The Koren Talmud Bavli is a groundbreaking edition of the Talmud that fuses the innovative design of Koren Publishers Jerusalem with the incomparable scholarship of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. The Koren Talmud Bavli Standard Edition is a full-size, full-color edition that presents an enhanced Vilna page, a side-by-side English translation, photographs and illustrations, a brilliant commentary, and a multitude of learning aids to help the beginning and advanced student alike actively participate in the dynamic process of Talmud study.
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Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz is a teacher, philosopher and spiritual mentor who has been hailed by Time Magazine as a once-in-a-millennium scholar. Born in Jerusalem in 1937, Rabbi Steinsaltz studied physics and chemistry at the Hebrew University. In 1965, he embarked on a life-long mission to make the Talmud, Judaism's central text of law, ethics, customs and history, accessible to all. He has since accomplished the monumental tasks of translating and developing commentaries on the Talmud into modern Hebrew, English, Russian and French. In addition, Rabbi Steinsaltz has established a network of schools in Israel and the former Soviet Union, and has authored some 60 books and hundreds of articles. Rabbi Steinsaltz lives in Jerusalem.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I admire both Rabbi Steinsaltz and Koren Publications greatly. I am very pleased to report that this project blew me away, exceeding my expectations. Although I'm sure acquiring the entire set won't come inexpensively, I will find some way to afford to buy these as they come out. They're that amazing. [Disclaimer: Although Koren has been sending me review copies of some of their books, this review is based on a copy that I borrowed for a few days from my rabbi.]
Some background, for those who have not tried learning Talmud in English before.
Until now, the student of Talmud who needed English help had, realistically, two sources. First was the Soncino translation, done nearly a century ago. It's dry, academic, and literal. It doesn't give you any extra help understanding the text. Second, over the last two decades, Artscroll/Mesorah has published the Schottenstein edition, which goes too far in the other direction. Overwhelming the reader with help, it's extremely useful for beginners but its extensive mix of discursions can get in the way and bog the reader down.
Meanwhile, Rabbi Steinsaltz has spent the past forty years creating a rendition of the Talmud into modern Hebrew. Part translation, part explication, he interpolates just enough background and explanatory material to fill in the gaps, without handholding the reader all the way. His marginalia are masterful: some summarize the practical halacha, some explain the archaeological or biological realia, some provide capsule biographies of personalities mentioned in the Talmud. His vowelization of the main Gemara text imposes grammatical rigor on what, for most readers, is usually an incoherent hodge-podge of Hebrew, Aramaic, Yiddish, and Yeshivish. I think it's fair to say that for the Hebrew reader, Rabbi Steinsaltz has truly revolutionized what it means to learn Gemara; he has done for our generation what Rashi did for his.
The English reader was teased when Random House tried to publish an English version of Rabbi Steinsaltz's work. What they produced was not very usable, though: they were great coffee-table books, but too confusing to use as a study tool, and each tractate required so many English volumes in their edition that it was too expensive. They never finished.
So now Koren has started publishing a new English translation of Rabbi Steinsaltz's rendition. (Yes, it's entirely new; this is not related to the Random House edition at all.) And they have scored on all counts.
The basic format of the book is as follows: If you open it from the Hebrew side, you get a recreation of the Vilna pages, only the main text and Rashi are provided with vowels and punctuation. If you start from the English side, you get a running translation.
The English pages have been designed brilliantly by Raphaël Freeman. As a software developer, I am tempted to use the phrase "information architecture" to describe what has been accomplished here. The main body of the page is a two-column layout, with paragraphs of Hebrew/Aramaic text (from the Gemara, without any interpolations) set next to their English renditions, which are translations of Rabbi Steinsaltz's modern Hebrew rendition. As has become conventional, bold type indicates the translation, while regular-weight type indicates the interpolations. The translation is top-notch, eminently readable, it is not at all stilted or unnatural. (And for those of us who believe that women should not be excluded from their equal inheritance in Torah study, the presence of women on the translation team should be noted.)
Surrounding the main text block are translations of Rabbi Steinsaltz's notes, with headings, as in the original, indicating what each one is. Now here's one of the brilliant touches: in the main text block, superscript sans-serif letters look like footnote indicators, but simply refer you to which section of marginalia to examine. Each note starts with the text it references in bold, in Hebrew and in English, so it's very easy to find the note you're looking for --- and to go back to the main text when you're done. Had they used numbered footnotes, it would have been far more confusing; one thing that has always annoyed me about Artscroll's footnotes, for example, is that you never know whether it's worth interrupting your reading to follow the number. Are they just going to give you a cross-reference, or are they going to explain some concept in depth? Well, with this system, your eyes can easily gloss over notes that you don't want to follow right now, while easily navigating the page when you do.
The mechanics of this cross-referencing system are never explained. They don't need to be. The design is so clear that its use is intuitively obvious, making the complexity of the interrelated texts easily navigable.
The hand-drawn diagrams and fuzzy reproductions of photographs from the original Hebrew have been beautifully updated with full-color versions.
It's tempting to compare these with the DK children's books, and I mean that as a compliment. The photos are clear, eye-catching, relevant, and enhance both the aesthetic experience and the learning. (Just last week, in a class at our synagogue, we were trying to understand the size relationship between unripe grapes, ripe grapes, and white beans. Photos such as these would have made that conversation easier and more rewarding.)
One wish: As wonderful as Rabbi Steinsaltz's explication is, I have sometimes found myself, when using his Hebrew editions, looking at the Rashi on a difficult section. In the Koren English edition, I'll need to use the cross-references at the bottoms of the pages to flip to the Hebrew section to do that. I realize this was necessary to keep the page count manageable, but I anticipate that being an occasional frustration.
Koren Publishers plans to release the entire set over the course of the next four years, faster than the Daf Yomi schedule. I wish them the financial success they deserve; this edition merits to become the new standard for English-language Talmud study.
Some background, for those who have not tried learning Talmud in English before.
Until now, the student of Talmud who needed English help had, realistically, two sources. First was the Soncino translation, done nearly a century ago. It's dry, academic, and literal. It doesn't give you any extra help understanding the text. Second, over the last two decades, Artscroll/Mesorah has published the Schottenstein edition, which goes too far in the other direction. Overwhelming the reader with help, it's extremely useful for beginners but its extensive mix of discursions can get in the way and bog the reader down.
Meanwhile, Rabbi Steinsaltz has spent the past forty years creating a rendition of the Talmud into modern Hebrew. Part translation, part explication, he interpolates just enough background and explanatory material to fill in the gaps, without handholding the reader all the way. His marginalia are masterful: some summarize the practical halacha, some explain the archaeological or biological realia, some provide capsule biographies of personalities mentioned in the Talmud. His vowelization of the main Gemara text imposes grammatical rigor on what, for most readers, is usually an incoherent hodge-podge of Hebrew, Aramaic, Yiddish, and Yeshivish. I think it's fair to say that for the Hebrew reader, Rabbi Steinsaltz has truly revolutionized what it means to learn Gemara; he has done for our generation what Rashi did for his.
The English reader was teased when Random House tried to publish an English version of Rabbi Steinsaltz's work. What they produced was not very usable, though: they were great coffee-table books, but too confusing to use as a study tool, and each tractate required so many English volumes in their edition that it was too expensive. They never finished.
So now Koren has started publishing a new English translation of Rabbi Steinsaltz's rendition. (Yes, it's entirely new; this is not related to the Random House edition at all.) And they have scored on all counts.
The basic format of the book is as follows: If you open it from the Hebrew side, you get a recreation of the Vilna pages, only the main text and Rashi are provided with vowels and punctuation. If you start from the English side, you get a running translation.
The English pages have been designed brilliantly by Raphaël Freeman. As a software developer, I am tempted to use the phrase "information architecture" to describe what has been accomplished here. The main body of the page is a two-column layout, with paragraphs of Hebrew/Aramaic text (from the Gemara, without any interpolations) set next to their English renditions, which are translations of Rabbi Steinsaltz's modern Hebrew rendition. As has become conventional, bold type indicates the translation, while regular-weight type indicates the interpolations. The translation is top-notch, eminently readable, it is not at all stilted or unnatural. (And for those of us who believe that women should not be excluded from their equal inheritance in Torah study, the presence of women on the translation team should be noted.)
Surrounding the main text block are translations of Rabbi Steinsaltz's notes, with headings, as in the original, indicating what each one is. Now here's one of the brilliant touches: in the main text block, superscript sans-serif letters look like footnote indicators, but simply refer you to which section of marginalia to examine. Each note starts with the text it references in bold, in Hebrew and in English, so it's very easy to find the note you're looking for --- and to go back to the main text when you're done. Had they used numbered footnotes, it would have been far more confusing; one thing that has always annoyed me about Artscroll's footnotes, for example, is that you never know whether it's worth interrupting your reading to follow the number. Are they just going to give you a cross-reference, or are they going to explain some concept in depth? Well, with this system, your eyes can easily gloss over notes that you don't want to follow right now, while easily navigating the page when you do.
The mechanics of this cross-referencing system are never explained. They don't need to be. The design is so clear that its use is intuitively obvious, making the complexity of the interrelated texts easily navigable.
The hand-drawn diagrams and fuzzy reproductions of photographs from the original Hebrew have been beautifully updated with full-color versions.
It's tempting to compare these with the DK children's books, and I mean that as a compliment. The photos are clear, eye-catching, relevant, and enhance both the aesthetic experience and the learning. (Just last week, in a class at our synagogue, we were trying to understand the size relationship between unripe grapes, ripe grapes, and white beans. Photos such as these would have made that conversation easier and more rewarding.)
One wish: As wonderful as Rabbi Steinsaltz's explication is, I have sometimes found myself, when using his Hebrew editions, looking at the Rashi on a difficult section. In the Koren English edition, I'll need to use the cross-references at the bottoms of the pages to flip to the Hebrew section to do that. I realize this was necessary to keep the page count manageable, but I anticipate that being an occasional frustration.
Koren Publishers plans to release the entire set over the course of the next four years, faster than the Daf Yomi schedule. I wish them the financial success they deserve; this edition merits to become the new standard for English-language Talmud study.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What an extraordinary gift to all who would like to enter the world of Talmud in English! Beautifully designed, clearly laid out and engaging. The Hebrew/Aramaic texts with vocalization, the translation that expands the almost coded, laconic text so the questions and possible answers become clearer. Succinct summaries of the specific laws as well as in-depth commentary.
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By ZenScientist
Format:Hardcover
This is an amazing work of scholarship! It is perfect for the beginner and will open new doors for the experienced. I am in awe of what Koren has done to make the Talmud so accessible to those coming from a variety of backgrounds. The door to Jewish learning just opened up a little more to a whole new generation while renewing a sense of vitality to a work steeped in venerable tradition.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Koren Talmud Bavli
I am very pleased with the quality of this product. It is very well made. The hardback cover is very nice. Read more
Published 2 months ago by PHL
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Recommend it!
For the size, the modern fonts, the color pictures, the page layout, and the elucidations in this book they're well worth the price. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Kenneth Omar Sotonieves
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just Started Using It
I just started a study course and this translation seems easier to follow and understand than others. The page numbering system is different and I am having some trouble with it.
Published 3 months ago by Melvin Goodman
1.0 out of 5 stars
Koren Talmud Bavli Vol 1 -
I bought this book for a class, but it is very easy to read and understand alone. The writing is very clear, and close to the Hebrew as translation can allow.
Published 3 months ago by Lois Berman
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic
so instructional. I am fairly fluid with talmud study but this has expanded my ability to learn exponentially. Read more
Published 4 months ago by abba di babba
5.0 out of 5 stars
Koren Talmud Bavli, Vol. 1:Tractate Berakhot
Excellent in every respect (but I won't live long enough to see it completed, and it is not as good as the original Steinsaltz version published by Random House (but not completed)... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Gordon Schochet
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Edition of Talmud Berakot
I particularly like the fact that the Hebrew and Aramaic have the vowel notations. The English translation and commentary, however, are not side by side with the other text. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Richard
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular Koren Talmud
As someone who is not very sophisticated re: Talmud, but an admirer, I found this volume ingeniously designed in terms of layout, visuals, commentary, etc. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Edward Cohen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great reference for Daf Yomi students!
I am an Oleh Hadash in Israel and have begun the new Daf Yomi cycle. This work is great for me, as it allows me to keep up with the daily Gemara teachings. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Chopperbob
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jumping into the sea of Talmud
I went ahead and purchased this first Volume of the Koren Talmud Bavli and I was very pleased. I do not know the original languages and so I wanted the best English one I could... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Daryl Sage
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