By COLlive reporter
There does not seem to be a lack of Chumashim in Lubavitch. Among those published in recent years are the ‘Gutnick’ Chumash, the ‘Cunin/Kehot’ Chumash and the ‘Chabad.org’ Chumash.
You can now add to that list the all new “Lifestyle Torah.”
Its editor, Rabbi Chaim Miller of Crown Heights, tells COLlive.com the interesting name he chose is part of an effort to make Judaism more accessible and welcoming to “beginners.”
“As a young child in England, growing up in a non-religious background, I remember coming to shul and looking for yiddishkeit but becoming overwhelmed by the black-and-white pages filled with text of the siddur,” Miller says.
The Lifestyle Books series – which this past week published its Chumash and a Friday Night siddur – “is for people who come to Chabad Houses for the first time. What you would call the beginners and outsiders,” he says.
Miller described the Chumash as “the first personalized Torah in history. It has lessons for every person with short, sweet and quick insights, yet full of depth and rich in content. This is Toras Chaim and we are showing how relevant it is to your life.”
It includes the full holy text of the Torah, with complete Haftarah cycle, beautifully typeset by an award-winning designer and English translation that makes an easy read.
While Rashi’s traditional commentary has been omitted, every page features edited insights from hundreds of Jewish thinkers and mystics, addressing relevant issues at the core of the human experience.
Miriam Adahan, a psychologist, author and founder of EMETT, said the sections Spiritual Vitamins and Kabbalah Bites “make Torah come alive. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so challenged and excited about reading Chumash.”
“This Torah is user-friendly in the truest sense: it is designed to engage mind, heart and soul in an accessible encounter with the Divine,” said Rabbi Michael Broyde, Professor of Law at Emory University and Rabbi of Young Israel of Toco Hills.
Rabbi Miller told COLlive.com he has put a great emphasis on the design and layout of the Lifestyle Torah, giving it a clean and classy look.
“The success of Apple and Steve Jobs was all about design,” he said. “Once, people were satisfied with a product as as long as it worked. Today it’s very different. You need to work to get people’s attention.
“When they printed the English edition of the Tanya in England, the Rebbe told R’ Zalman Jaffee that the cover should look beautiful because people do judge the book that way.”
The same approach led Miller and his publisher, Rabbi Meyer Gutnick, to work on “Prayers for Friday Night (Nusach Ha-Arizal),” a 129-page soft cover “guide” that makes Kabbolas Shabbos an experience-personalized and engaging.
“In the first prints of siddurim in Vilna and elsewhere they tried to put the most ink possible on the pages and fit it all into one book,” Miller explains.
“Here, we get to focus on this davening alone with many commentaries throughout that will make one’s davening – a beginner or regular – an inspiring experience.”
The Five Book of Moses
6.5″ x 8.5″ ,1550 pages, Hard Cover
$49.99
Sample pages (PDF) and more info, click here”
Prayers for Friday Night (Nusach Ha-Arizal)
6.5″ x 8.5″ ,192 pages, Soft Cover
$17.99
Sample pages and more info, click here
The Intro is exactly what is needed. I read it. People coming into shul as beginners will read it too! Beautiful. Well done.
מזל טוב!
Brilliant! Rabbi Miller has done it again!
I’m sorry to say this, but in the name of brutal honesty — something Steve Jobs would have appreciated — this chumash doesn’t live up to its promise. This chumash is at best a mediocre effort at univesalism. Relevance must be done either in an excellent way or else it feels weak. Rabbi Miller should stick to his original mission, ala the Gutnick Rashi Chumash, and leave the personal relevance messages to those that are far more adept.
Steve Jobs would not have allowed an 8 page introduction. The ikar could have been written effectively in two paragraphs.
How is this chumash meant for a beginner, if it doesnt explain the peshat?
It’s not enough to put some explanation into the translation and expect them to understand what’s really going on.
So this does not replace the need for an artcroll in shull