Passing the
Pomeranz bookshop in Jerusalem the other day, I spotted this commentary on Pirkei Avot by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, a man whose massive scholarship is happily matched by his prodigious productivity and literary lucidity. Although it comes in at nearly 400 pages, it is not a challenging read: the usual high quality of Koren typography gives the text plenty of space and makes it easy on the eye. The text of all six chapters is accompanied by an accessible commentary plus biographical notes on rabbis whose teachings form the bulk of Avot.
This book is handsome enough to be given full coffee-table treatment and may make an excellent present for anyone who enjoys engaging with Pirkei Avot without having to digest two millennia of detailed commentary and textual analysis in order to do so.
Pirkei Avot with Commentary by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
here
Sample text of chapter 1 for free inspection
here
