Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary [Imitation Leather]

David L. Lieber (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

JPS is pleased to make available a new, more compact edition of the landmark publication, Etz Hayim: A Torah Commentary. This book, a publication of the Conservative movement, was produced through a joint venture of the Rabbinical Assembly, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and The Jewish Publication Society. This new, smaller edition is a convenient alternative to the standard hardcover edition and is ideal for personal study and travel. It contains all the material in the original, excerpt for the essays. The Bible text, translations, and commentaries as well as the blessings, artwork, maps, glossary and other reference tools for the worshiper and student of Torah reader are included. The sturdy, coated paper cover is designed to stand up well, even with heavy use.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is wonderful to have a humash that reflects the vitality of a passionate, full-bodied Judaism. This is a humash for the heart, mind, and soul."

From the Publisher

New this season! Travel-size edition of Etz Hayim: A Torah Commentary

Product Details

• Imitation Leather: 1395 pages
• Publisher: The Jewish Publication Society; travel size edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0827608047
• ISBN-13: 978-0827608047
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Bible & Other Sacred Texts > Jewish Texts > Torah

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars quick notes about the mini edition, January 7, 2006

By 

Yakov Hadash (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (Imitation Leather)

-i like the cover stock, paper stock, and binding on the small edition. as long as you're somewhere in the middle it can stay open on your desk without you having to push on it, and the texture is a neat simulation of the leather original.

-you should know that the small edition does not contain the famous 200-page essay section in the back.

I don't think i'm qualified to make any real comments on this humash, i'm not particularly educated enough to be able to criticize. I like it in terms of the layout and design. The full-page articles introducing each Haftarah portion are good; I'm not sure why the JPS didn't think to do the same for each Torah portion. The "drash" running commentary is interesting but the "pshat" sometimes gets silly, explaining terms and plot points that are 100% clear from the translation.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A new Torah commentary with a variety of viewpoints, October 29, 2006

By 

R. Kaiser (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (Imitation Leather)

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly have created a new Torah commentary for the 21st century. They signed an agreement with the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) to use the five volume JPS Torah Commentary to serve as its basis. Etz Hayim features:

* the complete Hebrew text of the Torah, and the complete JPS English translation, using the latest revisions.

* The readings are arranged for aliyot, and annual readings, as well as the CJLS approved triennial cycle readings.

* There are two levels of commentary; one level presents the p'shat of the text, while the second presents a d'rash.

* The p'shat commentary is a summary of the JPS five volume Torah commentary, edited by Chaim Potok.

The JPS five volume Torah commentary is based on

*the meforshim, traditional rabbinic commentators
*the Mishna and Talmud
*The midrash literature
*Modern day literary analysis, comparative Semitics and linguistic analysis
*intertextual commentary relating each book to other biblical books
*evidence from modern archaeological discoveries.

The d'rash commentary is an original work edited many rabbis including Rabbi Harold Kushner, Shoshana Gutoff, Reuven Hammer, Jack Riemer, Ben Scolnic and David Wolpe.

In the 1994 "Proceedings of the Rabbinical Assembly" Rabbis Harold Kushner and David Lieber wrote an article, "The Projected Humash Commentary" They wrote there that the goals of this Torah commentary are:

* To separate academic truth from spiritual truth, while identifying both as equally true.
* To define the Shabbat morning service as a confrontation with the Torah portion as a source of ethical readings.
* The commentary will not only share homiletic insights; it will try to respond to questions that a modern thinking man or woman will ask of the Torah reading.
* To identify the teachings of contemporary rabbis as Torah, as much as the words of the Tannaim or the Hasidic masters are.

* It will seek to convey the notion that Torah is a living organism, and the Oral Torah, like the Written one, is a product of our people's desire to understand God's purpose and will.

It has an original commentary on the hastarot by Professor Michael Fishbane

Etz Hayim has been designed to differ from the official Torah commentary of Reform Judaism, which was edited by Rabbi Gunther Plaut and his UAHC colleagues. Kusher states:

"Many of us are familiar with the UAHC Torah commentary....It too has significant merits.But first, as a friend of mine put it, we should be suspicious of any Torah commentary where the commentary is in larger print than the words of the Torah. Secondly, it is not set up for synagogue use! You can now get it opening from right to left, but it is still not arranged by parshiyot, let alone aliyot. But my main problem with the Plaut commentary is that it suffers from what I sometimes think of as The Original Sin of the Reform movement - the inclination to judge the Torah rather than to open oneself up to be instructed by it."

Rabbi David Lieber comments on how Etz Hayim will be more traditional than that of the Reformers:

"As a commentary expressly intended for the Conservative movement, it should offer some halakhic interpretations explicating the Biblical base for the later rabbinic discussions.In this, it will of course differ from the commentary edited by Gunther Plaut.Beyond that, it will present a much more sympathetic understanding of the {sacrificial} cult and its institutions."

The halakhic materials are written by Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, a member of the RA Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and Dr. Judith Hauptman, Professor of Talmud at JTS. Dr. Adele Berlin, an authority on biblical poetics, compose some 25 new literary introductions to the larger units of the text.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Etz Hayim, October 23, 2005

By 

Zev Hendel "senior citizen" (NYC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (Imitation Leather)

I consider this to be one of the finest torah translations and commentaries written. It is a pity that the travel edition font is so small as to be unreadable without a magnifier It would have been far better to see it produced in two volumes in a larger more readable font size.