Hebrew-English Tanakh Description:

Hebrew-English Tanakh review:
4 stars (attention tightwads, there is cheaper) - no need to resort to ramen noodles and have msg kill your brain;

get the ISBN 0827607660 hebrew-english bilingual POCKET edition.



20 list 14 postpaid, assuming you shell out 25 minimum per order



additional benefit of the POCKET-sized cheap edition is that you

can take it on a backpacking trip, and 'smuggle' it into nations

that frown on their citizens/subjects having a copy of Scripture



you could order two: one for the top of the fridge, and one that

rides inside your daypack or carry-on luggage. that'll make US25
1 stars (Nicely printed Hebrew text in a rotten binding.) - Since others have described the contents of the JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (ISBN: 0827606974) I will just say a few words about the incredibly poor binding of this book. Although the book is well-printed on excellent paper, it is being misleadingly touted as "leather bound." In fact, it is cased in PAPER-covered boards, comes with a cheap and nasty glued spine, and seems to have been designed to self-destruct after minimal use.



For a more durable bilingual Tanakh, and one with a much more interesting English translation, readers might take a look at the Artscroll Stone Edition Tanach (ISBN: 0899062695) which is also available at Amazon and is the edition I now wish that I had bought.



Too many publishers today are putting cheap glued paperbacks between cardboard covers, pretending that they are real books, and selling them at inflated prices. Hence the single star.
5 stars (Very readible translation, Hebrew and trop) - The JPS edition of the Tanakh has been in print since 1985 at which time this modern English translation replaced JPS's "Shakespearean" style translation. This translation has been well respected and stand's with the translation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan of blessed memory, and the Artscroll translation known as the "Stone Edition." Originally, the JPS edition was published only in English but, they later added editions in Hebrew/English. What I like about this edition is that it is very usable if you wish to recite the trop (cantillations for chanting). This edition is large enough that the trop is easily visible. Often, a full Bible (Tanakh) or a Bible including just the Torah and Haftorah (Chumash) is compacted into a size that makes these trop symbols illegible. In using this edition, I am able to read the English in a comprehensible translation and also study the Hebrew using the trop. I can use it to recite a haftorah (but note, you have to find out of the full text the passages, which include the haftorah, since the haftorahs are not delineated as such).



I already have several other Tanakhs, including the hardcover English only edition of the JPS Tanakh. However, while I was away from home, I was reading a book on theology which required both a Jewish Bible and a Christian Bible for cross referencing. Wanting the Jewish Bible to be a translation done under Jewish auspices, rather than a Christian "Old Testament," I treated myself to this edition. As in the English only version, the text is footnoted with commentary. The footnotes are often cryptic, sometimes clarifying obscure or alternate meanings in the translation. However, I did not buy it for the commentary, but rather for a lucid translation from Jewish sources rather than a translation based on the Greek Septuagent (such as the Kings James Version).



Aestehetically, this edition looks like a Bible!! It has the biblical soft, bendible leatherlike cover and it has a rich, brown color. Therefore it looks great on the bookshelf, it is a good study aid if you wish to read the Tanakh in English, and it is an equally good study aid to read the Tanakh in Hebrew along with the trop. Although I bought it for the translation, I use the Hebrew text when I am studying parshot or haftorot. Because this is a very solid work, both in its substance, and in its physical presentation, this Tanakh serves as a wonderful gift for a bar/bat mitzvah or for anyone else who deserves a nice present. I also recommend the Living Torah by Kaplan (which only includes the haftorahs, not the entire Prophets and Writings) as well as the Stone Edition by Artscroll. All three are wonderful study aids and, I have used all three over the years. If commentary is your primary interest, I might lean slightly towards Artscroll or, the venerable Hertz Chumash. If you are interested more in the text than in commentary, all of these versions are supurb.