The Torah: A Modern Commentary- Hebrew Opening

by W. Gunther Plaut and David E.S. Stein

Book Overview

One of the outstanding works of Reform Judaism. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080740165X
• ISBN13: 9780807401651
• Release Date: June 1981
• Publisher: Central Conference of American Rabbis
• Length: 1787 Pages
• Weight: 3.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 7.9" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

The tora came with the printed title on the back cover I thought it came with a book explaining the

Am not sure this tora is the correct tora

A modern Torah

?I am very impressed with this Torah overall. While I would have never myself spent $60 on a Torah, I am very pleased that my mom did so just before she dropped out of Torah study class, allowing me access to this book. This summer I had to read the book of Genesis for my senior AP English class, and though I was at first skeptical about using what I thought would be the Torah as re-written by ultra feminists, I have not been at all bothered by or even noticed the different gender references unless I looked for them. The translation is written in modern day English, another aspect that first alarmed me, but that I later came to appreciate. It is much easier to take in the stories this way then the olde English style, and since it wasn't written in English to begin with, I feel no obligation to read it that way for authenticity's sake. When I purchased a Christian New Testament, I chose the King James version for the opposite reason, but when I bought a Qu-ran, I again chose a modern translation. The commentary in this book is expansive and, as others pointed out, not for those seeking religious fulfillment, but better for those looking to study the text from a historical perspective. There is nearly as much commentary as there is text, so if you read it carefully its almost like reading a historical and linguistic research book written on the biblical times. Also, there are extensive essays and short quotes from various sources, such as biblical scholars, Gilgamesh, the Qu'ran, poems and wisdom from countless ancient cultures the world over, Shakespere, even the odd Eli Wiesel excerpt. To read everything included between the books takes nearly as long as reading the Torah itself. The quality of the book is good for a 1600 page volume. The pages are a bit thin, but not too much so to be bothersome, and only enough so that the book will not weigh more then the average cat. The cover is resilient and modest in appearance, and the inside of each cover along with the first and last pages of the book are thick imitation leather to protect the pages. The spine is also very high quality and has given me no problems. The Hebrew is in clear modern print with vowels, just like the practice reading books I remember from Hebrew school, and the same size as the English text. If your like me and read Hebrew but don't understand it, I think you will still be happy to have it. There are occasional times when the commentary points out idiosyncrasies in the Hebrew, and it is nice to go and investigate them yourself. If you do not read Hebrew, I don't see much of a point to having it other then that it looks cool- When I bought a Qu'ran, I decided on a left to right version without Arabic, since I would have no use for it other then to look and say "oh, pretty." All in all, this is a good Torah for the religious scholar, or secular Jews like me who are interested in reading holy books for academic or personal reasons, but not good for anybody wh

An Example of Good Biblical Scholarship

The eidtors of THE TORAH: A MODERN COMMENTARY, REVISED EDITION did a credible job in producing this Torah commentary. This reviewer was skeptical due to concerns of "political correctness" vs. accuracy precision. When perusing this book, this reviewer was pleasantly surprised that changes were made in favor of accuracy. The format of this book is similiar to the previous edition which was well done. There are introductory essays to each book of the Torah and some of the sections. These essays are informative and give the interested reader a better understanding of the books of the Torah as well as the sections. The footnotes and end notes give explanations of difficult passages. The editors and translators were honest enough to admit when the meaning of the Hebrew is unclear. The serious reader gets the impression that the editors "did their homework" which indeed they did. The editors have a section at the end of the sectons title "Gleanings" which are poignent comments from the rabbis, Christians, and Moslems. The translation is clear. Rather than pander to politically correct nonsense, the editors demonstrated a meticulous effort to render a more accurate translation of the Hebrew to enhance the understanding of the Torah. A comprehensive perusal of THE TORAH: A MODERN COMMENTARY, REVISED EDITION will obviously take considerable time. Yet, such an effort is well worth. While this volume was prepared for Reform Judaism, this book would prove interesting and useful to other Jews as well as Christians. The book is that good. Aside from good notes and commentary, this volume has an outstanding bibliography. The honesty of the editors is shown in the bibliography. The editors obviously included Jewish sources. Yet, they also included non-Jewish sources. A good example of such a sources is THE JEROME BIBLICAL COMMENTARY. Aside from some minor criticisms of the format of this book, this reivewer highly recommneds this publication. The older edition is also a very good commentary. Again, this book is highly recommended for Jews and non-Jews.

A vast improvement

The revised edition of The Torah: A Modern Commentary has a much better layout, better translations and better organization than the previous version. The footnotes are more meaningful, and the commentary is improved. There are also corrections to the Hebrew text, and clearer typesetting. This edition uses a modified kamatz for the kamatz katon to distinguish it from the kamatz gadol, thus helping readers pronounce things more easily if they are not used to the Sephardic pronunciations. (Their kamatz katon looks a bit like the Frank Zappa logo, which consists of his mustache and imperial beard.) The translation is revised without being revisionist. Certain words that have been translated a certain way for the past 500 years are now replaced with more accurate translations that make more sense to a modern reader. For example, in modern English, clean and unclean have a different connotation from pure and impure, thus creating a misleading understanding with the less accurate translations. The translation is more gender accurate than gender neutral. References to God are rendered in gender-neutral terms, which is consistent with the Jewish belief that God has no gender, as opposed to a "literal" translation of the grammatically masculine wording of a language that does not use a neuter form. However, other phrases such as "when you take a census of the Israelite people ..." which been replaced with "when you take a census of the Israelite men ..." are less gender neutral but more accurate. In other words, changes to more gender neutral language are done because English does not use a gender for anything but animals and people (and the occasional oddity such as ships if you want to be picky) while languages such as Hebrew have no neuter case. Therefore, it makes more sense to respect the context, just as you would not refer to a table as him or her simply because it's a literal translation of another language. Other reviews of this book written prior to 2005 are for the previous edition, so be careful to determine if any specific point of an old review is still relevant.

Just Buy It

This is an essential book on the shelf of every Jew. It is the most modern rendition, in Hebrew, of the Torah, with a side-by-side English translation. (For the record, the Torah is the first five books of the Bible, or the five books of Moses). It is the definitive text of the Union of Reform Judaism (formerly the Union of American Hebrew Congregations), the umbrella organization of Reform Jewish Congregations. Also included are notes on Hebrew interpetations and 'gleanings' or spiritual comments on the text. Further, detailed commentaries on such topics as geography are included at crucial points in the text. I cannot emphasize enough how much pleasure you will derive from having this book in your home. No modern person can achieve an understanding of the Bible without having this book with which to refer. Treat yourself and buy this book. You will never regret it.

The best Torah & Commentary for Reform Jews

This is the best Reform Torah commentary I have seen. Great insights into the history and language of the Torah. Very readable - even for beginners. Contains both Hebrew and English, with notes about the English translation, and insights into the history and meaning of the text. The book is divided into the weekly Torah portions. Plaut does take a liberal viewpoint, which will not appeal those who accept the Torah as the literal word of God passed on to Moses at Sinai.