I BOOKS

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Phone: 356-SHOE Mon. - Sat. 10 to 8 Sunday 12 to 5

MUMFORD CLASS OF '59

Thank You

for making our reunion so memorable!
Marlene
Arlene
(Feinstein)
(Rosner)
Slutzky
Weiss

Sweatshirts are available for $22.00

Make checks payable to: Mumford High Reunion
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Berkley, MI 48072

22

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1989

Talmud

Continued on preceding page

of God)?" (Chullin 5913).
Random House will begin
the English series with a
Reference Guide. Since the
Talmud contains some 2.5
million words and possesses
a unique inner logic, it is
necessary to provide a clear
guide with the precise rules
by which it operates.
Rabbi Steinsaltz, in this
volume, describes the
background of the talmudic
period, the structure, the
language and the inner
reasoning of the Talmud.
This section will contain a
select bibliography and gen-
eral index.
Rabbi Steinsaltz is
supremely qualified for this
task. He has already edited
half of the original Babylo-
nian Talmud, having just
completed the 20th volume.
He has also begun to edit the
Jerusalem Talmud.
No one has provided a
complete commentary to the
Babylonian Talmud since
the 11th century French
rabbi known as Rashi. Rabbi
Steinsaltz, using modern
techniques and scholarship,
works at a computer utiliz-
ing software he has designed
and 12 different typefaces.
In addition to his com-
ments, he includes classic
sources, biographical notes
on personalities, illustrative
pictures and botanical notes.
He explains the roots of
Greek, Roman and Persian
terms.
One of the rare features of
the Talmud is its range of
diversity and capacity for
deep appreciation and accep-
tance of difference.
The School of Hillel and

the School of Shamai
differed in methodology in
the study of the Talmud, and
the controversy between
them lasted over a century.
It was eventually resolved

41

Rabbi Steinsaltz:
Another Rashi?

with this remarkable
Talmudic phrase: "Both are II
the words of the living God"
(Eruvin 13b).
This remarkable degree of
tolerance is further demon-
strated by the rabbinic pro-
nouncement: "The righteous
of all faiths have a share in
the world to come" (Tosefta
Sanhedrin 13a).
The English publication of
one of the world's greatest
religious texts around
Chanukah will be a major
event in Jewish and in world
scholarship. It will enable
English-speaking Jews and
scholars worldwide to read
the Talmud, study it,
treasure it and use it as
never before. ❑

West German President
Reassures ADL

Bonn (JTA) — President
Richard von Weizsacker of
West Germany assured a
visiting delegation of
American Jews last week
that he fully understands
the -concern of world Jewry
over the prospect of a
reunited Germany.
But the German people
have learned the lessons of
history, and their objective
is democratic rule and sup-
port of human rights, he
said.
Weizsacker addressed 25
members of the Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai
B'rith, who came to Bonn to
present the German chief of
state with ADL's Joseph
Prize for human rights, the
first time the award has
gone to a German.

The German president told
them, "You have come to
Europe at a time when the
basic ADL philosophy is
coming to life," an apparent
reference to the movement
for democratic reforms
sweeping Eastern European
countries.
The reforms in East Ger-
many, particularly the open-
ing of the Berlin Wall, have
focused world attention on
the possibility that the two
Germanys may be united in
the near future.
West German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl has offered a
20-point proposal. 1
Weizsacker told his guests,
"I know it is not easy to en-
visage the outcome of the
unification of 75 million Ger-
mans."