The Zohar: Pritzker Edition (Zohar. Pritzker Edition, Vol 1)

Rating:
Summary: best translation of the Zohar
Review: I read the other reviews posted here and I agree that Matt's translation of the Zohar is THE translation. I also must say that I missed the Aramaic but heard it is available on Stanford University's website (I have not checked it out). I also heard that Matt won the Koret Jewish Book Award for his work. Well-deserved, I'd say.

Rating:
Summary: best translation of the Zohar
Review: I read the other reviews posted here and I agree that Matt's translation of the Zohar is THE translation. I also must say that I missed the Aramaic but heard it is available on Stanford University's website (I have not checked it out). I also heard that Matt won the Koret Jewish Book Award for his work. Well-deserved, I'd say.

Rating:
Summary: Best Zohar translation out there!
Review: I've also got the Soncino edition as well as the Kabbalah Centre translation of Zohar and I must say this one is certainly the best. Daniel Matt provides an excellent set of footnotes which elucidate why he made the translation decisions he did for particular words and phrases in addition to giving a lot of background material from other Jewish texts. The Zohar is a particularly difficult text to translate due to the idiosyncratic nature of the pseudo-Aramaic it is written in in addition to the very abstract nature of the material covered. Having alternate readings of various passages available at one's fingertips is indispensible for those of us not qualified to read the text in its original language. While reading other translations, especially the Kabbalah Centre one, it was pretty obvious that the text's meaning was oversimplified and there was no way to avoid the translator's personal biases short of going back to the Aramaic text. The Soncino edition is similarly limited because it is only a translation of a small portion of the text. The only drawback to this particular edition is that the Aramaic text is not included, so one cannot simply look up the original phrases without resorting to an outside resource. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend this book for academics, mystics, or anyone who cares deeply about the meaning the author(s) of the Zohar were trying to convey. I'm looking forward to purchasing the additional volumes as they are released!

Rating:
Summary: On the Outside Looking In
Review: It is amazing to me that of all the scholarly works on religious literature, those dealing with Judaism are typically written by people who do not share the fundamental beliefs implicit in the works that they are translating or analyzing. Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist scholars are for the most part normative members the religious traditions of which they speak. Even if they are on the faculties of secular universities. How rarely is this true of Jewish academics in Jewish Studies departments!

Dr. Matt may be engaged in producing the "definitive" English translation of the Zohar. His talents and scholarship may be superlative. Just one thing is amiss. He is not a genuine Kabbalist. He is not even a normative religious Jew, in the traditional sense of one who accepts the Shulchan Arukh (Code of Jewish Law) and tries to follow it.

Therefore, he cannot create any more of a classic translation of the Zohar than a gifted non-Buddhist could create of one of that tradition's master works, or a gifted non-Sufi a translation from that tradition's literature. Unquestionably Dr. Matt has great respect and even a spiritually affinity for the Zohar. But for those who sincerely seek to enter the Kabbalah's self-professedly deep waters, this translator (to borrow novelist Eric Ambler's phrase) inevitably must remain a "non-swimmer working as a life guard."




Rating:
Summary: BEST TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY ON THE ZOHAR YET
Review: It is my opinion that this translation by Professor Daniel Matt will become THE Zohar of the future scholars and students. It is easy to understand, thanks to Professor Matt's extensive notes and explainations. It is a MUST for anyone who sincerily desires to understand the mind of the Jewish kabbalists of the Spanish period and later.

Rating:
Summary: At last, the translation the Zohar deserves!
Review: Professor Matt has given the Sefer ha-Zohar the translation students have longed for for generations. It is scholarly but literarily skillful. Most importantly, Matt's version is not overly interpretive. He knows how to put interpretive notes in the footnotes, not in the translation itself -- there are over 2400 footnotes in volume one! This allows the text to retain more of its original character and meaning. Some "translations" are so thick with the interpreter's beliefs that they are nearly useless.

It's also important to note that this is the first translation of the Zohar based on a modern critical text. That means the Aramaic original used to translate from has been carefully compared and emended from old manuscript copies. While this Aramaic text is not reproduced in the book, it is available for free from the publisher, Stanford University Press. I printed it out, put it in a binder and shelve it next to the translation. The best of both worlds.

This tremendous work of scholarship will certainly be the standard translation of the Zohar for our generation.

Rating:
Summary: Curb Your Enthusiasm
Review: Stanford University Press and Professor Matt are certainly to be congratulated for attempting the Herculean task of translating into English, from 'scratch' (original Aramaic manuscripts), the entire Zohar, as well as adding running commentary based on Matt's so-called Kabbalistic expertise. Unfortunately, the latter's ego creeps in, taking too much poetic license in the translation itself, while his mystical interpretation of the difficult symbolism fails to compare with the luminous commentary of Isaiah Tishby in his multi-award winning masterpiece, "Wisdom of the Zohar".

Isaiah Tishby was Emeritus Professor of Philosophical, Mythical and Ethical Hebrew at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem until his death in 1992. He was awarded the Bialik Prize 1972, the Israel Prize 1979, and the Rothschild Prize 1982, mainly for his work on "The Wisdom of the Zohar". David Goldstein, late Curator of Hebrew Books and Manuscripts at the British Library, was awarded the Webber Prize 1987 for his translation shortly before he died.

Matt's arrogance is downright embarrassing as he unabashedly states his superior grasp of occulted Kabbalistic symbolism, trashing not only Rabbi Tishby but even the scholar/translator, Goldstein:

"After wrestling with Zoharic neologisms for years, I no longer share Tishby's view ("Wisdom of the Zohar", 1:66) that 'only rarely is it possible to determine their meaning from the context, while for the most part it is difficult even to guess what the author had in mind.' Still, I can appreciate the confession of David Goldstein (translator of "Wisdom of the Zohar"), who, after rendering several obscure lines directly from the Aramaic, writes 'The English translations given are purely hypothetical.'"

Because of the enormity of the undertaking, Matt's Zohar is already being hailed as unequaled and all the more impressive since his is a 'critical' edition, assembled directly from source manuscripts. Even though the Tishby/Goldstein Three-Volume set translates only about 25% of the Zohar, it is the meatier areas and, as stated above, the commentary is of such sublimity that at times it outshines the original channeled manuscript of Moses de Leon; and it certainly leaves Professor Matt's commentary wanting.

Still, the prospect of a fresh translation of the entire legendary work is an exciting one, and we can hope that eventually Mr. Matt will be humbled, as the great Tishby was, by the exasperating, ultimately enigmatic essence of many peculiar passages. Stanford is planning on releasing two volumes per year, so we can look forward to the complete 12-Volume set around 2009.

Rating:
Summary: A Worthy new Translation
Review: The Zohar - Pritzker Edition (Vols. I and II so far) is a worthy addition to the ever expanding library of traditonal Jewish literature in English.

First, the translation. While I am disappointed that the Aramaic text in not integrated into the volumes (it's available online), this new translation is fresh, adventuresome and witty. It strives, and often succeeds, in capturing the playful language of the original text. Just as important, it is forthright in revealing the frankly erotic flavor of Moses Deleon's vision of the divine dynamis.

Then there is Daniel Matt's commentary, which is remarkable on several counts. First, it is an amazing compendium of the traditional sources that inspired the Zohar. Virtually the entire scope of Biblical, rabbinic, and mystical traditions that DeLeon drew upon in writing the Zohar is obsessively documented in the notes. It is a fantastic treasure trove of Jewish mythic and mystical teachings. These citations alone make the commentary worth reading through carefully. Second, while Matt does an outstanding job of clarifying the meaning of the extraordinarily cryptic language, it is nice to see that he is modest enough to acknowledge in some places that his interpretations are tentative and - in a few places - that he too cannot really get the sense of what DeLeon was trying to say.

My only criticism of the commentary is the frequent repetition of information already given earlier. In many places as one goes deeper into the volumes, the same entry is simply replicated. I realize this is the result of two things: First, the Zohar itself tends toward obsessive repetition of key ideas and images. Second, I assume Matt repeats some commentary entries on the assumption that readers will pick up and study discrete sections, rather than read the volume through, cover to cover. Still, given the amount of spece devoted to repeating the same information over and over again, the consistent use of simple references, like "see note 654 on page 245," would probably shave the number of volumes that eventually need to be published by 20%. Presumably, it would also mean Matt could return to a normal academic life a couple of year earlier, since I understand he has given himself over entirely to this publishing venture for the next two decades.

That criticism aside, this is a fine piece of work, and I am looking forward to the future ten (10!)volumes.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the time and expense (vol I and vol II)
Review: Though Daniel Matt did not include an interlinear text or page-facing translation and commentary text in this translation, it is most worthy of being in any scholars library. Now I am not a Jew, but I can tell the hens from the roosters, and this translation and commentary is most extensive,.. it opens for those who are studying Jewish Mysticism 'from the outside' a jewel box of profound magnitude. In my mind if you seek G-d and wish to understand those that have gone before and may provide keys to that most vast mindset and who can expound the wonders of the Torah text and insights that require deeper seeking than face value reading, by all means start gathering these volumes! The Aramaic text is downloadable in PDF from the Stanford University (provided in the text notes).
There are always detractors who criticize and scowl that 'the secrets are being given to the unworthy'... but we are talking the ways of G-d here, and He has his own ways of bringing those that seek higher learning into His fold... if you have that calling... gather these books to you, they will not disappoint.
Dr. Matt has done his best work to date in these volumes.