A new excellent translation by Eliyahu Munk of the Tur on the Torah (cat.no.56222) has been published. Its published by Lambda, Brooklyn, NY but it is the US arm of Urim the Jerusalem, Israel publisher. It has an Israeli ISBN 965 7108-76-4.
The work is a three volume set and you have gotten earlier works by this translator and publisher. It is a 'must have,' but it's 3 vols. and sells for $140.00, (after all discounts) and so we ask before sending. There is no need to say much about the authoritative translations by Eliyahu Munk, which have included the works of Rabbi Tzvi of Mecklenberg - 'Haketav vehakabbala', 'Hahut hameshulash and many others. The Tur, R' Yakov ben Asher, the Rosh, wrote the seminal work of halacha (in 4 parts) and this is the commentary on this work on Bible, including restatement of Nachmanides commentary. Although the author and his famous father R' Asher ben Yehiel were born in Germany they migrated, lived and wrote in 13th Cent. Spain. In addition , I must mention: the new work by Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopez Cardozo, 'Crisis, Covenant and Creativity: Jewish Thoughts for a Complex World', which is published by Urim. The work is important Jewish Philosophy. I would like to highlight the sections on Jewish thinking on tolerance. He translates a portion of a Midrash on the creation of man. The angels are debating the wisdom of such a creation, on the one hand man may do kindnesses and mitzvot and on the other man is full of falsehood. So its 'Kindness' vs. 'Truth.' Pro and Con. The Almighty casts 'Truth' down to earth and it is said, 'truth will come/grow from the earth.' The explanation given is that truth when cast down to earth shatters to infinite pieces. Those pieces of truth are many and not mutually exclusive even though they appear to be contradictory at times. There are many alternate truths according to this conception of the Midrash. $19.00 cat.#55775 The work is a worthwhile addition to any collection. The author has written many other important and interesting works which exemplify observant, orthodox Jewish thought. The author is a member of the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam. Two important publication which have come out but are translations of earlier works in English, are, in order of importance, 'Israel - People/ Land / State - a Nation and its Homeland,' Ed. Avigdor Shinan, pub. Yad Ben Zvi, isbn 965-217-239-1, Israel 2005. The important work stretches from archaeology, history, language, culture, politics and naturally Zionism. $29.00 On the popular side of collection and in English as well, there is a new book firmly in the category of Israel and Zionism, '24 Hours in the Life of IDF,' published by the IDF, Israel Defense Forces and the MoD, Ministry of Defense, isbn 965-05-1279-9, Israel 2005. The book is a coffee table book but it has photos of everything from high tech aircraft to Israeli soldiers doing everything from combat to cooking. It reflects the amazing diversity that is Israel and the IDF. There is text by Menachem Michelson and the idea came from IDF spokesman and TV journalist Gen. Oded BenAmi. cat.no.56413 $37.00 'Sefer Ha-Tishbi,' the Classic 16th Century Lexicon / Dictionary has been published again in Bnei Brak, by the Machon HaRav Matzliah, in square print with several indices, commentaries and cites/footnotes. The important book has explanations of the meanings of many important words from the Bible and Talmud and was one of the early works of the German printing press in Isny (in Wurttemburg). This Bnei Brak edition makes reference to earlier publications which were a collaboration between the author Elias Ha-Tishby, Eliyahu Bachor, aka Elias Levita, and the German printer Paulus Fagius. The Bnei Brak Institute publication is available, Cat. # 55991, $17.00. I happened to see a limited edition of a facsimile of the earlier publication recently printed in Jerusalem with a one page Hebrew and English forward and 10 pages in German. (Lee Achim publisher.) The work is important Hebrew Language and Bible as well as History and according to the Jerusalem publisher an example of interfaith collaboration. (I don't know if any more of the small facsimile edition are still available. We can ask. also another edition may be published in future.) Lastly for now, I would like to bring to your attention a spiral bound book entitled, 'Neshot HaSefer..' 'Women of the Book: a Jerusalem Collage. The work, is tri-lingual in English, and has some illustrations. In my opinion this is not 'just a coffee table book.' The book has entries on Zionism and Aliyah, on Palestine, interfaith activities from Palestinian and Jewish women and constitutes a history and documentation of Israeli society and Women's perspectives. I hope that you will agree that this work should get wide distribution and the subject of inter-cultural understanding should be promoted as much as possible. The publisher is ICCI, Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel and the World Conference of Religions for Peace, Cat. # 56360 $28.00 And one last quick one, a new memoir is out by the distinguish justice Haim Cohen. cat.no.55870 - Mavo 'Ishi / Autobiographiah. published by Dvir. 493pages $27.00 Have a good rest of the summer. Jeff Spitzer Jerusalem Books POB 26190 Jerusalem 91260 Israel 972-2-6433580 (tel/fax) Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
