Letter of approbation for the ArtScroll Hebrew edition of the Talmud
BE”H 28 Adar 5756 (1996)
“May the hearts of those who seek Hashem rejoice!” This verse aptly describes those who have become scholars thanks to the great benefit to the speakers of the language of this country with the appearance of the ArtScroll/Mesorah [English] Shas.
And now they have come to the heads of this publishing company, Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz shlita and Rabbi Nosson Sherman shlita, and asked them to publish a similar Shas with explanation of the Gemara in easy Hebrew around it, which will help those who know Hebrew and need such a sefer, through which they will know the exact meaning of all of the Gemara as Rashi explains it, together with important footnotes based on the meforshim, to learn and review until they know and understand the sugya. May each learner achieve on his own level the blessing of “brighten our eyes with your Torah,” and may their children learn as well.
From the samples I was shown, I could see that the talmidei chachomim writing this Shas worked hard and were successful, hitting the mark and shedding light on the Gemara to help learners, without loss of faithfulness to the source texts.
All of this is a new step. The Sages who passed down our traditions wrote down Shas so that the Torah should not be forgotten from Israel, and the gedolim of subsequent generations followed the same practice [with their commentaries]. In all of this, the initiative was taken by those passing down the Torah. But these seekers, by their request, caused a teacher for themselves to be written down. Arguing “why should we be left out?” the children of Israel have come and said, “We want to learn Torah and know it! Make us the tools to receive it.” Here we have the result of the inspired request of those recipients of the Torah.
And this has a special importance in our time, when the conditions of exile have completely changed. Instead of the cruelty of the nations, sometimes in an effort to convert us and sometimes motivated by hatred and intent to destroy us, the main threat today is from our enemies within, who commit forgery and falsify the statements of the past. And today they have changed further – not content with falsifying the Torah as they did in the past, they are rushing wickedly to falsify the people of Israel. One who stops to think will realize that it is no small thing that they have changed the name “Israel” from its original meaning, Hashem’s people, and used it for the land. The original name of the land, Eretz Yisroel, indicated that the pride of the land lay in its connection with the people. This is one sign of the spiritual darkness that they have brought down to the world, with their claim that from now on it’s possible to be an Israelite without knowing and feeling the essence of this people, without knowing its ways and holidays, without knowing its history, without knowing its holy forefathers. And once that’s the case, why should they care about keeping its lineage alive? Why should they care about being an Israelite? The removal of the pride of Israel and its preciousness is one and the same with the rise of the informers and the sinners. The falsification of the name is the destruction of the name. And with the destruction of the name, the object itself becomes lost without anyone to seek it.
Now, the children of Israel were first called by the precious name Israel on the Yam Suf: “And Hashem saved Israel on that day.” And because of that, they sang the Song of the Sea together with Moshe His servant, and then they were called Israel in the desert of Sinai: “And Israel camped there opposite the mountain.” This is the secret of this people and the secret of their name.
And in dark times like these, the soul of the people requests and seeks out the secret of its essence and the light of its being. Their souls reverberate within them with this request, returning from all the situations of exile to request and seek out their roots in the Torah. They stand under the mountain. Thus, from “Israel camped opposite the mountain,” the verse “and Hashem saved Israel on that day” will be once again revealed. And then, “Moshe and the Children of Israel will sing.”
The merit of ArtScroll publications is great, with the role that they have taken on and continue to take on in the people’s search for the Torah of Hashem. May this merit stand by them so that they should continue to make the Torah great and mighty amongst the people, and may it be revealed before the eyes of all that Israel and the Torah are one.
Aaron Moshe Schechter
I Will Await Him 
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