Customer Reviews

Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary

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How can one decide to purchase upon a chumash? I think it can be based on translation, ease of use, and commentaries. On some Shabbat mornings, I might use three chumashim: the Hertz, the Plaut, and the Fox. One I use for translation, the others for commentary. For about seventy years, Conservative/Masorti congregations have chosen to use chumash by Rabbi Hertz, a pre war Chief British rabbi. Some find it very Thee-Thou-stilted in British English, and somewhat apologetic for Hebrew practices, like animal sacrifice. It reflected the insecurity of Jewish life at the time of its publication. This new book and keepsake is a replacement for the Hertz chumash. Etz Hayim was a ten year project, and it reflects the beliefs and ideology of the Conservative movement. It is not apologetic in tone, it gets rid of Thou Thy and Thee, and it contains some commentaries that are inclusive and feminist in nature. I like it because the commentary does not sugar coat the actions of the early Hebrews, and it does not hide from the belief in redactors and an evolving Torah.

In terms of translation to English, I find Etz Hayim enlightening. For example, take the first sentences of Parshat Noah (Genesis 6:9-12). The old Hertz Chumash translates the lines as: "These are the generations of Noah. Noah was in his generation a man righteous and whole-hearted; Noah walked with god. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. And the earth was corrupt before god and the earth was filled with violence. And god saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth." When you compare this to the UAHC Plaut translation, generations of Noah becomes "the line of Noah", and whole-hearted becomes "Blameless in his age." Violence is translated as "lawlessness." In the Art Scroll edition, the "generations" is translated as "offspring of Noah", violence is "corrupted", whole-hearted is "perfect in his generation" robbery, and violence is "robbery".

The new ETZ HAYIM translates it as: "This is the line of Noah - Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age, Noah walked with god - Noah begot three sons; Shem Ham and Japheth. The earth became corrupt before god; The earth was filled with lawlessness. When god saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its ways on earth." I find it the best amalgamation of the others

In terms of order and structure: the Etz Hayim is right to left in format, uses a very clear voweled Hebrew font, is well indexed, and includes the Haftorah, both Ash-kenaz and if necessary, S'farad, after each parshat. A P'SHAT commentary which is based on the JPS five volume commentary (by Tigay, Sarna, Levine, and Milgrom) follows under the main text and was edited by Rabbis Lieber and Chaim Potok. A D'RASH section of commentary, edited by Rabbi Harold Kushner, follows on each page of text. It provides the deeper moral meanings of the passage. A running commentary, in shaded boxes, edited by Rabbis Dorff and Grossman, shows how various biblical verses serve as the basis for Jewish Halakha and Conservative practices. The commentaries for the Haftorahs were edited by Rabbi Michael Fishbane. The book closed with 41 essays by leading scholars and rabbis (including Wolpe, Tigay, Scolnic, Hammer, Tucker, Gillman, Sarna, Gordis, Orenstein, Hauptman, and Hanan Alexander).

But the best part of Etz Hayim, I think, are the commentaries. The old HERTZ elucidated on the words whole-hearted, righteous, all flesh, and "Noah walked with God" (comparing Noah's walking with God as a father and young son, to Abraham's walking before God, as a stronger more morally mature leader.) The Art Scroll includes Midrash from Abarbabel, Rashi, and others on why deeds are mentioned before the names of sons, why the sons are not listed in birth order, and discusses whether Noah is being praised or criticized. The WG Plaut chumash comments on the word lawlessness. However, The ETZ HAYIM follows its direct translations with a PSHAT commentary on how the Hebrew Noah flood story compares with other Near Eastern cultural flood accounts; it retranslates "this is the line of Noah" in to "This is the story of Noah:; it compares the idea of righteous (tzadik) with that of blameless (tamim); it mentions that the root word for "corrupt" is mentionned seven times in the narrative; and it discusses that "all flesh' includes animals. In its D'RASH section, Etz Hayim discusses how Noah first gave birth to his good deeds before his children. It then quotes Talmudic sages, such as Resh Lakish, on whether Noah was righteous relative to his generation or in absolute terms. It continues that "lawlessness" (hamas) results in people losing respect for governments and fairness, leading to anarchy.

Whew, and that is just for the four sentences in Genesis 6:9-12! You can see why I highly recommend this new chumash.

Why do we need another commentary on the 5 Books of Moses?...what do you get with this? One big reason for this book is the massive 5-volume JPS commentary, by four editors. It is the most thorough Jewish humash commentary in English. Its indispensable for someone who wants real depth but, like me, is not fluent in Hebrew. However, this is far too much for a synagogue Bible. So it was condensed down to give the pshat level of commentary in Etz Hayim. That means that you are hearing four voices --- not just one , as in other books. It includes recent understandings of biblical history, archeology, linguistics and literary forms.

There is a second layer of commentary, the derash, which provides spiritual insights that go beyond the plain meaning of the words., and is original for Etz Hayim. These two layers thus have different agendas. The pshat provides what the Torah meant in its time and place. For example, in the Akeda story, Isaac sees no animal for sacrifice, and asks Abraham, "Where are the sheep for offering?" Abraham responds, "God will see to the sheep." The peshat observes "the father's vague reply surely sustains whatever doubts Isaac now feels, especially in an age when human sacrifice was possible." OK, you're right there in the story itself. The derash adds, "One suspects that Isaac at this point intuited that he was to be the offering. Both father and son missed an opportunity for open conversation about a matter of supreme importance to each of them. This father and son never have the opportunity of speaking with each other again." The Derash provides a moral lesson, musar, a spiritual and sometimes mystical dimension . It somewhat resembles the "gleanings" section of the Plaut, but is more focussed and distilled.

There is an additional layer, halakhah le-ma'aseh, practical halakhah. Etz Hayim is the Bible for the Conservative movement, and this layer gives an opportunity to set forth the Conservative movement's views. Unfortunately, it's only a partial success. There isn't a lot of this layer, the entries are quite brief, and usually it's no different from the orthodox. You'll get a lot more of this in the Artscroll. And even when there is a difference, the Conservative view is sometimes unaddressed. For example, it notes disagreement on the kashrut of swordfish, but fails to state that the Conservative movement considers swordfish kosher.

Each Haftorah has a historical introduction, and an explanation about its relationship to the Torah reading, plus some commentary. Its comparable to the Plaut, but now in the same book, although, to be honest, the Plaut commentary is much more substantial, and usually includes an essay or two on issues raised by the Haftorah. This reflects Reform's greater emphasis on the prophetic material vis-à-vis the humash, than we have.

Each of the 5 books has its own introductory essay, although the ones in Plaut are more substantial. The real treasures are the 40 essays in the back, most of them on broad and important topics, and loaded with information. Here is where you will sometimes find more substantial discussions of the Conservative Movement's view of things on this or that topic. Still, if you want an essay on the Conservative Movement itself, and how we differ from other movements, you won't find it here. It's an odd omission.

The translation is the most recent, the 2000 version, of the JPS translation, with a few changes. For example, Khatat, that troublesome word, is not "sin offering", but "purification offering."

Finally, two unique items. Etz Hayim, bless the editor, actually has a first class index. And second, this is the first synagogue Bible commentary to be impacted by women Rabbis, as Rabbis Susan Grossman coedits the halakhah le-ma'aseh section, and two essays are written by women.

We in the Conservative movement have been waiting for this Chumash for a long time. Using the excellent JPS translation, the Chumash contains three types of commentary, traditional, modern and a third special section where the commentators show the torah sources of various halachic rules. At the end of the book is a series of essays by top conservative rabbis and thinkers on a number of important subjects which explains some of the Conservative perspectives on such things as revelation and also (the COnservative strength) examines aspects of bible life such as war and the role of women historically. For those who find the typical Orthodox refusal to use commentary (even Orthodox commentary) after the 13th century problematic and yet find the Reform primary focus on the modern, to lack reverence for tradition, this is the Chumash for you!

Regretfully this commentary is a serious disappointment and in many ways inferior to the Reform Movement's 1981 humash (Pentateuch and Haftarahs) The Torah: A Modern Commentary by W. Gunther Plaut (hereafter Plaut ) -

Etz Hayim is designed to replace the venerable The Pentateuch and Haftorahs: Hebrew Text English Translation and Commentary by J. H. Hertz (hereafter Hertz) in Conservative Jewish congregations. Hertz was written as a polemic against Higher Criticism. Higher Criticism concluded that the Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) was not dictated by God to Moses as per Jewish Tradition but rather was written by people and had multiple origins and its composition involved a long and complex process. In a way, the Conservative movement, which has long accepted the legitimacy of Higher Criticism, has shown a lack of intellectual integrity, or at least, historical seriousness, in its use of Hertz.

To start on a positive note, in my view the strongest element of Etz Hayim are the introductions to the weekly haftarot.
Etz Hayim has 3 on-page commentary sections - (i) commentary to help the reader to understand the text in its historical-social context; (ii) commentary giving its relation to Jewish tradition and important issues raised; (iii) Halakha Lemaaseh (where appropriate) how the text relates to current Jewish practice. Commentary (i) explicating the text in its historical-social context, is culled from the 5 volume JPS Torah Commentary. However, the topical essays, almost all the elements of the JPS Torah Commentary relating to the history of the text and a great deal of interest to serious students has been left out. Thus Etz Hayim cannot be considered an adequate substitute for the JPS Torah Commentary in any serious non-traditional Torah study.
The essay section of Etz Hayim (pp 1339-1503) is virtually a compact course covering most Torah-related issues. Since the essays were written by a range of scholars various viewpoints are presented and there is a lack of coherence. The essays, like the commentary are aimed at the non-specialist audience - Amekha in Conservative parlance. The essays are extremely brief and not always clear and, unlike Plaut, no bibliographies are provided to guide further reading. Another serious defect which will minimize the essays usefulness is the lack of cross-referencing between the on-page commentaries and the relevant essays. This lack of cross-referencing will guarantee that most readers will never look at the essays.

In the, far too brief, section on Modern Methods of Bible Study (pp1499-1503) they do, very briefly, outline the salient features of Source Criticism (pp1500-1501) and what they term Literary Criticism. It is important to understand the difference -

"In simple terms, source criticism is interested in cutting up the texts to find different layers of tradition; literary criticism considers the text as it stands now, as a whole, not as it may once have been. Literary criticism is both like and unlike traditional Jewish commentary. It looks at the Bible as a unified whole but has no theological commitment and sees it as the creation of human authors. Source criticism is interested in history; literary criticism treats historical questions as basically unanswerable and understands texts as literary products or objects, not as windows on historical reality. Literary criticism sees texts as coherent wholes that create meaning through the integration of their elements, irrespective of the authors and their intentions." (pp1501-1502).

The general approach of Etz Hayim seems to be

LITERARY CRITICISM+THEOLOGICAL COMITTMENT+ECLECTIC (sometimes tendentious) ILLUSTRATIONS FROM ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY ETC

As a person strongly committed to the study of history I find this approach deeply unsettling and rather pathetic as a product of the "Historical School". In Avot (chapt 2 mishnah 21) Rabbi Tarfon teaches "You are not obliged to finish the task but neither are you free to neglect it." Since the Renaissance Western Culture has understood history in a way quite different from the many cultures and civilizations that proceeded it. I do not believe that it is intellectually honest to ignore our understanding of history in trying to understand Jewish history and pre-history. Historical source analysis cannot give us sure answers but they certainly can often produce a balance of probabilities and as R Tarfon indicated we are not free to ignore it if we are to be intellectually honest.

In general, I would say, that the treatment is historically naive. The commentary and most of the essays seem to ignore the historical issues raised by historical-source criticism. Thus they carry on with the traditional assumptions that the material in Genesis really historically proceeds that in the rest of the Torah which, in turn, proceeds that in First Isaiah and Jeremiah. In fact, a very good case could be, and has been, made that the Genesis material is among the youngest in the Torah and that much of the legal material in the Torah is exilic. Without saying it this way, the approach is ---- we recognize that the Torah is a human document with a complex past but will largely accept the Torah as is as the basis for discussion and drawing conclusions even where we realize that the result is Etz Hayim is terribly weak in the handling of some key ethical issues. Take for example the Torah's demand that the Israelites exterminate the Canaanites - man, woman and child (Deuteronomy, chapters 7 and 20). Given the importance of this issue in the post-Holocaust period, I had expected Etz Hayim to deal with it seriously and at length. Regrettably the treatment in Etz Hayim is inferior even to that in Plaut and even in the old, pre-Holocaust, Hertz.

Etz Hayim, unlike Plaut, generally ignores similarities with, and links to non-Jewish traditions.

There is a need for a Conservative humash suitable for the use of intellectually curious congregants with historical interests. A modified Plaut could fill this need. Such a modified Plaut should feature the following:

a. historical and archaeological references brought up to date
b. One chapter per parashah subdivided to reflect the triennial cycle. The relevant haftarahs should be at the end of each chapter.
c. discussions of modern Jewish views and practices centered on those of the Conservative Movement but not limited to it
d. heavier paper
e. haftarah commentaries similar to those in Etz Hayim
f. bigger English and Hebrew fonts
g. Hebrew and English in parallel columns

Etz Hayim is an excellent Torah resource. There are several reasons for this. A) English/Hebrew: The English and Hebrew transaltions are side by side and line by line. This makes it easier to do your own translating of the Hebrew text and compare it with the English translation provided. B) Two types of commentaries: Each page has two different types of commentaries underneath the Torah text. One commentary takes the text verse by verse. The other commentary gives a lot of background information and good exigetical information concerning the text. C) Essays: The essays are very good. Whether you agree with the points they are making or not, they give the reader much food for thought. Over all I have found the commentaries and essays very helpful and readable. D) The Torah is divided up into the parashot for each week. There are also special portions listed for holidays and special occaisions. After each weekly Torah portion htere is the Haftorah portion. This makes reading the entire parasha easy as it is all in one place.

I basically concur with the positive comments about Etz Chaim. I especially liked the maps and essays in the back, and thought the translation was reasonably readable I do think, however, that the commentaries were a bit too succint. All too often, as I read the weekly Torah portions in Etz Chaim, I find myself going to my ArtScroll Chumash for a more detailed discussion of issues only briefly discussed in the Etz Chaim commentary.

I have been using Etz Hayim for homeschooling Judaics. The comments on translation issues, historical background, and religious/ethical questions are thought provoking and have sparked some excellent discussion with my son. I highly recommend this as an educational resource.

ETZ HAYIM is the newest Torah Commentary published as far as the undersigned knows. David Lieber & co. did an excellent job of organizing the materials for the this commentary. The notes and explanations of key phrases help serious readers have a significantly better understanding of the Torah and biblical literature.

This commentary has good introductions to the books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,Numbers and Deuteronomy). The books of the Torah are organzied by an annual cycle, and the Sabbath readings plus readings for Jewish Holidays and the High Holy Days are also given meaningful introductions. Like most Torah Commentaries, The books of The Torah are interrupted by Haftarah which are essentially Books of the Prophets that the rabbis thought referred back to The Torah.

The notes at the bottem of the pages further embellish readers' understanding of The Torah and the Prophetic writings. The editors were honest enough to state when the meaning of the Hebrew was uncertain. The explanation of the Hebrew calendar helps both Jews and non-Jews understand the significance of both Jewish holidays and the High Holy Days. This is important in age when most Christians and even many Jewish people do not realize why Jewish holidays and the High Holy Days are so important to Judaism. In other words, this commentary gives a clear and logical understanding Jewish and Christian customs.

The sections at the end of this Torah Commentary are interesting. The editors give the readers explanations of the historical development of the Jewish Law, concepts of justice, concepts of civil and criminal law, etc. The commentary contains the evolution of understanding of Torah re Ancient Judaism, Medieval Judaism and Modern Judaism. The section devoted to Biblical archeology should be of interest to both Christians and Jews. What may interest non-Jews is the Jewish concept of eschatology which is different than what most Christians believe. Yet, readers can understand the origins of eschatology. Those who do not understand Jewish Kosher Laws will understand the biblical basis for these laws.

The pronunciation guide of the Hebrew and English equivalents is important especailly when many people think the Bible was originally written in English. The color coded maps at the end of the commentary are well done and detailed. Readers can easily locate biblical place names by referring to these maps.

This Torah Commentary which was done by the Conservative Jewish organization and compares favorably with the Reform Jewish Torah Commentary. Interested readers may be interested in the older Torah Commentary edited by Rabbi Hertz. These commentaries are not the same, and readers can examine each for comparisons and contrasts. The undersigned highly recomments the Torah Commentary titled ETZ HAYIM.

James E. Egolf

February 13, 2010

Etz Hayim is my preferred chumash among those using the "new" JPS English translation. The layout is well-planned so that a lengthy gloss doesn't run past the page that contains the verse(s) being explained. The essays by respected biblical scholars are useful for my own education as well as for teaching b'nai mitzvot students. i also use the maps, glossary and index to teach my students how to navigate the chumash and their own Jewish history.

As a Conservative Jew, i find the links to halachah especially enlightening and useful for understanding the thinking behind the practice. i also make heavy use of the essays linking the week's parashah to the haftarah.

i have used W. Gunther Plaut's chumash in a classroom setting as well, but feel it lacks a sense of spirituality. Rabbi Plaut spends far too much time linking bible stories to contemporaneous myths and legends. Etz Hayim manages to keep its focus on Judaism - after all, this is the Torah, not the Epic of Gilgamesh. In fact, our synagogue, which is nominally Reform but serves everyone, was ready to adopt Plaut's chumash (to replace Hertz) until i demonstrated that the commentary in Etz Hayim works beautifully for our participatory Torah discussions on Shabbat mornings.

As well, it's a beautiful book and the layout is easy to follow for even the most casual user. It makes a good chumash for small group study, regardless of denomination. And Etz Hayim is what i give to Christian and Muslim friends who want to learn more about the Jewish bible.

I am just getting into this book and find it interesting and thought provoking. To read a direct translation from Hebrew with the added commentaries has made for an enlightening journey. It takes a little time to get used to reading the book from back to front, however this adds to the quest.