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Rating: 
Summary: Second Best?
Review: Is this the second best rendition, in Hebrew of the Torah with a side-by-side English translation, and provided with commentary, or is it just a matter of taste? According to my taste, the best version, and most modern, is "The Torah" by W. Gunther Plaut. You may read my review of that version, which I recommend when considering the purchase of this book.For the record, the Pentateuch is another name for the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, the five books of Moses. This book is most commonly used in the sanctuary of the Conservative synagogue, as compared to the Plaut volume, which serves the same purpose in the Reform synagogue. I have both volumes side-by-side on an honored place in my living room. I recommend both. However, to my taste, Plaut is 'first among equals.' Postscript: Don't be fooled by the title; Plaut includes the Haftorahs similarly to Hertz.
Rating:
Summary: Second Best?
Review: Is this the second best rendition, in Hebrew of the Torah with a side-by-side English translation, and provided with commentary, or is it just a matter of taste? According to my taste, the best version, and most modern, is "The Torah" by W. Gunther Plaut. You may read my review of that version, which I recommend when considering the purchase of this book. For the record, the Pentateuch is another name for the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, the five books of Moses. This book is most commonly used in the sanctuary of the Conservative synagogue, as compared to the Plaut volume, which serves the same purpose in the Reform synagogue. I have both volumes side-by-side on an honored place in my living room. I recommend both. However, to my taste, Plaut is 'first among equals.' Postscript: Don't be fooled by the title; Plaut includes the Haftorahs similarly to Hertz.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Helped Keep Me Jewish
Review: It is a tradition among the Jews that when one reads the Bible one should also read the commentaries of our ancestors as well. This masterpiece of Jewish commentary by the late Chief Rabbi of Great Britain J.H. Hertz incorporates not only the thoughts of Rabbi Hertz himself but also those of Rashi, Saadya and many other Jewish sages. I have been picking this book up and browsing through it, or referring to it for a specific point, for almost thirty years. If you can only have a few books in your Jewish library this book ought to be one of them. A further point. I, too, used to think that Hertz's commentary used Hertz's own translation of the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses. In fact, Hertz'z book uses the normative (in his day) 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation. Hertz's approach is decidedly Orthodox, but you don't have to be Orthodox to appreciate this work, which I believe will be in print as long as there are Jews who speak English. And if you are thinking of a gift for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah or for Chanukah I can't think of a better choice than this one.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Condensed Torah Commentary
Review: The distilled wisdom of the ages in about 1000 pages - no one could do it better. I have read through this volume every year for several years and never cease to discover new insights. Recommended it for both Jewish and Christian students of the holy scriptures.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Condensed Torah Commentary
Review: The distilled wisdom of the ages in about 1000 pages - no one could do it better. I have read through this volume every year for several years and never cease to discover new insights. Recommended it for both Jewish and Christian students of the holy scriptures.
Rating:
Summary: A great help and teacher for as long as I can remember
Review: The Hertz Chumash has been with me for as long as I can remember. Shaareh Tefillah Shul in Troy, New York had the Hertz Chumash and its translation of the Chumash, and its great commentary taught me then as it still teaches me now. I every week read the Parsha both in Hebrew and English from it.
The Hertz commentary is a wise and generous one. It is filled with ' Yirat Shemayim' The Awe of G-d, and yet at the same time open to wise words from non- Jewish sources. It exalts and inspires . And its introductions to each book of the Torah are also of great help .It is still a great commentary to be learned from though it should of course be supplemented with others which go into greater detail in many areas.
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