The Great Torah Commentators
by Avraham Yaakov Finkel
Category: Religion

As author Avraham Yaakov Finkel says in his introduction to The Great Torah Commentators, no words are adequate to describe the Torah. 'Only by actually tasting the words of our sages, by biting into them, can we gain an insight into the profound wisdom and beauty of the Torah. The selections in this book are intended to serve as tidbits to arouse the reader's appetite to study the masters from their sources.' The Great Torah Commentators groups the sages into seven areas of expertise: (1) Torah, (2) Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash, (3) Halachah, (4) Mussar (Ethics), (5) Chasidism, (6) Philosophy, and (7) Kabbalah. Giants, among them Rashi, the Vilna Gaon, the Chafetz Chaim, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, the Baal Shem Tov, Nachman of Bratzlav, the Ari, and the Maharal of Prague, come to life through Finkel's masterful selection and translation of their writings. Included with the biographies and samples of these great sage's works are their portraits or photographs, and facsimiles of pages of their commentaries. When an authentic sage comments on the Torah, his words are also considered, in a real sense, to be 'Torah' by the student of tradition. And every subjectDfrom the most earthly to the most etherealDis worthy of inquiry. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in The Great Torah Commentators by Avraham Yaakov Finkel