History and Talmud Study - Really?

 

Gil Student writes in Hirhurim: “I have suggested to a number of people that it would be very interesting to have an historical commentary on the Talmud…” This should raise many eyebrows, because there exists at least one commentary, the Steinsaltz Talmud, which offers rich encyclopedic notes, including illustrations, identifying people, places, objects and events in the commonly accepted context of history and geography.

 

But Student continues: “…one that is ‘frum’ enough to be used in yeshivas and only gives historical background to the relevant passages.”

 

The Steinzalts Talmud, you see, is not “frum enough,” because it is written in English, rather than the Boro-Parkeze of the Artscroll Mesorah version. That this strange series offers very little useful information outside the scope of figuring out the narrow halacha and hashkafa discussion does not seem to bother Student. After all, it’s a yeshivish product, intended to sound – yes, sound – yeshivish. So why should you expect it to offer anything but what’s available to a student anywhere between 12^th and 18^th Avenues?

 

Which means that Student, basically, is looking for yet another sanitized version of history, a shmutz-free version, if you will, palatable to your average Rosh Yeshiva, parent, etc. Why can’t we have another collection of self-serving partial truths about history, but one which makes us less uncomfortable.

 

Well, as it turns out, one such collection already exists. It’s called Our People, a six-volume work on Jewish history from Creation to 5252 (1492), by Jacob Isaacs (reputedly this is a pseudonym for the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s secretary, Shalom Mendel Simpson), put out by Kehot. Despite my natural aversion to “frum” accounts of history and other disciplines, I must admit that I refer to this collection often enough, for two reasons: 1. It’s well written. 2. It’s quite accurate.

 

A third reason is that it’s quite easy to utilize it in researching non-“frum” sources, because of its insistence (encouraged by the Rebbe) on being in fluent mainstream English.

 

Can your average Rosh Yeshiva stomach that part?

 

Yori Yanover