As we start at the very beginning of Talmud, it is worth pausing to ask this very simple question: which version of the Talmud are you reading?
Over the centuries, those editions of the Talmud that escaped physical destruction faced another challenge: censorship. The text that survived and is found in nearly all editions today is based on the so-called "Vilna Shas" edition, first published by The Widow and Brothers Romm in 1886. It is also the basis for the text used in the Schottenstien Talmud. But it is a text that was in some places heavily censored by Christian authorities, and using this censored text can lead to some silly outcomes. One example is found in today’s page of Talmud that describes God sitting through the night, mourning the loss of his Temple. The original uncensored text reads:
ברכות ג,ב
אוי לי שהחרבתי את ביתי ושרפתי את היכלי והגליתים לבין אומות העולם
Woe is me, for I destroyed my Temple, and I burned my Sanctuary, and I exiled them among the nations of the world.
However, the text of the English Schottenstein (and the Soncino) edition reads as follows:
אוי לבנים שבעונותיהם החרבתי את ביתי ושרפתי את היכלי והגליתים לבין אומות העולם
Woe to the children, because of whose sins I destroyed my Temple, and I burned my Sanctuary, and I exiled them among the nations of the world.
The additional words לבנים שבעונותיהם were added by Christian censors to make a theological statement about the fallen state of the Jews. The corrupted text was noted in Dikdukei Soferim, but none of this seems to have been evident to the editors of the English Schottenstein Talmud, who compounded the error by adding the following homiletic note to the corrupted text.
Detail from Schottenstein English Talmud Berachot 3a.
In its effort to comment on (nearly) everything, the Schottenstein edition added a homiletic explanation of a corrupt text written (almost certainly) by a Jewish apostate serving as Christian censor. Fortunately, the Hebrew and English editions of the Koren, together with the Hebrew edition of the Schottenstein (ArtScroll) Talmud returned the text to its original and uncensored form. No homiletic gymnastics needed.
So now, as we embark on a new cycle of study of the Babylonian Talmud which edition will you be using? And which edition should you be using?
[Partial repost from here.]
