Reviews for The Psalms

The average rating for The Psalms based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-10-12 00:00:00 Love Davis There are two editions of this book. The first edition was written in late 40s/early 50s, and the second edition was edited in the 90s. Their text is largely identical. This book presents a summary of traditional, rabbinic views of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible.) The editor draws upon a variety of classical classical Jewish sources, such as: the Midrash literature, the Talmud, and the Meforshim - medieval rabbinic Jewish Bible commentators. These include Abraham ibn Ezra, Rashi, Ramban, Radak, Sforno and Ralbag (Gersonides). The first edition of this work also included some (then) modern historical scholarship, including the work of Christian expositors. A second edition appeared in the 1990s, edited by Rabbi Abraham J. Rosenberg, who has also written for Judaica Press and Artscroll). Unfortunately, instead of updating the historical scholarship, all of that has been removed entirely. The removed material was replaced by additional references to the Midrash literature and medieval Jewish commentators. In a note, the editor talks down to his audience, explaining that removing academic material was necessary because it "diluted" the work. In fact, this material was censored, as part of a long campaign of right-wing Orthodox Jewish authors rewriting Jewish history, to make it conform to modern day Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) ideology. See "Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History" by Marc B. Shapiro for more on that troubling phenomenon. Nonetheless, both editions of this book function very well as a great repository for English translations of the classic Jewish Bible commentators, which is mostly what I was looking for. As long as the reader is aware that classical interpretations should be read alongside more modern historical analysis - e.g. the JPS Bible Commentary Series, or the Jewish Study Bible, edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler. - then this series is a great addition to any Jewish household library.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-06-30 00:00:00 Richard Johnson Like the Artscroll/Stone Chumash, this Chumash relies heavily on medieval Jewish commentators (such as Rashi, Nachmanides and Ibn Ezra) rather than adding one writer's unique perspective. But this Torah commentary has much less depth than Artscroll- where Soncino might dismiss a topic with a sentence or two, Artscroll will have a full paragraph. So on balance I like Artscroll better. Soncino tends to be slightly less right-wing (in the sense of relying on bizarre legends) than Artscroll- but for a truly modern Orthodox perspective on the Torah, I like the Hertz Chumash better.