Op-Ed: Why I had Almost Given Up on Chumash

When I was becoming more interested in Judaism, I learned that the word “Torah” comes from the word “hora’ah,” meaning to teach, to instruct. I was taught this meant that each day’s Torah portion had a vital lesson for our daily lives, even in this contemporary world. Frankly, I didn’t buy it.

Learning from the Chumash seemed more like a mean, endless intellectual game than a pursuit of true understanding. I would scan the pages of the Chumash for any trace of a comprehensible message for an average Jew like me, but the big picture always remained a mystery entrapped somewhere in the frantically futile back-and-forth between Torah, commentary, and dictionary. On the rare occasion that I’d succeed in decoding the antiquated English translation, I still couldn’t extrapolate any real meaning when so much was hidden in commentaries that were on another part of the Chumash, or even referenced in another book that I didn’t have access (or energy) to go research.

When I opened the LifeStyle Chumash, I instantly inhaled a deep breath of relief. I’d given up on ever being able to open a Chumash and take a lesson from it on my own, but this Chumash was vastly and refreshingly different from any other I’d seen…. It was actually easy to understand! Translated into an English that humans actually speak, I didn’t have to waste any time going to the dictionary in two-minute intervals. With commentary built into the text itself, I was able to see a comprehensible context without losing my spot on the page after every line. Even the colored modern layout is intuitive, beautifully designed so that the eye naturally knows what to read next.

In short, the LifeStyle Chumash does exactly what a Chumash is supposed to do: teach. If you are looking for a time-consuming, difficult, complicated way to take a lesson from the parsha, this Chumash is not for you. But if you want to acquire a true, deep, and accessible understanding of the Torah, along with an empowered world view and a charge to make your every day bigger and better, you’ve met your mate. Enjoy.

To learn more about the New Chumash visit: www.lifestylebooks.org

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