Customer Reviews

Ein Yaakov: The Ethical and Inspirational Teachings of the Talmud

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Jason Aronson Inc. and Avraham Finkel are to be commended for publishing this translation of Ibn Haviv's classic compendium of aggadot from the Babylonian Talmud. The translations are, for the most part, extremely accurate. Finkel generally differentiates the translation of the text from his explanatory comments by placing square brackets around the comments, which he frequently takes from the medieval commentaries. This is crucial to Talmudic translation, as many Talmudic passages are very terse and elliptical. By clearly indicating the commentary, Finkel leaves open to the reader to explain the source in a different way, or at least to appreciate how much has been supplied to make sense of the text.

One caveat: I have noticed that Finkel omits certain stories from the translation, generally stories that present unflattering portrayals of sages. For example, there are several stories of sages seeing attractive women and almost committing a sexual transgression in Qiddushin 81a-b. The stories of Rav Amram and R. Hiyya b. Abba are not translated. Similarly, there is a graphic description of the bodies of several sages in the midst of a long aggadic compilation in Bava Metsia 84a. Those sentences are simply skipped by Finkel (p. 534). In his introduction Finkel states that he omits repetitions of material that appears several times in the Ein Yaakov (p. xxix). But he makes no mention of these omissions. So the translation has been slightly censored by excluding these negative passages. My impression is that the omissions are few and far between, but I have not been over the translation with a fine-toothed comb. One occasionally finds this slight apologetic tendency in the translations themselves. That is, Finkel translates in such a way as to portray the sages in a more favorable light.

It is interesting to note that there actually was an earlier translation of the EinYaakov, by S.H. Glick (4 vols; Brooklyn, 1916-1922). Glick omits some of the same passages as Finkel. Glick also translates the introduction to aggadot of Rabbi Avrham, son of the Rambam, that Finkel provides, pp. xxix-xxvi.

In sum, this is an excellent translation for a popular audience. Scholars should use it only with caution due to its apologetic tendencies.

Dr. Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University

This book is truly a treasure trove, and I am delighted to see it steeply discounted here so that I can recommend it to friends. Rabbi Yaakov ibn Chaviv, who lived about the same time as Columbus, extracted from the Jerusalem Talmud all the portions that were not discussions of the intricacies of the law. What is left is about a quarter of the Talmud known as the aggodot: the ethical and inspirational teachings. For those of us who are not ready to follow the intricacies of debates about legal matters, this is the core of the Talmud we always wished we could dig into.

This is the first complete translation of "The Eye of Jacob," and Avraham Finkel has done more than translate. He has added descriptive titles of each selection, which are listed as a table of contents and then indexed, making the book accessible both for reference and browsing. He has also incorporated several rabbinic commentaries (Rashi, Maharsha and others) into the text, marking them with square brackets. He also provides two introductions to the material, one that he has written and one written three hundred years before Ein Yaakov was compiled by the son of Rambam. Both are instructive, and the older one gives a great deal of insight into interpretation of this kind of text. The whole book is very readable.

The result is a delightful 800 page, small print book, containing more than a quarter of the Talmud, that makes good bed-side reading as well as being a scholarly reference tool. It is expensive, but compared to the bilingual Talmud at about $800, this is a great buy.

To be honest, when one quotes Talmud, the stories and ideas are the things people want to hear. The old adage of having to know the entire Talmud before being able to quote it can not really be seen as reality in todays busy world. But a great alternative can be found in this delightful volume - all the parables, stories and comments of our Great Rabbis being captured together. It makes for great bed-time reading, or something to sit in the park with for hours - contemplating deeply on why the Rabbis would even mentioned that Lilith was the first wife of Adam and had her reproductive organs on the outside...

There are some great translations and there are some decent ones. This one is decent.

Unfortunately, the Aramaic is not to be found side by side with the English, unlike the 1929 translation, which makes it hard to look up meanings and halachic locations in the Artscroll or the older commentaries found in the original Aramaic/Hebrew text.

All in all - a must for every home.

This volume (yes, Ein Yaakov in English fits into one volume - 800 large pages of small type) is a must for anyone who wants to learn Talmud and lacks the Aramaic skills to do so from the original. The writing style finds the sweet spot avoiding both overformalism and oversimplicity; it is written in conversational English, for instance using normally oral forms such as "let's", and successfully conveys the essentially oral nature of the debates of the Gemara.

Physically the book is heavy, solid, well bound and built to last. A fresh edition would benefit from two or three place-marking ribbons.

It comprises a succession of extracts from the Talmud, arranged in the order of the Talmud's tractates, starting with Berachot, and showing the Talmudic page numbering inside the text. Thus the first agadah, the time for the evening shema, commences with "(2a)" - meaning side one of folio two - followed by text. This makes it easy to pick up an Artscroll or Steinsaltz or Soncino English/Aramaic Talmud and work through the original with this text open at the same time. The sheer artistry of the translation is inspirational. It bears comparison in its excellence, though the styles are very different, with Nissan Mangel's divinely inspired English rendition of the Siddur.

The approachability of the language means this book will be fascinating reading even for one who has little or no exposure to Jewish thought. For the serious student or learner it is a wonderful resource.

Of course this is not the entire Talmud. But if it is used as a study adjunct it will make learning the language of the Talmud a pleasure, and will produce a long shorter way into the greater part of the Talmud where we learn the laws - the halachas.

Long after I have mastered Talmudic Aramaic I will continue to dip into this masterpiece of writing in English.