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Summary: THE CHUMASH
Review: The Chumash gives a spectrum of ideas and commentary. This is a great all around Torah. It pulls from many direction of thought. It's blinders are off.
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Summary: A MUST for every Jewish home...
Review: The premier translation of the Torah. Running commentary and explanation along the bottom of the pages fills in all necessary information from Talmudic and Midrashic sources, as well as a compendium of notes from the traditional commentators. Includes Hebrew and English texts on opposite pages, along with Rashi and the Aramaic translation of Onkelos.
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Summary: Profound and Magnificent
Review: The Stone Edition Chumash includes the Hebrew text of the Pentateuch (the Torah), Onkelos's Aramaic translation and an English translation, commentary, charts, Haftaroth, Megilloth and other relevant synagogue readings.
The Hebrew text is clearly pointed and easy to read, beside it is Onkelos's translation, beneath it is Rashi's (Rabbi Shlomo Yitschaki's, 11th c.) commentary (in Hebrew, "Rashi" script). On the opposite page is the English translation and commentary. The translation is accurate, modern, clear and mellifluous. Marginal notes here introduce, summarise and set the context. The English commentary is quite extensive, inspiring and captivating, and carefully selecting from and integrating the classical medieval commentaries of Rashi, the Ramban and Ibn Ezra, among others, and many, many modern, Orthodox sages. The word of God is the concern here, and its illumination is pure and profound.
The book is also aesthetically beautiful in every respect.
This edition is, in my opinion, the best single volume translation of and commentary on the Torah available.
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Summary: A Wonderful Chumash.
Review: The Stone Edition Chumash is one of the most accurate Chumashim (Five Books of Moses) available. For those new to Judaism, or looking to learn more about their religion or heritage, you will find this as the most accessible and best annotated Chumash out there. With large bold print, and wonderful commentary on top of the Rashi Commentary, you will find this to be a great tool for learning too.
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Summary: A pious and comprehensive work, marred by fundamentalism
Review: The translation presented here is not as good as many of its readers might at first think. While the translations are readable, they sometimes vary greatly from the actual Hebrew text. This is because the editors have chosen one particular Torah commentray (Rashi), and have biased the translation in favor of Rashi's interpreation, even when they were only meant to be allegorical. This bias makes Rashi out to be an authority second only to God! Due to this overwhelming bias, all of the other hudnreds of Bible commentators together barely equal Rashi alone - at least in the eye's of this book's editors. While it certainly is important to present a digest of Rashi's views, it is most inaccurate to bias the entire translation according to him. Fortunately, the extensive and well-researched commentary presents a digest of thoughts from rabbis; Unfortunately this commentary is limited to those views that are acceptable a Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) point of view. Thus, the commentary is not reflective of the variety that is present within the tradition of rabbinic Judaism. The same goes for midrashim, which are rabbinic exegetical glosses on the text of the Torah. This commentary picks and chooses which midrashim are to be authoritative, leaving the rest to the dustbin of history. While this indeed is illuminatin [it illustrates clearly what the author's biases are] it also gives a terribl narrow picture of authentic rabbinic Judaism. In terms of physical presentation, this work is an elegent example of beautiful typsetting, readable fonts, and a beautiful cover. It is earnest, authentic, and pious. But in the end, it is biased towards the religious extremists, and this in the end shortchanges the reader of what should be a wider and more varied education. I would suggest getting the Soncino Chumash, or the five volume JPS Torah commentary set, instead. However, note that this Chumash _can_ be good, if you already know the breadth of the tradition, and so can avoid its pitfalls.
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Summary: Fantastic chumash - Extraordinary
Review: This chumash is absolutely magnificent. First, the translation is wonderful; clear and easy to read. There hasn't been a passage yet that I couldn't figure out what it was trying to say.
Beyond that, the commentary is wonderful too. For example, it notes for Genesis 3:4 that Adam, when he told Eve of G-d's prohibition on the Tree of Life, added to G-d's prohibition words that G-d did not speak. Adam told Eve that touching the tree would kill her, though G-d never said this. Thus, the commentary says that perhaps the snake pushed Eve against the tree, and when Eve did not die, the snake convinced her that if that one part of the prohibition was false, then the whole prohibition was false.
For Genesis 6:1-2,4, it notes two possible interpretations for the sons of G-d taking wives from daughters of men. It says that sons of G-d could mean righteous, G-d fearing men, and daughters of men are less spiritually upright people. Thus, the spiritually high people debased themselves by marrying less spiritual people, thus consigning them to the same fates. It also notes that Eloh-m is used, the rulership aspect of G-d, so perhaps sons of G-d means rulers and kings and daughters of men means ordinary (common) women. Therefore, it means rulers forcefully took commoners as wives, thus showing that before the Flood, the powerful had begun to subjigate and abuse the weak.
Many are troubled by Exodus 21:2-6, which says that if a Jewish slave is given a wife while he is a slave, once he is freed, he must either leave his wife or, if he wants to stay with his wife, he must remain a slave forever. To many, this doesn't seem very moral. However, the commentary very effectively sheds light on this passage. It notes that Leviticus 25:39 says that a Jew who sells himself into slavery to pay off his debts is to be regarded as an indentured laborer, not a slave. The only other way to be sold into anything like slavery is steal something and not be able to make restitution. Thus, Exodus 21:2-6 is speaking of a thief, not of a poor impoverished misfortunate laborerer who sold himself to pay off his debts. Second, it notes that the passage speaks of a women OWNED by the master being given as a wife to the slave. If the master OWNS the women, she is not an Israelite/Jew. Therefore, she is a gentile slave, probably a descendent of a prisoner of war. Therefore, Exodus 21:2-6, when it says a slave must either leave his wife or remain a slave forever, is really speaking a thief who was graciously given a wife (if you ask me, he doesn't deserve a wife) who was probably a descendent of a prisoner of war who was graciously enslaved rather than killed. The passage sure seems far more moral, doesn't it?
As can be seen, this commentary is terrific for illuminating confusing and troubling passages in the Torah. Even passages that seem straightforward and easy to understand often have a great deal more to be learned from this commentary. Though this commentary may be too "pious" or "fundamentalist" for some, most of the commentary deals with straightforward meanings, and as often multiple interpretations are given, there is nothing to stop one from picking choosing what to believe from among the interpretations given. I recommend it to all.
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Summary: Excellent intro into the Torah
Review: This edition tries to condense as much of the basic wisdom of the Jewish tradition about the Tenakh into a single volume. It does a splendid job at that, with a translation of everything from the Bible one would need for liturgical use (Torah, Haftarot, Megillot) and a good starting commentary on the Torah itself. However, it must be remembered that this book *is* a condensation. As such, the English text is very selective in what commentaries it chooses to include. As such, it presents a good, basic, down the line approach. Do not expect profound mysteris to abound in this volume. Also, for those who are not from a strictly observant, Orthodox background, the tone adopted in the volume can be at times a tad pompous and overbearing. If you understand Hebrew/Aramaic, this is a great book that adds to the vocalised text of the Torah the commentary of Rashi and the Targum of Onkelos. If you don't understand Hebrew, this is a great point to start! I'm learning the Hebrew of the Torah from this volume and if,like me, you find a side-by-side edition with two parallel languages more helpful to develop your own intuition this is a great way to start. The book guides the reader to understand just how much more there is to be learnt and that's a great thing. The fact that it presents a basic point of view is also great because too many people fail in their learning by ignoring the basics. A great introduction into the Jewish understanding ot the Torah
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Summary: real torah for real people
Review: this is a great chumash version.artscroll has the best in judaica[siddur.tanach.torah].the addition of onkelos[the full aramaic translation of torah's 5 books] is the best.the version also has the rashi commentary and other commentators from orthodox jewish sources.great book, get it.
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Summary: An excellent starting point
Review: This is an excellent Chumash but it must be made clear that it is a "beginners guide", a starting point to the Torah. If you only want one Chumash in your library then make this the one. Being a convenient, easy to read, concise one volume Chumash, the author had no choice but to narrow his commentary. After all, you cannot fit the waters of the ocean into a bucket. One must understand that the commentary does not even scratch the service of inner meaning of the text. It is simply a minimum line or put in a positive way, a springboard to further study. So I suppose it is only fair of me to suggest another Chumash that one can advance to. "The Call of the Torah" by Rabbi Elie Munk is a five-volume set also published by Artscroll. Rav Munk combines both the classic commentaries of Rash"i, Ramba"m, Ramba"n etc, the "peshat" of his teacher Rav Hirsh and also the more hidden Torah of Kabbalah. This as well as his own beautiful and intelligent ideas, adds up to a Chumash that is a must for all Jews that wish to delve just that little bit deeper.
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Summary: Excellent beginners guide
Review: This is an excellent Chumash but it must be made clear that it is a "beginners guide" to the Torah. If you only want one Chumash in your library then make this the one. However, one must understand that the commentary does not even scratch the service of inner meaning of the text. It is simply a minimum line or put in a positive way, a springboard to further study. One reviewer commented that "This commentary picks and chooses which midrashim are to be authoritative, leaving the rest to the dustbin of history. While this indeed is illuminatin [it illustrates clearly what the author's biases are] it also gives a terribl narrow picture of authentic rabbinic Judaism." This is totally unfair. No one ever suggested that this was the be all and end all of Chumash commentary. Indeed the idea is quite ludicrous. Nothing is consigned to the dustbin of history. You simply have to go on to more advanced sifre Kodesh. The author had no choice but to narrow his commentary. You cannot fit the waters of the ocean into a plastic bucket. So I suppose it is only fair of me to suggest another Chumash that one can advance to. "The Call of the Torah" by Rabbi Elie Munk is a five-volume set also published by Artscroll. Rav Munk combines both the classic commentaries of Rash"i, Ramba"m, Ramba"n etc, the "peshat" of his teacher Rav Hirsh and also the more hidden Torah of Kabbalah. This as well as his own beautiful and intelligent ideas, adds up to a chumash that is a must for all Jews that wish to delve just that little bit deeper. It is also an excellent resource for those that need to give a devar Torah at short notice.
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