Feldheim is Marketing a new Mafteach for Shas.
Me wonders why the Market for Material Manufactured in Hebrew Merits Minimal price, while the Match Made in English Measures More?
In other words, the list price for the Hebrew version of the Mafteach sells for 25.00 dollars, while the English equivalent sells for 30.00?
Many Minds Might Merit Meaning.
but for practicality the Soncino Index from their Talmud set is the best - 1 volume only.
ReplyDeleteThe English Mafteach is approximately 777 pages, while the Hebrew version is closer to 500.
ReplyDeleteTirgum haTorah L'Yevunis
ReplyDelete"but for practicality the Soncino Index from their Talmud set is the best - 1 volume only. "
ReplyDeleteNot unless you've compared them.
Thanks all, surprised at the nice turnout for such an inane topic. Does anyone know why the Hebrew version has fewer pages than the English?
ReplyDeleteOf course. Hebrew is a much terser language than English.
ReplyDelete"To finish his [Aruch Hashalem] more quickly, Kohut decided to write his book in Hebrew. It would occupy only half the space that it would if written in German - eight volumes instead of sixteen. With remarkable perseverance he rewrote his work from the very beginning in Hebrew - the text in Hebrew and the translation in German." (The ethics of the fathers by Alexander Kohut 1920)
I don't know why a mafteach to Shas would be inane?
I know that Hebrew is terser, I thought of that, but this is just an index. So there should be just as many entries in Hebrew as English.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you think this post is not inane. Mafteach is a good topic, but my treatment of it could be considered so.
I know you know it. I just thought that you hadn't thought of it.
ReplyDeleteStill, think about it. You say the same thing in fewer words. Multiply that page by page and you get 250 pages less, easily.
Now, this may not be the author's fault, but this bugs me. On the Feldheim site they write: "Once you discover how useful the HaMafteach is, you'll wonder: Why didn't anyone think of this before?"
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are differences between it and the Soncino Talmud index, but come one. Does every new frum book that tries to bring something new to the table really have to pretend that they are the first?
חובת התלמידים
ReplyDeleteStill, even though one can say in 5 words in Hebrew what it will take 8 words in English, the same amount of lines should nevertheless remain intact, so I am not clear why the page number should have such a huge discrepancy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, aside from Shabbos, is there really a need for something like this anymore? Whenever I can't remember where a particular Gemara is, I invariably find the answer on the first page of searching Rav Google.
One of the good things about being able to browse is that you find things you didn't even realize you were looking for. Search is great - assuming that the thing you are searching for has been indexed - but serendipitous encounters come from leafing through things.
ReplyDeleteNice article in the NYT. article
ReplyDeletethe reason english has more entries than hebrew is that english has a transliterated guide. thus if you want to know where, for example, yiush shelo midaas is, you look under yiush, which then refers you to despair. and soncino is not an index to shas- only an index to soncino's own translation
ReplyDeleteThank you Anon.
ReplyDeleteVery informative post. Thanks for taking the time to share your view with us.
ReplyDelete