An Annotated Bibliography Of Translations And Commentaries

On The Torah And Bible.

© 2006, Rabbi Ari Mark Cartun

Congregation Etz Chayim, Palo Alto, CA

  • Torah
  • Prophets/Nevi'im
  • Writings/Ketuvim (or, "Scripture")
  • Texts based on the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) 1917 translation
  • J. H. Hertz, Pentateuch and Haftorahs
  • The Soncino Publishing Co. Chumash and Bible
  • Texts based on the Revised Jewish Publication Society (JPS) translation
  • Jewish Study Bible
  • JPS Commentary
  • Gunther Plaut's The Torah, A Modern Commentary and The Haftarah Commentary
  • Gunther Plaut and Chaim Stern's The Haftarah Commentary
  • Texts with their own unique translation
  • Everett Fox's The Five Books of Moses
  • The Jerusalem Bible
  • Judaica Press Bible Commentary
  • UAHC Press A Torah Commentary for our Times, edited by Harvey Fields
  • Texts with Talmudic Translations
  • The ArtScroll Torah and Bible Series
  • Aryeh Kaplan's The Living Torah
  • Aryeh Kaplan's The Torah Anthology—Yalkut Me'am Lo'ez
  • Yaakov Elman's The Living Nach
  • Samson Raphael Hirsch The Pentateuch (in one or in five volumes)
  • The Stone Chumash (and TaNaKh)
  • Children's Bibles
  • Being Torah, by Joel Lurie Grishaver
  • Illustrated Jewish Bible for Children
  • My Weekly Sidrah, by Melanie Berman and Joel Lurie Grishaver
  • The(Pitspoppany Press) Children's Bible , Sheryl Prenzla

Jewish Bibles are based on the "Masoretic Text." This Hebrew text was standardized by a group of "Traditionalist" scholars ("Masorete" means "Traditionalist") who, from the 7th to the 10th century CE, who took all the extant variant texts and made one text with an agreed-upon spelling, reading (sometimes the text is read differently than it is spelled!), musical notation, vowel notation, and order of books. The Masoretes left footnotes as to what they changed, and how the text is to be understood.

Originally there were no chapter and verse numbers in the TaNaKh. The Hebrew text contains two kinds of paragraphs, designated by the way the space at the end is either open to the edge of the column of text, or enclosed within the column of text. Only the Kaplan version of the Living Torah accentuates these in the English text. All others only reveal them on the Hebrew side, with the letters p (P) for Patuach, open, and s (S) for Satoom, closed (you can see that the Hebrew letters themselves are also open and closed). There is no agreed-upon explanation of why some are open and why others are closed.

Chapters and verses in Jewish Bibles are, actually, a take-off on those used in Christian Bibles. In order for there to be some way of common reference to the text, the Catholic authorities ordered the Jewish communities to adopt their numbering system of chapters and verses. Jews complied, but there are a few differences in what Jews ended up using, and what Christians use.

Jewish Hebrew/English Torahs also contain designations of the seven Shabbat Torah readings (plus maftir, or "concluding" reading) as done in synagogue. Additionally, most, but not all, contain the Haftarot (like maftir, the word haftarah means "conclusion," and is a reading from the Nevi'im/Prophetic texts usually on the them of a major section of the Sabbath Torah portion) for all the regular and special Sabbaths, as well as for the Holydays.

The Jewish Bible is called, in Hebrew, a TaNaKh, which is an acronym of its three sections: Torah, Prophets (Nevi'im), and Writings (Ketuvim). These three sections are differentiated by the level of prophecy by which our tradition understood them to have been inspired.

Torah

Torah means the "Teaching" of Moses, and is Moses's unique "face to face" prophecy. Another name for the Torah is the Five “Fifths” of the Torah, or, simply, Chumash ("chumash" is the Hebrew word for a "fifth."). The five books of the Torah are:

  • Genesis/B'reishit which starts with the creation of the world, then chronicles the lives of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs (from Abraham and Sarah through Joseph and his 11 brothers and one sister), to the descent to Egypt by Jacob and his family;
  • Exodus/Sh'mot begins with the Egyptian slavery, leads to the Exodus, the revelation of Torah on Mount Sinai, and ends with the building of the Mishkan, the portable Sanctuary;
  • Leviticus/vaYiqra outlines the laws of sacrifice, kosher animals, purity and impurity, sexual propriety, festivals, sabbatical years, and ethics based on holiness;
  • Numbers/baMidbar starts with a census—hence the name "Numbers"—following the setting up of the Mishkan, through the rebellious early two years of the wandering in the wilderness when the decree to wander 40 years was pronounced, then to the end of the 40th year of wandering as Israel fights its way up the east side of the Jordan river to just across from Jericho; and
  • Deuteronomy/D'varim is Moses' “recapitulation” (Deutro = 2, nomos = law, in Greek; Mishneh Tora in Hebrew), in the last 5 weeks of his life, of what Israel needs to know—ethics, laws and rituals—before they cross into the Promised Land.

Prophets/Nevi'im

The prophets saw things less clearly than Moses, "in riddles and visions," according to Numbers 12:6-8. In addition to books of prophecy, Nevi'im begins with the Prophetic Historical Books. Tradition supposed these books to have been written by prophets during the reign of King Hezekiah (of Judah, 720-700 BCE.). They are:

  • Joshua about Joshua's leadership during the conquest of Canaan;
  • Judges the story of the 12 judges during tribal times before there was a king over Israel;
  • Samuel I&II detailing the rise and the exploits of the first two kings, Saul and David; and
  • Kings I&II which is the history of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, from Solomon through the splitting off of the Kingdom of Israel from the Kingdom of Judah, through the destruction of Israel by Assyria, to the Babylonian exile of Judah).

The Historical Books are followed by the major literary prophets (prophets with large books) in chronological order:

  • Isaiah (Chs 1-39 pre-exilic, Chs 40-66 post-excilic)
  • Jeremiah (at the time of the exile)
  • Ezekiel (in exile).

They are followed by "The 12," the smaller prophetic books, also in chronological order:

  • Hosea
  • Joel
  • Amos
  • Obadiah
  • Jonah
  • Micah
  • Nahum
  • Habakkuk
  • Zephaniah
  • Haggai
  • Zechariah
  • Malachi

Malachi (which means, "my messenger,") is considered to be another name for Ezra, who brought the people back from exile.

This level of prophecy ended with him.

Writings/Ketuvim (or, "Scripture")

Revealed by the Holy Spirit (Ruach haKodesh), a minor form of prophecy that, traditionally, persists to this day. However, the rabbis at the council of Yavneh, in 90 CE, decided that only books written before the end of prophecy would be allowed into the canon (the approved list of authoritative books). This is why some books, actually written later than the return from Babylon, but attributed to authors who lived beforehand (e.g.: Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Daniel) are in the Bible, while some others that are of the same period (e.g.: Maccabees, Wisdom of Sirach) but attributed accurately to their time, only appear in non-canonical collections, such as the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

(The Apocrypha, which means "hidden books" in Greek, survived only in Greek. They can be found in Catholic Bibles between the Old and New Testaments (Martin Luther removed them from the Protestant Canon). The Pseudepigrapha, which means "falsely attributed books" other Jewish origin books in Greek, were never a part of the canon, but survive nonetheless as interesting records of Jewish literary activity in the last few centuries BCE.)

There is one collection of small books in the Ketuvim which are not arranged chronologically by "authorship", but by the time of year at which they are read in the synagogue. They are called the Five Megillot, or "Scrolls: “Song of Songs (read on the Sabbath in Passover because of springtime allusions); Ruth (read on Shavuot because of the barley harvest in the book which occurs in Israel at the same time as Shavuot and also because Ruth, the quintessential convert to Judaism, accepts the Torah, just as Israel accepted Torah at Sinai, which Shavuot celebrates); Lamentations (which is an account of the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, read on the anniversary of that destruction, the 9th of Av); Ecclesiastes (read on the Shabbat in Sukkot, possibly because it is the wisdom of an old man, and Sukkot is at the end of the harvest season); and Esther, read on Purim, because it is the origin of that holiday.

The other books of Ketuvim are: Psalms (King David's five-fold book), Proverbs (his son, Solomon's collection of sayings), Job (which shows five people and G0d's answer to why bad things happen to good people), the Five Megillot, Daniel (how Jews fare in non-Jewish society of the Babylonian exile), Ezra and Nehemiah (accounts of the return from Babylon. These were originally one book), Chronicles I&II (the priestly history of Israel, as opposed to the prophetic history in the first books of Nevi'im. It covers most of the same material, but has a few important differences. It also records the Levites and Kohanim of each era).

Christian Bibles are called the "Old Testament" (Old Covenant) because Christians believed its Covenant and Laws to have been superseded by the New Testament (New Covenant). Christian Bibles use the order of books of the Septuagint, the Bible of the Jewish community of Alexandria, Egypt, that was translated into Greek under the commission of King Ptolemy, by 70 ("Septuagint" means "70") scholars, in approximately 200 BCE. Not only are its chapters and verses, slightly different from the Hebrew Bible in many places, but the books are in a different order, and translations of it are based on the Greek, (or, in the case of Catholics, the Latin Vulgate translation of Jerome), whereas translations of the Hebrew Bible are based on the Hebrew.

Notes about translations

  • All translations are commentaries.
  • Of the 8,000 or so different root-words used in the Bible, a quarter of them are used only once, and most of those are names of objects no longer exactly identifiable.
  • Translators make the best of bewildering choices all the time, and that is why no two translations are the same.
  • Additionally, each translator is biased: e.g., having pious, Talmudic, scientific, and/or literary outlooks.
  • And each tries to find an English style, with few exceptions, that is not as repetitious as the Hebrew.
  • This therefore covers up the Hebrew text's use of multiple standard repetitions for emphasis, and as glue to hold sections together.
  • Therefore, HAVE AT LEAST TWO TRANSLATIONS to keep each one honest! And rely on commentaries to point out textual issues.

About Commentaries

  • There are two major literary styles of commentary.
  • One is the running commentary, or verse by verse commentary on the text.
  • Another is the essay, whether as an introduction, or as an excursus.
  • Running commentaries are usually short and to the point, beginning by quoting the verse, phrase, or word in question. Most then begin to explain something about the text in question. Some others, however, use the verse as a jumping-off point for a sermon.
  • The most useful commentaries for the beginner are those which stick to explaining the text as it is.
  • Every commentary has a point to make, an ax to grind, and a worldview/outlook/context.

Texts based on the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) 1917 translation:

Note: Though these books contain valuable commentary, it is difficult for moderns to relate positively to this translation, which is in "Biblical English" (goeth, cometh, thee, Thou, etc.).

  • J. H. Hertz, Pentateuch and Haftorahs

This was the standard Torah in every English-speaking congregation until Gunther Plaut's version replaced it in Reform congregations, and Hirsch's replaced it in many orthodox congregations. The commentary is very good and basic, giving the meanings of the Hebrew names, references to other places in the Bible where the issues on the page are dealt, and much background material. The commentary titles each new topic or literary unit in the text.

The Hertz contains a full commentary on the Haftarot. It is still the best commentary on the Haftarot of any Torah commentary, including biographies of the prophets, and the connections between the Torah and Haftarah, as well as running commentary to the text itself.

Quirks: In order to make his case that "everybody feels this way," Hertz extensively quotes non-Jewish British scholars (he was the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire in the 1930's) to justify a Divine origin of the Torah. Weakness: no maps or charts. A very good beginner's commentary.

  • The Soncino Publishing Co. Chumash and Bible

The Chumash is an anthology of the classical commentators: Rashi (or, RaSHY—Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki—the "father of commentary", 11th cent. France), Gersonides (or, RaLBaG—Rabbi Levi ben Gershon—14th cent. France), Abraham Ibn Ezra (Spain, 11th-12th cent), Nachmanides, (or, RaMBaN—Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, 12th-13th cent. Spain), Ovadia ben Ya'aqov Sforno—(Italy, 15th-16th cent), RaDaK (Rabbi David Kimchi, 12th-13th cent. France), RaShBaM (Rabbi Shmuel ben Meir—Rashi's grandson, 12th cent. France).

Their words have been selected, translated, and edited down. A great introduction to the classical commentators.

The Bible series is not an anthology of classical commentators, but a serviceable book by book commentary on the rest of the Bible. Each is by a different modern scholar, so they vary in emphasis and style. All have extensive historical, literary, and biographical introductions, along with a clear running commentary.

Texts based on the Revised Jewish Publication Society (JPS) translation:

Torah (1962); Prophets/Nevi'im (1978); Writings/Ketuvim (1982):

  • Jewish Study Bible, Oxford Press (English only), 2004.

This book has wonderful commentaries and introductions to all the books of the Bible. It is part of the Oxford Bible series, but uses the 1960-82 Jewish Publication Society translation. (Note: the Hebrew is not included. If you buy this one, get the Hebrew text, with English, inexpensively, by either purchasing the Jerusalem Bible, or the JPS Hebrew/English.

  • JPS Commentary (by different scholars on each book of the Torah)

A book by book in-depth literary, archaeological, historical, and legal commentary. It also contains many "Excurses" longer expositions on scholarly topics, placed at the end of the book. The scholarship is all extensively footnoted, also at the end of the book. Traditional midrashic commentary is only referred to when it is useful to understand the meaning of a word or the development of an idea. This is the best modern commentary available, but it is very pricey. For serious beginners as well as advanced students.

  • Gunther Plaut's The Torah, A Modern Commentary and The Haftarah Commentary

A Reform Movement Commentary, which divides into two sections: general introductions, a running commentary, and an end section of lovely ethical and/or otherwise insightful selections from traditional sources ("Gleanings") on the Torah that are designed to resonate with modern scientific Jews. It is available in right- (Hebrew, blue cover) and left- (English, red cover) opening versions. It also includes the Haftarot.
Plaut's Reform commentary explicitly accepts the Documentary Hypothesis of the Torah's human origins, and does not spend time on the more "fairy-tale" aspect of traditional Jewish Bible commentary.
Quirks: Plaut often mentions that "Reform Jews do not observe this practice," without saying why or how Reform Jews developed that way. G0d's Name in this book is "The Eternal."

  • The Torah; A Women’s Commentary

Similar to ta Plaut in organization, its translation is a “Gender-accurate” revision of the JPS It uses G0d’s Hebrew name in Hebrew letters instead of translating or transliterating it. Its comments are extra materials are of special interest in how women and their lives are portrayed in the Torah and classical Jewish sources.

  • Gunther Plaut and Chaim Stern's The Haftarah Commentary

Much like The Torah, A Modern Commentary, this volume gives a modern approach to the Haftarot. However, a lot changed in the years between the volumes, and so this book also gives the trope with the Hebrew, and has a literary as well as scholarly commentary. As is Reform practice in a segment of the movement, this book presents a set of alternative readings from Ketuvim that are on the topics of the Torah portions that are appropriate as Haftarot.

Texts with their own unique translation:

  • Everett Fox's The Five Books of Moses

A hyper-literal translation (that preserves the sound and syntax of the Hebrew in English) with a concise literary commentary. Fox also transliterates all the names of people and places, giving the meaning of the names and not just the Greco-Roman-English transliteration of the names (e.g.: Isaac is Yitzchak/"He laughs"). The best Torah for those who wish to hear the Hebrew in English. This book does not break the text into the cycle of Torah Portions.