(no subject)

[cellio]

Many of the charitable organizations out there send you doo-dads in hopes of guilt-tripping you into giving them money. I generally dislike this tactic; I want them to spend my donation on the cause in question, not in making little stuffed panda dolls or t-shirts or whatever. Usually the stuff they send is junk and thus counter-productive: I'm much more likely to give them money if they don't send me this stuff. (I'll forgive return-address labels, as they cost basically nothing and are even useful sometimes, but more expensive stuff is a lose.)

Today I was surprised to recieve something non-trivial, useful, and actually relevant to the interests of the organization in question: Mesorah (aka Artscroll) sent me a copy of Pirke Avot, Hebrew and interlinear English, unabridged. (Some other publishing company out there likes to send you the first chapters of books, by contrast.) I actually don't have a complete bilingual Pirke Avot, and I'd been meaning to fix that, so I can use this. And I'll send them a donation as a result.

Comments

[jeannegrrl.livejournal.com]

Hey! I just got one of those too - but it was sent to me by my Partners In Torah Study Buddy (who got it for free from Artscroll and offered to send it to me since that's what we're studying right now) I really like it - it's much nice than the edition I had been using which has a rather archaic translation. Hope you enjoy yours!

[goljerp]

I actually don't have a complete bilingual Pirke Avot

<Conservative> What, you don't have a copy of Sim Shalom? </Conservative>

Sim Shalom, the Conservative prayer book, has the complete Pirke Avot in Hebrew and English (pgs. 603-665). The translation is by Rabbi Max J. Routtenberg (I looked at the credits in the back) and is in modern english. Not too many comments/notes (only 50 for the whole shebang), but it's a nice resource.

Actually, I suppose I should clarify a bit: I'm talking about the "original" Sim Shalom (copyright 1985), not the new 3 volume edition which came out recently. Well, the first volume came out recently.

None of this should be interpreted as my having any problem with Reb. Artscroll and his agenda. I'm quite clear when that happens. :-)

[cellio]

Actually, you may be right. I do have Sim Shalom, but it's one recent volume (Shabbat and festivals, not everything) and I haven't checked for Pirke Avot. I picked it up fairly recently; if I'm going to lead services out of it I want to have a copy at home to work with.

I also have a Masorti siddur (Hebrew only), which might or might not have Pirke Avot in it -- but I need the English, and would prefer the notes too.

New Sim Shalom

[goljerp]

I do have Sim Shalom, but it's one recent volume (Shabbat and festivals, not everything)

Yes, that's the new Slim shalom (if I may coin a pun). I'm not sure if it has pirke avot; in fact I'd guess it doesn't, since one reason for the new edition coming out in 3 volumes was so each individual volume was smaller. (The whole thing will probably be bigger, and since Sim Shalom wasn't small to begin with, that would be a bad thing. I have mixed feelings, since the old "baby siddur" (small Sim Shalom) is very nice to take on trips -- and I know it's got everything in it. Well, OK, maybe not everything, but lots o' useful stuff in one volume.