A new annotated translation of the Talmud is not just more of the same, but signifies a departure in Talmud study, inviting engaged discussion instead of enshrining tradition

Koren Talmud Bavli, Berakhot
Commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz

Shefa Foundation, Koren
2012, 419 pages plus Vilna edition

Yet another translation of the Talmud? Why, when the Schottenstein English- language edition of this seminal Jewish text has proved so popular among
teachers and students worldwide? Admittedly, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s Hebrew translation of and commentary on the Babylonian Talmud preceded that of Schottenstein by some forty years, and only this English translation is new, but is there really a need for it?

The question can be answered only by comparing the two editions, even if there are seventy-three volumes of the Schottenstein Talmud, whereas Koren has so far completed only this first tractate, Berakhot (Blessings).

The Schottenstein edition is ostensibly the more faithful to the original – a formal translation enshrining every pitfall and printing error of the text. Like an elderly wife retelling her life story, this edition painstakingly and lovingly recalls every textual event in the history of the Talmud, for better or worse. The Schottenstein Talmud is presented like a priceless museum piece behind a protective glass cover, with warning signs in giant letters saying: “Look – but don’t touch!”

The Steinsaltz Talmud does almost exactly the opposite. Overlooking the wrinkles etched by centuries of national upheaval, it boldly reintroduces the youthfulness and beauty of Jewish tradition into the fossilized pages of Babylonian discourse. Notes supplying historical background and etymology set the Talmudic issues in context, giving the source and meaning of Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Persian words appearing in the text, adding botanical and zoological information, and detailing everyday life in ancient Israel. It has been a long time since these elements were part of the legitimate woof and warp of Talmud study, reconnecting it to modern scholarship and science and, ultimately, to the challenges of contemporary Jewish life.