Author: ArtScroll Staff

Imagine an encyclopedia — or, in 21st-century terms, a Wikipedia — of Torah thought, wisdom, and hashkafah. You can read this encyclopedia through from A to Z — or, in this case, from Aleph to Tav. You can also use it as a reference on specific topics. Or you might want to just riffle through the entries, broadening your knowledge and enriching your understanding.

And imagine that you can go to that encyclopedia and find not only facts and wisdom, but also brilliant and practical advice for living, as well as gentle mussar designed to strengthen your connection to Hashem and His Torah.

You don’t have to imagine it. That encyclopedic collection of Jewish wisdom and guidance has been available and beloved for two centuries. It’s called Sefer Pele Yoeitz. And it is now available and accessible to ArtScroll readers, with a flowing translation and elucidation, in the Haas Family Edition Pele Yoeitz: The Classic Work by Rabbi Eliezer Papo.

Pele Yoeitz was authored by the renowned halachic authority, ethicist, and kabbalist Rav Eliezer Papo. The work, which has achieved universal popularity, is arranged alphabetically; it covers themes that range from philosophy to halachah to practical advice. Topics discussed in this first of the projected four-volume series range from advice on chinuch to interpersonal relationships, conducting a business, developing personal integrity, and how to build a home, look for a shidduch, or publish a sefer … the list goes on and on.

This first volume also features a comprehensive 70-page discussion of dibur, speech, and how a person can sanctify his words, with separate sections on “mitzvah” speech, permitted speech, and forbidden speech. Like the rest of the book, each section is a beautiful blend of hashkafah and practical, down-to-earth advice that displays a profound understanding of human nature.

This is a book of “pele yoeitz” — wondrous guidance — that has illuminated Jewish life for two centuries and continues to bring Torah wisdom to us now.