June 15, 2004

New York Governor Pataki Lauds ArtScroll/Mesorah Talmud Project

When Governor George E. Pataki invited representatives of the Mesorah Heritage Foundation to his Executive Office in New York City, he did not expect to converse about the Talmud. Yet he was fascinated by Rabbi Nosson Scherman’s description of Bava Metzia — a tractate concerning torts and civil law — and he responded as any interested student would: he had a lot of questions. How do you clarify the law? Who wrote the commentaries? Why is the page arranged in this unusual fashion?

The impromptu discussion occurred on June 10, when Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, President of ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, Rabbi Scherman, General Editor of ArtScroll, and some members of the Foundation’s Board of Governors came to announce the Foundation’s “Year of Learning and Celebration.” The celebration marks the upcoming completion of ArtScroll/Mesorah’s Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud, a monumental 73-volume work that translates and elucidates the Talmud in clear, readable English. The publication of this work, volume by volume over the past fourteen years, has revolutionized the study of Talmud in the United States and English-speaking countries worldwide.

The Mesorah Heritage Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Jewish heritage and fostering Jewish scholarship through the publication of classic Judaic works in translation. The Foundation enabled the research, writing and editing of the Schottenstein Talmud.

Taking time from his busy schedule to acknowledge the importance of the Mesorah project, the governor learned that the Talmud is a work that has illuminated sages of numerous cultures for over thirteen centuries. It was noted that the Talmud lies at the root of several legal systems and that its wisdom has found its way into universal philosophic teachings.

Members of the Mesorah Heritage Foundation’s Board of Governors present an ArtScroll Bible (Tanakh) to Governor George E. Pataki Left to Right: Steven Weisz, Moshe Talansky, Andrew J. Neff, Rabbi Nosson Scherman, Governor Pataki, Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, Herbert Seif, Hirsch Wolf, Jay Tepper, Steven Adelsberg.

The governor was even more amazed to discover that more than a hundred thousand people study the same page of the Talmud worldwide as part of the “Daf Yomi” program, and that many of them are able to participate only thanks to ArtScroll/Mesorah’s English Edition. He expressed admiration for the magnitude of this voluntary study at such a high intellectual level.

The representatives of the Mesorah Heritage Foundation who attended were all residents of the metropolitan area. Familiar with Governor Pataki’s legislative record, they lauded his moral courage and dedication to the ethical principles expressed in the Torah and Talmud. Appropriately, a leather-bound edition of the ArtScroll Tanakh (Bible), with its superlative English translation and enlightening notes, was presented to the governor as a souvenir of their visit.