Customer Reviews

The Living Torah: A new Translation Based On Traditional Jewish Sources (The Five Books of Moses)

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HaRav Aryeh Kaplan Z"L developed this humash (5 books of the Torah with commentary) for all Jews. The book is in English and Hebrew, and is filled with footnotes clarifying and developing the text, maps and an occasional illustration. Kaplan quotes from several sources such as Rashi, the Alfasi, RaMBaM, and also from the Me'am Lo'ez, the fabulous Sephardic Torah commentary from Constantinople. If you are looking for an alternative to the Artscroll Stone Edition Humash, this is it! A masterpiece, by one of the greatest rabbanim of the last century. This massive 647 page book is a treasure to be passed down to your children, and their children.

Comments by:

S. Alfassa
Foundation for the Advancement of
Sephardic Studies and Culture
"Founded 1965"

This is perhaps the best single volume English translation of the Torah, i.e. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I can only think of one exception to this, which is Everett Fox's "The Five Books of Moses, Schocken Bible, volume 1." However I still much prefer Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's translation to Everett Fox's for various reasons.

One of these reasons is the extensive footnotes at the bottom of each page of the text. Rabbi Kaplan has included invaluable information which will no doubt fascinate every student of the Bible. His knowledge of Torah is deep and the student will find his notes and research of tremendous importance.

The more expensive edition includes the original Hebrew text on the right side of the book (Hebrew is read right to left). The cheaper one, of course, does not.

Rabbi Kaplan was also a translator of the "Torah Anthology" (which is also highly recommended), and his notes reflect this knowledge. Additionally Rabbi Kaplan is an apt translator and I believe the student of the Bible will find his translation to be superior to any of the (modern) versions available. These translations include-- from Protestant, Catholic, and other Jewish or independent sources-- the KJV/AV, NKJV, RV, ARV, NASV, NIV, RSV, NRSV, NAB, JB, The Living Bible (Catholic edition), New Living Bible, NEB, REB, even William Tyndale's Penteteuch, JPS 1917 Tanakh edition, JPS Tanakh (modern version), et al. I even understand this is better than the Soncino translations, as well as the translation by Prof. Robert Alter of Genesis, but I have not personally compared the latter translations.

You will not find a better translation from the Hebrew into the English, nor will you find a more detailed study with notes and other relevant materials than Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's work.

To my knowledge, there is also a "Living Nach" available by the same publisher. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to obtain this item.

Excellent contemporary translation. Very accurate, yet retains the flavor of the poetry in the original. Bilingual version with copious footnotes.

On the positive side: very well written. So if you just have a few minutes to check something in the Torah or want to give this week's Torah portion a quick skim, and so you want a Chumash (i.e. Jewish-oriented Five Books of Moses) that doesn't have a lot of commentary, this is a good choice. On the negative side: commentary on the bottom is very skimpy compared to the Soncino Chumash, the ArtScroll Chumash or Gunther Plaut's version. So I don't consider this the ideal choice for extended study.

this translation of the torah (old testament) is, as far as i know, the single best translation into english ever made of the greatest book ever written. what rabbi kaplan does so ingeniously is translate the work in as simplest, modern english as he possibly could, while remaining loyal to how the torah's greatest sages understood that work. so, while the king james verision is far more aesthetically magnificent, it is also filled with inaccuracies. if you want to know what the torah really said, but your english is far better than your biblical hebrew, this translation of the torah by rabbi kaplan is indispensable.

This book is in English only. There is no Hebrew text of the original. It is not a compact and concise translation closely reflecting the syntax of the original. On the contrary. But the Kaplan translation does not distort the meaning. It presents it in a more elaborate form using simple and modern English easy to understand by the widest spectrum of readers. That utter accessibility of the translation is its greatest strength. It is not dry as other translations, but full of footnotes at the bottom of each page of the text. Though, the Soncino, the ArtScroll, and Gunther Plaut's translations have more commentaries. Occasional maps and illustrations seem to be useless since Torah is a law and not a handbook of history or science (biology). Maybe it was intended for younger readers.

This work is intended by the author to contain the authoritative Jewish interpretation of the Torah, by including the rabbinic readings which guide Jewish law. However, the author is actually changing the traditional Jewish approach which distinguishes between the Oral Law and the Written Law. By "translating" the rabbinic rulings into the text , Kaplan perhaps did a service to Jews who just "want the bottom line" but obliterates some of the complexity and profundity of the Jewish tradition, in which what literally says A is actually applied as though it said B