What is ArtScroll?
ArtScroll is an imprint of Mesorah Publications known for English-language editions of Jewish texts, including the Schottenstein Talmud and the Stone Chumash.
Also written: Art Scroll, ArtScroll Mesorah
ArtScroll editions are distinctive for placing an English elucidation alongside the original text, which made works like the Talmud accessible to readers without the background to study them in the original. The Schottenstein Talmud is the best known of these: its first volume, on tractate Makkos, appeared in 1990, and the English edition was completed in 2005 across 73 volumes. It is one of the most frequently bought and resold seforim sets in the English-speaking Jewish world.
As a search term, the publisher name often stands in for the format. Someone searching for 'ArtScroll Gemara' is usually describing what they want the volume to look like inside — original text with facing elucidation — rather than naming a specific tractate.
Sources
- Schottenstein Edition of the Babylonian Talmud — 73 volumes; first volume 1990, English edition completed 2005
Related terms
- Shas — Shas is the complete Talmud — an acronym for Shisha Sidrei Mishnah, the six orders of the Mishnah — usually sold as a multi-volume bound set.
- Chumash — A Chumash is a printed volume of the Five Books of Moses, named from the Hebrew word for five, usually including commentary and the haftaros read on Shabbos and festivals.
- Feldheim — Feldheim Publishers is a long-established publisher of English-language and Hebrew Jewish books, covering classic works, halacha, mussar, and general Jewish literature.