Steinsaltz, groundbreaking Talmud translator, dies
JERUSALEM — Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, a prolific Jewish scholar who spent 45 years compiling a monumental and ground-breaking translation of the Talmud, has died. He was 83.
The Steinsaltz Center, the Jerusalem educational institute he founded, said he died Friday in Jerusalem after suffering from pneumonia.
Steinsaltz, an educator who established a network of schools in Israel and the former Soviet Union, wrote more than 60 books on subjects ranging from zoology to theology. But the Talmud, the central text in mainstream Judaism, was his greatest passion.
The Talmud details rabbinical discussions over the centuries pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history. But because of its complexity, obscurity and the fact that much of it is written in the ancient Aramaic language, the rarified text for centuries remained beyond the scope of comprehension of all but a select group of scholarly Jews. The text, compiled in Mesopotamia in the 5th century, is broken into 63 sections and stretches over 2,700 double-sided pages.
“I do believe that this knowledge, it is not just knowledge of history, it is knowledge of ourselves, it is our own picture,” Steinsaltz told The Associated Press in a 2010 interview at the end of his work. “Talmud is a book that has no real parallel … it is a constant search for truth, for absolute truth.”
Over four-and-a-half decades, working for up to 16 hours a day, he labored over the ancient texts, translating them from the Aramaic into modern Hebrew — along with editions in English, French and Russian. The 45-volume series added his own explanations of phrases, terms and concepts, as well as listing the rulings of Jewish law derived from the text.
Steinsaltz coined his quest to educate Jews “Let my people know,” a play on Moses’ passage from Exodus: “Let my people go.”
There have been other, partial translations into English and other languages, but none are as comprehensive or have as extensive a commentary.
He is survived by his wife, Sara, three children and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren, according to the center.