around the world and produced more original commentaries on core Jewish texts—and in more languages—than any other public or private entity of its kind, including the entirety of Jewish canon: Tanach (Torah, Prophets and Writings), the Babylonian Talmud, the Mishna, the Mishneh Torah and Tanya.
In the coming months, the Steinsaltz Center will be publishing a Russian edition of Rabbi Steinsaltz’s “Reference Guide to the Talmud,” an indispensable resource for students at all levels, which has been a best-seller in English and Hebrew for three decades; “Judaism in Jeans,” a user-friendly exploration of the secrets of Jewish tradition, law, thought and spirituality; and the final volumes of the Koren Noe Talmud series, an elegant and intuitive English-language edition of the Babylonian Talmud that is shaped by Rabbi Steinsaltz’s acclaimed translation and commentary.
