ArtScroll is an

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

of translations, books and commentaries from an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., a

publishing company Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

based in

Rahway Rahway () is a city in southern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway Valley region, in the New York metropolitan area. The city is southwest of Manhattan ...

, New Jersey.

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Nosson Scherman Nosson Scherman ( he, נתן שרמן, born 1935, Newark, New Jersey) is an American Haredi rabbi best known as the general editor of ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications. Early life Scherman was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, where his paren ...

is the general editor. ArtScroll's first president, Rabbi

Meir Zlotowitz Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz (13 July 1943 – 24 June 2017) was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author and founder of ArtScroll Publications. Early life Meir attended Yeshivas Rabbi Jacob Joseph ( RJJ) on the Lower East Side of New York. He went on to atte ...

(July 13, 1943 – June 24, 2017) was succeeded by his oldest son, Rabbi

Gedaliah Zlotowitz Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz (13 July 1943 – 24 June 2017) was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author and founder of ArtScroll Publications. Early life Meir attended Yeshivas Rabbi Jacob Joseph ( RJJ) on the Lower East Side of New York. He went on to atte ...

, whose name is listed secondarily in new publications as general editor, after that of Rabbi Scherman.

History

In 1975, Rabbi

, a graduate of

Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem ( he, מתיבתא תפארת ירושלים, ) (MTJ) is a yeshiva in New York City, and one of the oldest existent yeshivas in the city. It is the institution formerly led by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, and then led by hi ...

, was director of a high-end graphics studio in New York. The firm, ArtScroll Studios, produced

ketubah A ketubah (; he, כְּתוּבָּה) is a Jewish marriage contract. It is considered an integral part of a traditional Jewish marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom, in relation to the bride. In modern practice, ...

s, brochures, invitations, and awards. Rabbi

, then principal of Yeshiva Karlin Stolin

Boro Park Borough Park (also spelled Boro Park) is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The neighborhood is bordered by Bensonhurst to the south, Dyker Heights to the southwest, Sunset Park to the west, ...

, was recommended to Zlotowitz as someone who could write copy, and they collaborated on a few projects. In late 1975, Zlotowitz wrote an English translation and commentary on the

Book of Esther The Book of Esther ( he, מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, Megillat Esther), also known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the wikt:מגילה, Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the Judaism, Jewish ''Tanak ...

in memory of a friend, and asked Scherman to write the introduction. The book sold out its first edition of 20,000 copies within two months. With the encouragement of Rabbi

Moses Feinstein Moshe Feinstein ( he, משה פײַנשטיין; Lithuanian Jews, Lithuanian pronunciation: ''Moshe Faynshteyn''; en, Moses Feinstein; March 3, 1895 – March 23, 1986) was an American Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and ''posek'' ...

, Rabbi

Yaakov Kamenetsky Yaakov Kamenetsky (February 28, 1891 – March 10, 1986), was a prominent rabbi, rosh yeshiva, ''posek'' and Talmudist in the post-World War II American Jewish community. Biography Yaakov Kamenetsky was born at a folwark called Kalyskovka owned b ...

, and other

Gedolei Yisrael ''Gadol'' or ''godol'' (, plural: ''gedolim'' ) (literally "big" or "great" in Hebrew ) is used by religious Jews to refer to the most revered rabbis of the generation. Usage The term ''gadol hador'' refers to the "great/est (one of) the generati ...

, the two continued producing commentaries, beginning with a translation and commentary on the rest of the

Five Megillot The Five Scrolls or The Five Megillot ( he, חמש מגילות , ''Hamesh Megillot'' or ''Chomeish Megillos'') are parts of the Ketuvim ("Writings"), the third major section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). The Five Scrolls are the Song of Songs, ...

( Song of Songs,

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly use ...

Lamentations The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...

and

Ruth Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

), and went on to publish translations and commentaries on the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

Prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

Passover Haggadah The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder._According_to_Jewish_practice,_reading_the_Haggadah_at_the_Seder_table_is_a_fulfillment_of_the_mitzvah.html" ;"tit ...

siddur A siddur ( he, סִדּוּר ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.' Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, ' ...

s and

machzor The ''machzor'' ( he, מחזור, plural ''machzorim'', and , respectively) is the prayer book which is used by Jews on the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many Jews also make use of specialized ''machzorim'' on the three pilgr ...

s. By 1990, ArtScroll had produced more than 700 books, including novels, history books, children's books and secular textbooks, and became one of the largest publishers of Jewish books in the United States. After decades of being headquartered in New York, ArtScroll moved to New Jersey in 2020. Among other things, ArtScroll's headquarters in Rahway is notable for their in-house green screen studio used for the production o
Inside ArtScroll
videos made available

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

, as well as non-ArtScroll videos such as

Mishpacha ''Mishpacha'' ( he, משפחה, : Family) - Jewish Family Weekly is a Haredi weekly magazine package produced by The Mishpacha Group in both English and Hebrew. History The Mishpacha Publishing Group was founded in 1984 with the publication ...

interviews and other "films that are broadcasted to the Torah community."

Associated entities

The Mesorah Heritage Foundation box printed on the inner page of ArtScroll publications lists Rabbi David Feinstein's name first. Mesorah Publications is the "parent" company of ArtScroll; the name Mesorah was not part of ArtScroll's publications for the first book published, Megilas Esther (1976).

Publications

Primary publications and popular demand

ArtScroll publishes books on a variety of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

subjects. The best known is probably an annotated

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

-English ''siddur'' ("prayerbook") (''The ArtScroll Siddur''). Its Torah translation and commentary, a series of translations and commentaries on books of the

Tanach The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

), and an English translation and elucidation of the Babylonian Talmud have enjoyed great success. Other publications include works on

Jewish Law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws which is derived from the Torah, written and Oral Tora ...

, novels and factual works based on

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish life or history, and cookbooks. The popular demand for ArtScroll's translations of classic Jewish works (e.g., Mishnah; Talmud) largely coincided with preexisting market demands, unappreciated to an extent, for English editions characterized by both high-fidelity translations as well as accompanying commentary in the English vernacular. Such editions are used even by American

yeshivah A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are stud ...

graduates–who have had the benefit of exposure to Hebrew and Aramaic from a young age–inasmuch as it is often easier to effortlessly parse through the material in their native language in place of what may at times be a tedious endeavor of self-translation. In certain cases, reading the Judaic texts in one's native English can even "trigger a new depth of thought that comes from the subtleties of a finer understanding." ArtScroll publications are best identified through the "hallmark features" of its design elements such as typeface and layout, through which "ArtScroll books constitute a field of visual interaction that enables and encourages the reader to navigate the text in particular ways." The emphasis on design and layout can be understood "as a strategy on the part of the publisher to achieve a range of cognitive as well as esthetic effects." The name ArtScroll was chosen for the publishing company to emphasize the visual appeal of the books.

Prayerbooks

Mesorah Publications received widespread acclaim in response to its ArtScroll line of prayerbooks, starting with ''The Complete ArtScroll Siddur'', Ed. Nosson Scherman, 1984. This work gained wide acceptance in the

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

ish community, and within a few years became a popular Hebrew-English ''siddur'' (prayerbook) in the United States. It offered the reader detailed notes and instructions on most of the prayers and versions of this prayerbook were produced for the

High Holidays The High Holidays also known as the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim ( he, יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm''; "Days of Awe") #strictly, the holidays of Rosh HaShanah ("Jew ...

, and the three pilgrimage festivals

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt, Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar, He ...

Sukkot or ("Booths, Tabernacles") , observedby = Jews, Samaritans, a few Protestant denominations, Messianic Jews, Semitic Neopagans , type = Jewish, Samaritan , begins = 15th day of Tishrei , ends = 21st day of Tishre ...

and

Shavuot (''Ḥag HaShavuot'' or ''Shavuos'') , nickname = English: "Feast of Weeks" , observedby = Jews and Samaritans , type = Jewish and Samaritan , begins = 6th day of Sivan (or the Sunday following the 6th day of Sivan i ...

. While many Conservative synagogues rely on the ''Siddur Sim Shalom'' or ''Or Hadash'' prayer books and ''Etz Hayim Humash'', "a small but growing number of North American Conservative Jewish congregations ... have recently adopted ArtScroll prayer books and Bibles as their 'official' liturgical texts, not to mention a much larger number of Conservative synagogues that over recent years have grown accustomed to individual congregants participating in prayer services with editions of ArtScroll prayer books in their hands." The shift has mainly occurred among more traditionally minded Conservative congregants and rabbis (sometimes labeled "Conservadox") "as an adequate representation of the more traditional liturgy they seek to embrace." Since the advent of ArtScroll, a number of Jewish publishers have printed books and siddurim with similar typefaces and commentary, but with a different commentary and translation philosophy.

Stone Chumash

In 1993, Mesorah Publications published ''The Chumash: The Stone Edition'', a translation and commentary on the

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also *Chumash traditional n ...

arranged for liturgical use and sponsored by Irving I. Stone of

American Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. It has since become a widely available English-Hebrew Torah translation and commentary in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries. A 2018 review of Hebrew-English Chumashim said that ArtScroll's ''Stone Edition Chumash'', often called The Stone Chumash, is "the most successful Orthodox replacement for the" Hertz Chumash.

Schottenstein Edition Talmud

Mesorah has a line of

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

translations and commentaries, and a line of

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

translations and commentaries, The Schottenstein Edition of The ''Talmud Bavli'' ("Babylonian Talmud"). The set of Talmud was completed in late 2004, giving a 73 volume English edition of the entire Talmud. This was the second complete translation of the Talmud into English (the other being the Soncino Talmud published in the United Kingdom during the mid-twentieth century). The first volume, Tractate Makkos, was published in 1990, and dedicated by Mr. and Mrs. Marcos Katz.

Jerome Schottenstein Ya'akov Meir Hayyim Jerome Schottenstein ( he, ג'רום (יעקב מאיר חיים) שוטנשטיין; March 5, 1926 – March 10, 1992) was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, co-founder of Schottenstein Stores Corp. Biography Jero ...

was introduced by Rabbi Dr.

Norman Lamm Norman Lamm (December 19, 1927 – May 31, 2020) was an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, academic administrator, author, and Jewish community leader. He was the Chancellor of Yeshiva University until he announced his retirement on July ...

to the publication committee shortly thereafter. He began by donating funds for the project in memory of his parents Ephraim and Anna Schottenstein one volume at a time, and later decided to back the entire project. When Jerome died, his children and widow, Geraldine, rededicated the project to his memory in addition to those of his parents. The goal of the project was to, "open the doors of the Talmud and welcome its people inside." The text generally consists of two side-by-side pages: one of the

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

Vilna Edition The Vilna Edition of the Talmud, printed in Vilna (now Vilnius), Lithuania, is by far the most common printed edition of the Talmud still in use today as the basic text for Torah study in yeshivas and by all scholars of Judaism. It was typeset by ...

text, and the corresponding page consists of an English translation. The English translation has a bolded literal translation of the Talmud's text, but also includes un-bolded text clarifying the literal translation. (The original Talmud's text is often very unclear, referring to places, times, people, and laws that it does not explain. The un-bolded text attempts to explain these situations. The text of the Talmud also contains few prepositions, articles, etc. The un-bolded text takes the liberty of inserting these parts of speech.) The result is an English text that reads in full sentences with full explanations, while allowing the reader to distinguish between direct translation and a more liberal approach to the translation. (This also results in one page of the Vilna Talmud requiring several pages of English translation.) Below the English translation appear extensive notes including diagrams. ArtScroll's English explanations and footnoted commentary in the Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud are based on the perspective of classical Jewish sources. The clarifying explanation is generally based on the viewpoint of

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

, the medieval commentator who wrote the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud. The Schottenstein Edition does not include contemporary academic or critical scholarship. The overall guidelines follow a pattern defined by the late Rabbi Hersh Goldwurm, "a Monsey, N.Y., scholar who died in 1993." The total cost of the project is estimated at US$21 million, most of which was contributed by private donors and foundations. Some volumes have up to 2 million copies in distribution, while more recent volumes have only 90,000 copies currently printed. A completed set was dedicated on February 9, 2005, to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

, and the

siyum A ''siyum'' ( he, סיום) ("completion"), in Judaism, occasionally spelled siyyum, is the completion of any established unit of Torah study. The most common units are a single volume of the Talmud, or of Mishnah, but there are other units of lea ...

(celebration at the "completion") was held on March 15, 2005, the 13th

yahrzeit Bereavement in Judaism () is a combination of ''minhag'' and ''mitzvah'' derived from the Torah and Judaism's classical rabbinic texts. The details of observance and practice vary according to each Jewish community. Mourners In Judaism, the p ...

of Jerome Schottenstein, at the

New York Hilton The New York Hilton Midtown is the largest hotel in New York City and world's 101st tallest hotel. The hotel is owned by Park Hotels & Resorts and managed by Hilton Worldwide. At 1,929 rooms and over 150,000 sq ft of meeting space, the hote ...

. Mesorah and the Schottenstein family have also printed a Hebrew version of the commentary and have begun both an English and Hebrew translation of the ''Talmud Yerushalmi'' (

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

). The blue-covered Hebrew Talmud set, which like the English counterpart is 73 volumes, has a HasKaMa (approbation) from a Bobover Rebbe, Grand Rabbi

Naftali Halberstam Naftali Tzvi Halberstam ( he, ר' נפתלי צבי הלברשטאם) (1931–2005) was the Grand Rebbe of Bobov from August 2000 until March 2005. He succeeded his father, Shlomo Halberstam (1907–2000), as Grand Rebbe of Bobov. Early life Na ...

. A French language set was begun. ArtScroll has also produced the "Elucidated Mishnah", a work similarly clarifying the

-text, and expanding thereon in an appended commentary and footnotes; see .

''Kosher by Design''

In 2003, ArtScroll published a cookbook by

Susie Fishbein Susan Beth Fishbein (born 1968) is an American Orthodox Jewish kosher cookbook author, cooking teacher, and culinary tour leader. Her ''Kosher By Design'' series of cookbooks was a runaway best-seller for ArtScroll, with over 500,000 copies so ...

entitled ''Kosher by Design: Picture-perfect food for the holidays & every day''. The cookbook contains both traditional recipes and updated versions of traditional recipes. All the recipes are kosher and the book puts an emphasis on its food photography. Since publication, the book has sold over 400,000 copies from 2003 through 2010, and Fishbein has become a media personality, earning the sobriquets of "the Jewish

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pub ...

" and the "kosher

diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is clo ...

". ArtScroll has realized the books' salability by extending beyond its traditional Orthodox Jewish market into the mainstream market, including sales on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

, at

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...

and Christian

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

booksellers Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

, in

Williams Sonoma Williams Sonoma is an American retailer of cookware, appliances, and home furnishings. It is owned by Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and was founded by Charles E. (Chuck) Williams in 1956. History In 1947, Chuck Williams settled in Sonoma, Californ ...

stores, and in supermarkets.

Editorial policy

Works published by Mesorah under this imprint adhere to a perspective appealing to many Orthodox Jews, but especially to Orthodox Jews who have come from less religious backgrounds, but are returning to the faith (

Baalei Teshuva In Judaism, a ''ba'al teshuvah'' ( he, בעל תשובה; for a woman, , or ; plural, , , 'master of return God]') is a Jew who adopts some form of traditional religious observance after having previously followed a Jewish secularism, secular lif ...

). Due to the makeup of the Jewish community in the US, most of the prayer books are geared to the Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazic custom. In more recent years, ArtScroll has collaborated with Sephardic community leaders in an attempt to bridge this gap. Examples of this include a Sephardic

Haggadah The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each J ...

published by ArtScroll, written by Sephardic Rabbi Eli Mansour, the book ''

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

'', about a prominent

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

community in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, and a Sephardic prayerbook. In translations and commentaries, ArtScroll accepts

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

ic accounts in a historical fashion, and at times literally; it disagrees with

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in ...

. Page "X" of the preface to ArtScroll's first publication set the tone: A long paragraph includes "''No non-Jewish sources have even been consulted, much less quoted.'' I consider it offensive that the Torah should need authentication from the secular or so-called 'scientific' sources." Frequently coalescing to give voice to ArtScroll's worldview is, in the words of Scherman, "a heavy combination of '' mussar'' and '' chassidus'' that we incorporate into our commentary" such as commentary by

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

Rabbis Tzadok HaKohen and Yehudah Leib Alter. Despite the recent trend of most Haredi press omitting images of women from their magazines or newspapers, ArtScroll continues to publish pictures of women in their books. When someone authoring a biography to be published by ArtScroll requested that pictures of women be left out, ArtScroll "basically told him to go fly a kite, ndwe sent him to an ''adam gadol'' _prominent_ _prominent_Torah_scholar">Torah_scholar.html"_;"title="_prominent_Torah_scholar">_prominent_Torah_scholarwho_basically_washed_the_floors_with_him."

__Transliteration_system_

ArtScroll_publications,_such_as_the_Irving_I._Stone.html" ;"title="Torah_scholar.html" ;"title="Torah_scholar.html" ;"title=" prominent Torah scholar"> prominent Torah scholar">Torah_scholar.html" ;"title=" prominent Torah scholar"> prominent Torah scholarwho basically washed the floors with him."

Transliteration system

ArtScroll publications, such as the Irving I. Stone">Stone Editions of Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and

(Pentateuch) use many more transliterated Hebrew words than English words, compared to editions such as the Tanakh of the Jewish Publication Society. This reflects a higher use of untranslated Hebrew terminology in Haredi English usage. ArtScroll's transliteration system for Hebrew transliteration for readers of the English language generally uses

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

consonants and

Sefardi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

vowels. The two major differences between the way Sefardi and Ashkenazi Hebrew dialects are transcribed are as follows: *the letter Tav without a

dagesh The dagesh () is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet. It was added to the Hebrew orthography at the same time as the Masoretic system of niqqud (vowel points). It takes the form of a dot placed inside a Hebrew letter and has the effect of mod ...

(emphasis point) is transcribed as and respectively **ArtScroll uses the latter *the vowel kamatz gadol, is transcribed and respectively **ArtScroll uses the former As such, the following transliterations are used:

Critical reviews

* A large number of grammatical errors exist in their Bible and commentary translations, changing the meaning of these passages. B. Barry Levy alleged in 1981:

''Dikduk'' (grammar) is anathema in many Jewish circles, but the translation and presentation of texts is, to a large extent, a
philological Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as t ...
activity and must be philologically accurate. The ArtScroll effort has not achieved a respectable level. There are dozens of cases where prepositions are misunderstood, where verb tenses are not perceived properly and where grammatical or linguistic terms are used incorrectly. Words are often vocalized incorrectly. These observations, it should be stressed, are not limited to the Bible text but refer to the talmudic, midrashic, targumic, medieval and modern works as well. Rabbinical passages are removed from their contexts, presented in fragmentary form thus distorting their contents, emended to update their messages even though these new ideas were not expressed in the texts themselves, misvocalized, and mistranslated: i.e. misrepresented.

* ArtScroll biographies have been criticized as providing incomplete and partial portrayals of Rabbinic figures. Notably, this is not disputed by ArtScroll. Rabbi Nosson Scherman stated that as it pertains to biographies the mission of ArtScroll "is to impart a positive message" without mentioning "disputes that can often become vitriolic." * The commentary of

Rashbam Samuel ben Meir (Troyes, c. 1085 – c. 1158), after his death known as "Rashbam", a Hebrew acronym for RAbbi SHmuel Ben Meir, was a leading French Tosafist and grandson of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi". Biography He was born in the vicinity of Tro ...

to the first chapter of Genesis in ArtScroll's ''Czuker Edition Hebrew Chumash Mikra'os Gedolos Sefer Bereishis'' (2014) has been censored. The missing passages are related to

's interpretation of the phrase in Genesis 1:5, "and there was an evening, and there was a morning, one day." The Talmud cites these words to support the

halakhic ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

view that the day begins at sundown. However, Rashbam takes a

peshat ''Peshat'' (also ''P'shat'', ) is one of the two classic methods of Jewish biblical exegesis, the other being Derash. While ''Peshat'' is commonly defined as referring to the surface or literal (direct) meaning of a text,Goldin, S. (2007). Unlocki ...

(plain sense) approach, as he does throughout his commentary, reading the verse as follows: "There was an evening (at the conclusion of daytime) and a morning (at the end of night), one day"; that is, the day begins in the morning and lasts until the next daybreak. This comment of Rashbam was notably subject to sharp criticism by the Ibn Ezra who placed a curse on any publishers who included this comment in their Chumash out of concern that the reading could cause a misinterpretation of Halacha and lead to Shabbat desecration. In their defense, ArtScroll points out that in standard Mikra'os Gedolos the entire commentary of Rashbam on the beginning of Bereishis is missing. When adding in from older manuscripts, they left out the exegeses to Genesis 1:5 because of questions to its authenticity.

Bibliography

*Rabbi B. Barry Levy. "Our Torah, Your Torah and Their Torah: An Evaluation of the ArtScroll phenomenon.". In: "Truth and Compassion: Essays on Religion in Judaism", Ed. H. Joseph ''et al.''. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1983. *B. Barry Levy.
Judge Not a Book By Its Cover
. ''Tradition'' 19(1)(Spring 1981): 89-95 and
Communications
within ''Tradition'' 1982;20(4)(Winter 1982): 370-375. *B. Barry Levy.
ArtScroll: An Overview
. In "Approaches to Modern Judaism"

ol. I OL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Orphaned Land, an Israeli progressive metal band * Old Lace (comics) a telepathically linked dinosaur hero Businesses and organizations * OLT Express Germany (IATA code: OL), a scheduled and charter airl ...

Ed. Marc L. Raphael. Scholars Press, 1983. * Jacob J. Schachter,
Facing the Truths of History
. ''Torah u-Madda Journal'' 8 (1998–1999): 200-276. *Jacob J. Schachter, "Haskalah, Secular Studies, and the close of the Yeshiva in Volozhin in 1892" ''Torah u-Madda Journal'' *Jeremy Stolow, ''Orthodox by Design: Judaism, Print Politics, and the ArtScroll Revolution''

References

External links

* * Jeremy Stolow
ArtScroll
''

Encyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, langua ...

''; via

Encyclopedia.com Encyclopedia.com (also known as HighBeam Encyclopedia) is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference works including pictures and videos. History The website was launched by ...

Critical evaluations of ArtScroll
{{DEFAULTSORT:Artscroll 1976 establishments in New York City Bible versions and translations Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Hebrew language Jewish printing and publishing Orthodox Jewish publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1976