The Blog @ ArtScroll.com

Nachum interviewed author and Jewish Crafter Rivky Koenig about her exciting new book “Crafting Jewish.” Crafting Jewish is a unique and beautiful book that has been designed both for experienced crafters looking for creative and unusual ideas and for beginners just starting to discover the joys of crafts. This book has it all! The entire family will love creating these marvelous, homemade crafts - and the warm, loving family traditions that you create at the same time, as you enjoy Crafting Jewish. Click here  above to listen.

Each year, just before Rosh Hashanah, the Mesorah Heritage Foundation publishes the Heritage Desk Diary, a desired volume which cannot be purchased in any bookstore. The Diary includes such useful information as a sixteen-month weekly planner, a nine-year Jewish holiday schedule, sidebars highlighting special prayers for special occasions, candle lighting times for over 100 US and world cities, schedules for Daf HaYomi and Mishnah Yomi schedule, weekly insights from classic and contemporary Torah Sages, and information about the festivals. There’s plenty of room, as well, for managing the details of one’s busy life. (See sampler page HERE.)

The Heritage Desk Diary is not for commercial sale. It is available as a thank-you gift for supporting the advance of Torah literacy through the Mesorah Heritage Foundation. For a contribution of $36 or more, you will receive the beautiful, hardbound sixteen-month Desk Diary. For a contribution of $18, you will receive the pocket edition of the twelve-month Heritage Personal Planner. (View sample page of Planner HERE.) Rabbi Nosson Scherman comments, “The insights and information in these diaries have inspired quite a few people to enroll their children in Jewish day schools.”

The Mesorah Heritage Foundation has recruited over 100 scholars in America, Europe and Israel to produce an English-language Torah literature that will endure for generations. Several major projects are underway: the Schottenstein Edition of the Jerusalem Talmud in English and Hebrew; the Schottenstein Interlinear Chumash; the Ramban’s Commentary on Chumash; the Kleinman Edition of A Daily Dose of Torah, now publishing Series Two; the Kleinman Edition of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, and the multi-volume Yad Avraham Mishna Series is nearly completed. In a few weeks, the Kleinman Mishkan Project, a 3-D computer-animated virtual tour of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, will be released.

Since 1987, the Mesorah Heritage Foundation has brought the Jewish world indispensable resources for Torah learning and living. Today, the ArtScroll Siddur, in its many versions, is everywhere.  The Schottenstein Talmud helps hundreds of thousands follow the Daf HaYomi. The Sapirstein edition of Rashi is a staple in home and yeshiva libraries across the world.  Those who don’t read Hebrew can recite psalms with a Seif Transliterated Tehillim.  Profound wonders of the Torah are accessible in English through the Davis Edition of the Baal HaTurim.  Visionary individuals made all this possible.  Now you can be one of them. Anyone desiring to support the Foundation’s vital research work can contact its office at 1-718-921-9000 or email: heritage@mesorahheritage.org .

From all the staff at ArtScroll Mesorah Publications, we wish you and yours a k’sivah v’chasimah tovah for the Hebrew year of 5769.  May we be privileged to spread the flame of Torah learning and living to millions across the world who yearn to live in its light and may we merit to see the geulah - the redemption - speedily in our day. 

We thank you for you patronage and look forward to serving you with quality Torah resources for years to come!

Gratefully - The ArtScroll Blogger

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Yom Kippur / Sukkos Suggestions:

Among ArtScroll’s popular and useful holiday volumes are Yom Kippur: Its Significance, Laws, and Prayers, and Succos: Its Significance, Laws, and Prayers, by Rabbis Meir Zlotowitz, Nosson Scherman, Hersch Goldwurm, and Avie Gold. These compact volumes feature broad hashkafic/philosophical overviews, fascinating background on the holidays, an authoritative digest of their laws, and the specific prayers related to the holidays. Probe the profound lessons of Yom Kippur; learn how to reap the benefits of the day. Capture the essence of teshuvah and know that you have properly done it. Find out why the Succos holiday is uniquely called “the Season of Our Joy “, what Succos recalls from the past and what it portends for the future, and the meaning of the fragile succah itself. If you’re looking for a brief yet substantive synopsis of Yom Kippur and Succos, here it is in two thin volumes. No Jewish library should be without them. 
 
Yom Kippur and Succos with Bina, Benny, and Chaggai Hayonah are two delightful volumes in ArtScroll’s holiday series for children.   Written by award-winning children’s author Yaffa Ganz and colorfully illustrated by Liat Benyamini Ariel, these are books young readers will treasure.  With story lines that highlight the important aspects of both holidays, children will enjoy and understand them more than ever as they come to understand their specialness.

Chol Hamoed Review: It is important to be up-to-date on halachic matters related to Chol Hamoed.  Just last year, ArtScroll updated a classic volume on this issue: Chol Hamoed: A comprehensive review of the Laws of the Intermediate Days of the Festivals.  Authored by Rabbi Dovid Zucker and Rabbi Moshe Francis, the respected Roshei Kollel of the Chicago Community Kollel, this book presents essential information affecting business, medical, entertainment, and technology issues on Chol Hamoed.  Every Jewish home will benefit greatly from this authoritative resource. 

Schottenstein Talmud Updates:

This week, ArtScroll is releasing Bava Kamma Volume One of the Hebrew Schottenstein edition of Talmud Bavli.  This full size volume covers Folios 2A-44A.  Daf Yomi study of Bava Kamma commences Dec. 30. 

In time for the Oct. 10 start of the next masechta in Seder Nashim, the Schottenstein English and  Hebrew editions of Kiddushin Vol. 1 are available in both full and compact sizes.  The English edition of Kiddushin Vol. 1 is also available in the all-new travel-size version.

As we roll into the fall season, ArtScroll has exciting recommendations for everyone in the family. 

The Suspense Continues! — In Scandal in Amsterdam, the sequel to The Long Road to Freedom, Avner Gold transports us to the glittering Dutch capital at the height of its glory, when the Dutch Republic dominated the economy of the world, in large part because of its flourishing community of wealthy ex-Marranos. Great rabbis stand at the head of this dynamic community, but its day-to-day affairs are controlled by the Maamad, a council of laymen that rules with an iron hand and punishes violators by putting them into cherem. As the story unfolds, the beleaguered Dominguez family find themselves trapped between the enemy stalking them and the Maamad that is scrutinizing their every move. Filled with intrigue and surprising twists, Scandal in Amsterdam is a riveting page-turner. 

Once Upon a Holiday Story — Yair Weinstock’s story-crafting talents are legendary and in Once Upon a Holiday Story he retains his sterling status. Here’s a book of enchanting stories that portray impressive characters and poignant messages couched in Jewish holiday settings. Weinstock’s seamless style will carry you through the narrow streets of old Jerusalem to the muddy roads of a Polish village, from the hard wood benches of a humble Chassidic beis midrash to the penetrating cold of a Russian winter. Once Upon a Holiday Story will bring warmth to your heart, enlightenment to your mind, and not a few smiles to your lips.

 A Recommended Succos Classic: How can you know if a lulav or esrog is kosher or not? How can you distinguish a high-quality specimen from an average one? Rabbi Hadar Margolin’s The Lulav & Esrog Handbook — The Laws of the Four Species is a fascinating and practical guide to understanding and selecting the Arba Minim. Full-color photos and instructive diagrams will help you learn and retain the laws of the Four Species as never before.

Praying With Fire, Vol. 2 — Rabbi Heshy Kleinman’s first volume of Praying With Fire started a tefilah revolution that is blazing across the Jewish world. The just-released Volume Two will take your tefilah focus to a new level.  

L’Shanah Tova Tikaseyvu — ArtScroll wishes you a kesivah vachasimah tovah. May it be a year of good health and spiritual and material success, a year of geulah and yeshuah for all of Klal Yisrael, wherever they are.

Vol 1 - Simanim 1 - 34

After many months of anticipation, the first volume of the Kleinman edition of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch was released just this week.   Originally compiled in 1864 by Harav Shlomo Ganzfried, “the Kitzur” is a digest of the essential laws of Jewish living distilled from the massive, authoritative Code of Law.   The widespread use of the Kitzur was evident even in the author’s day, with some twenty reprints in his lifetime alone, and several iterations since.

ArtScroll’s Kleinman Edition of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch is presented in the now-familiar style of phrase-by-phrase translation and elucidation which has popularized the Schottenstein Talmud, the Sapirstein Rashi, and the Ramban’s Torah commentary.  Readers will appreciate the generous background notes which provide a clear understanding of the relevant laws in each section.  Another new feature of this new edition of the Kitzur is the inclusion of relevant rulings from the Mishnah Berurah and the Igros Moshe of Harav Moshe Feinstein zt”l, when they differ from the Kitzur.

The fully-vowelized Hebrew text is that of the Lemberg Edition of 1884, the last edition of the Kitzur that was annotated and approved by Rabbi Ganzfried himself, and which contains his own corrections to earlier editions.  ArtScroll acknowledges and thanks the MUNK FAMILY of Bnei Brak for lending their rare copy of that edition for use in preparing this new rendering.

When completed, the Kleinman Edition of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch will constitute five volumes.  The project’s patron dedicators are Brochie and Elly Kleinman, whose gracious support helped to launch the well-known Daily Dose of Torah Series One and Series Two.  This first volume in the Kitzur series includes Simanim 1-34, which covers the Laws of Early Morning through the Laws of Charity.  To download a FREE PREVIEW SAMPLE of the Kleinman Edition of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, featuring Chapter Eighteen - The Laws of the Recitation of Shema, click HERE. 

Volume Two in this series is tentatively scheduled for June 2009, with the entire project scheduled for completion in 2011.

In preparation for Yom Kippur, ArtScroll offers excellent resources for reviewing the small, yet significant Book of the prophet Yonah (Jonah). 

From the ArtScroll Tanach Series, we highly recommend the classic Yonah, with a flowing translation and insightful commentary by Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, together with an overview on Yonah, Repentance, and Yom Kippur by Rabbi Nosson Scherman.  This brief yet substantive commentary examines some of Judaism’s most essential concepts, including teshuvah (repentance), atonement, and forgiveness.

• Children thrill to read the sweeping story line of the ArtScroll Children’s Book of Yonah by Shmuel Blitz.  With exciting illustrations by Tova Katz, inspiring talking points by the author, and a meaningful introduction by Rabbi Nosson Scherman, this is clearly a book that children love to re-read throughout the year. 

• Commuters and audiophiles will find rich food for thought and action in Rabbi Yisroel Reisman’s eight-CD collection of The Travails of Yonah HaNavi. 

• Journey of the Soul: An allegorical commentary adapted from the Vilna Gaon’s Aderes Eliyahu by Rabbi Moshe Shapiro is one of the most fascinating books that ArtScroll has ever published. It explores the Vilna Gaon’s understanding of Gilgul (reincarnation). While many Jews are unaware of our rich, ancient tradition about this concept, the Vilna Gaon describes the entire book of Yonah as a metaphor for Gilgul. Yonah is sent on a prophetic mission in this world, yet he fails to fulfill the warning of Nineveh and suffers a kind of death (being swallowed by the great fish). Spit out and dispatched on his mission again, he is given a second chance. Similarly, sometimes a soul does not finish its mission in one lifetime and can be sent back again to complete its earthly assignment.  The Vilna Gaon explains how we can know our unique mission, making Journey of the Soul a must-read book in preparation for this Yom Kippur. 

Hebrew-Only High Holy Days Machzor – By popular demand, ArtScroll offers a Hebrew-only Machzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Packaged in a durable slipcase, the Nusach Ashkenaz has instructions and halachos in English while the Nusach Sefard offers instructions and halachos in Hebrew.   For details, click here: 

Rosh Hashanah Hebrew only Machzor - Ashkenaz - with English instructions

Rosh Hashanah Hebrew only Machzor - Ashkenaz - with Hebrew instructions

Rosh Hashanah Hebrew only Machzor - Sefard - with Hebrew instructions

Yom Kippur Hebrew only Machzor - Ashkenaz - with English instructions

Yom Kippur Hebrew only Machzor - Ashkenaz - with Hebrew instructions

Yom Kippur Hebrew only Machzor - Sefard - with Hebrew instructions