Adin Steinsaltz

Adin Steinsaltz

Founder, The Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications

For more than 40 years, “On Faith” panelist Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz has devoted himself to the monumental undertaking of translating and reinterpreting the Talmud, the vast collection of rabbinic writings that constitute Jewish civil and religious laws. Steinsaltz, who lives in Jerusalem, began this task in 1965, when he founded The Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications. The Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud, of which 37 volumes have been published so far, has made the Talmud accessible to tens of thousands of Hebrew speakers. In 1989, he began producing an English edition of 22 volumes. Since 1994, 15 volumes have been published in French, and four have appeared in Russian. The Talmud project has been described as the most important Jewish publication endeavor of the 20 th Century. Steinsaltz has written some 60 books and hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including Hasidism and the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah. One of his most popular books is The Thirteen Petalled Rose , which he describes as “a little book for the soul.” In 1989, Steinsaltz established a Russian branch of Mekor Chaim--the first Jewish institution to receive official recognition in the former Soviet Union . He also founded the Aleph Society, and the Mekor Chaim Educational Institutions. In 1988, Steinsaltz received the prestigious Israel Prize--his nation's highest honor. He has lectured at major universities and research institutions in the United States and Europe, including Princeton University , Yale University , Columbia University , the Woodrow Wilson Center , Oxford University and the Sorbonne. Close.

Adin Steinsaltz

Founder, The Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications

For more than 40 years, “On Faith” panelist Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz has devoted himself to the monumental undertaking of translating and reinterpreting the Talmud, the vast collection of rabbinic writings that constitute Jewish civil and religious laws. more »

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An Unending Attempt to Reach More

On a personal level, I am not very satisfied with where I am in my life. To some extent, it is my personality never to be satisfied with any situation or achievement; whatever I have achieved in the past, there are always new horizons to conquer. To put it metaphorically: in mountain climbing, the higher up you are, the wider and more distant the horizons become. As such, my achievements simply mean that the horizon is broadening, and therefore the distance to get there grows ever farther.

The whole notion of being satisfied is, in essence, a non-religious, or perhaps even anti-religious, attitude. Our main goal as human beings is not to reach a certain position or situation; the goal is always infinity. Therefore, the more you know and the more you grow, the more you realize that you are always at a distance, and you can never be satisfied because the distance always remains infinite.

If one decides that he has achieved something worthwhile, something he can remain with, it is an indication of some kind of failure or weakness of character, because the drive to go further and reach higher should always be there. The struggle should never subside.

Life is an unending attempt to reach more, to achieve more, to get more. Our efforts come to an end when we die, but as long as we are alive, we cannot be satisfied. We cannot remain in the same situation. At times we are simply too weak or too frail to do very much about it, but the fact that we cannot do things does not mean that we are satisfied.

It is an unpleasant situation which is not a matter of our choosing, but is rather thrust upon us. To quote a well-known Jewish saying from Ecclesiastes Rabbah: "One who has 100 wants 200; one who has 200 wants 400.” The more you have, the more your dreams and ideas grow. And the gap continues to grow with time and with anything and everything that you achieve.

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