Book to Learn Torah

.How to make comments on the Torah. How to make Talmudic conclusions. All this in new book by Rabbi Yisroel Zelman with examples, excellent translation and edition.

 

Rav Yisroel Zelman , a great Torah scholar , Rabbi of the Russian-speaking community in the city of Atlanta , which has a lot of students around the world , publishes a book of lessons. "The book for the study of the Torah" is very interesting. She reveals to readers new original comments , which have never been in Russian . The reader will feel the taste of comment author Athlai , Chatam Sofer , Hida and others.

1.

Before the release of the book you should consider whether or not to read it. And the question of the publication of comments challenging , saturation ! Securities quotations and logical twists was immediately put in front of me farsighted people : " Man is not ready, getting acquainted with Judaism , this is not master . A person educated Talmudic all these comments and be able to read in the original language itself . "

If you are holding this book, it means that I have said something to this (the first Talmudic output) .

My opinion is based on the fact that this book is not meant to be read . That's it. Just reading is not napryazhenmoe , more or less concerned look glide across the page is not something for which to write and publish this book .

As the name implies , its purpose is the study , the case is known to be a slow and difficult , but having a huge advantage. The study, which eventually crowned Understanding gives the student 's own merit , it is a victory of his mind and heart. Nothing like this will not feel drowsy citizen , swaying with the usual book on the subway .

Actually, this is a great joy of co- authorship, co- ownership of the complex, at first incomprehensible text , one of the reasons why and the Holy Books are not available to the public and stated simply, those who study them, always something to " open up ", creating ( and not just read through ) .

Of course, I guided not by the desire to make a puzzle, to give quick-witted countrymen suffer and rejoice ( in the case of the understanding of a comment ) . The purpose of this book is to show who is interested Wisdom Tradition, novice no, not the reader to the researcher, that is the process of studying the Holy Books , the usual , traditional for our entire history.

In reality, there is nothing daunting in these comments . They may seem complicated appears to be two main reasons . First, because of the widespread habit today to work on the text at all. And, secondly, because the Talmudic logic of its laws and approaches to the Russian-speaking researchers are unfamiliar .

However, as is always true to be that our countrymen , even those who from Judaism have only the name and a few words in Yiddish, intellectually developed people . First of all, for them, is not so much aware of the Torah , but with a huge potential, this book is written . And if they are not taking the time to explore the text , then , with God's help , feel unique , sweet taste of Talmudic intellectual work and will want to continue their studies with one of the carriers of tradition . In the case of achieving such a result does not let the mass writer of these lines will thank the Almighty for the performance of their main requests .

Also , thank Gd , a growing number of people speaking in Russian and , at the same time , many who know about the tradition . They already have the habit of studying Torah , but it is not free to reading in the original language , this book is also useful (in particular, because of the numerous citations in the holy language , which during the study of the text should not miss , and analyze and , if possible, even remember ) .

2 .

The book consists of two full courses of lectures on the weekly Torah portion ( in the synagogues every Sabbath read one or two chapters of the scroll ) : ie comment on each chapter consists of two lectures here .

Between these courses for exactly ten years. When started the first ( in the year 5763 , as indicated in the text תשס"ג), the compiler of this book was 30 at the beginning of the second 40 ( 5773 , ie ; תשע "), and exactly in the middle between those two dates he left home ahistorical , settled overseas, in the south of SITA .

The difference between the two rates, between the approaches to the text of the Torah Scroll to a method of commenting is great. The researcher immediately notice the difference between the style of a young composer wrote more vividly and gracefully (as he then intended to attract beginners to Tradition ) .

All Hebrew words in the first course in the Ashkenazi pronunciation ( compiler then worked mainly with Ashkenazi Jews ) , in the second year at the Sephardic (today prinychnom and understandable for both the "western" , and for " Oriental " Jews). All the names of the five books of the Torah in the Sephardic proiznoshenii2 . For example , a book called " Exodus ," and underneath it says " The head of Exodus " : it's just two ways of pronunciation ( help you understand the difference pronunciations and get used to it the name of the head of the holy language with vowels given prior to each pair of lectures ) .

In the first lecture of the course , usually less than quotes from a variety of sources , the very structure of the comments a little bit easier . That is, this first series of lectures can still be "read" (although , of course, and it is also better to learn slowly ) . The second course is for the unprepared person , in most cases, is unreadable . You have to know how to approach this text to deal with it ( and receive the promise in the early non-judgmental understanding of the process of studying the Holy Books ) .

I invite you to decipher the structure of an important second course of lectures.

All comments in this series is a first in bold text of the Torah portion , which further commented . And very often this text is immediately interrupted, sandwiching classical commentaries . You first need to read the entire text typed in bold , without comment , to realize its plain meaning , and then read it a second time , along with comments. Within any of the text of the Torah or classical quoted comment may be more fine print : it's explaining the compiler of the book. The numbers in square brackets are usually necessary for a coherent translation of the " extra words ": they are added to the compiler ( the holy language phrase is clear and without them) .

Still , I note that after ten years the originator of the second course of lectures in something does not agree with the first course. And for the revitalization of research on a book compiled decided instead to strike out all or forward , to leave everything in the book ( well, almost ... ) controversial place the first course , but to supply each of them with a footnote which proposes ten years later that the author thinks about the views and attitudes of the originator of the first thirty years of the course lectures. Read these footnotes is important not to miss them ...