The Living Torah and Nach
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The Living Torah is a 1981 translation of the Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, published by Moznaim publishers.
It was and remains a highly popular translation, and was reissued in a Hebrew-English version with haftarot for synagogue use.
Rabbi Kaplan had the following goals for his translation, which were arguably absent from previous English translations:
- Make it clear and readable
- Keep it close to the basic meaning (peshat) of the text in many places, but in other places translated it to be in accord with post-biblical rabbinic commentary and Jewish codes of law.
- Keeping it faithful to Orthodox Jewish tradition
- Provide useful notes, a table of contents, illustrations, and a comprehensive index.
Rabbi Kaplan's translation has been criticised in some circles for mis-translating the text. The dispute comes about because he consciously attempted not to present a straight translation of the text, but rather interspersed the translation with later rabbinic commentary and Jewish law.
[edit] The Living Nach
The Living Torah was later supplemented by The Living Nach on Nevi'im (two volumes: "The Early Prophets" and "The Latter Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Sacred Writings" in one volume). These were prepared posthumously following Rabbi Kaplan's format by others including Yaakov Elman.
