The ''Schottenstein Edition of the Babylonian Talmud'' is a 20th-century, 73-volume edition of the

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 cent ...

(Talmud Bavli) featuring an elucidated translation and commentary, and published by ArtScroll, a division of

Mesorah Publications ArtScroll is an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., a publishing company based in Rahway, New Jersey. Rabbi Nosson Scherman is the general editor. ArtScroll ...

. It is the first Orthodox non-academic English translation of the Babylonian Talmud since the Soncino Edition. It has gained much popularity since its release and is used in many congregations throughout the English-speaking world; it is now published in three languages:

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, French, and

Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the H ...

. Rabbis Chaim Malinowitz and Yisroel Simchah Schorr are the general editors of the project. Nothing was considered final until Malinowitz approved the finished drafts.

History

The first volume, Tractate Makkos, was published in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, and dedicated by Mr. and Mrs. Marcos Katz. Subsequent editions were produced with the financial assistance of

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 ...

, an

Orthodox Jew 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 ...

and founder of an

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

department store. The total cost of the project was $40,000,000 (including the Hebrew edition); some sources estimate the cost of production for each volume to be $250,000. The publication of all 73 volumes took fifteen years.

Structure

Each page of the Hebrew/Aramaic text is in the classic

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

style, with various classical commentaries (such as

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 ...

) surrounding the text of the

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 Tor ...

and Gemara. Each Hebrew page is opposite a page of English translation—one Hebrew

folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

takes approximately six to eight pages of English to translate. The literal meaning of the text is shown in bold, while supplementary words and phrases that ease the quick transition of topics are shown in regular font. The English-language commentary is primarily based on Rashi's, and describes his continuing importance as follows: The editors explained further that they chose

Ran Ran, RaN and ran may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ran'' (film), a 1985 film directed by Akira Kurosawa * "Ran" (song), a 2013 Japanese song by Luna Sea * '' Ran Online'', a 2004 MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) * ...

's commentary for Tractate Nedarim as an exception, based on a belief that the commentary attributed to Rashi for this tractate was not written by Rashi.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Artscroll's website
1984 non-fiction books Talmud versions and translations Translations into English Sifrei Kodesh

History

Structure

See also

References

External links