Chofetz Chaim in English

The house of Israel, by Rabbi Israel Meir Kahan (Chofetz Chaim). Publication Committee for the Works of Rabbi Israel Meir Kahan of Radun.

The public mention of the name of a man renowned and beloved among his people—be he a Mendele, a Tagore or a Rambam—always arouses an active desire in many persons, especially such as meet the name for the first time, to learn more of the life and works of that individual.

Thus, when the Chofetz Chaim died, a little more than a year ago, there were many first and second generation American Jews who, as they read the obituary articles, regretted that the works of the great sage were not available in English.

For there was much that was appealing about the Chofetz Chaim. There was his fabulous age—103, some said. There were the stories of his refusal to accept any title, honor or paid position. And there was his own description of himself as a “simple Jew, believing and following what the Torah says, and nothing more.”

Milton Feist and the Publication Committee which has set itself the task of providing English translations of the ethical and devotional works of the late Rabbi of Radun have come to the aid of those of us who must read Jewish literature in English.

Their first volume, “The House of Israel,” is, from what we know of the life of the Chofetz Chaim, no doubt a representative specimen of his work. That it was well worth doing into English is indisputable. For while constantly recalling the cadences of the language in which it was originally written, the book remains, in translation, a sensitively put, unpretentious and sincere code for the ordinary religious man, touching as it does upon prayer, the Sabbath, the Torah, the life of the Jewish family and the dissension within Israel.

The book contains an introduction by the translator, an appreciation of the Chofetz Chaim, by Chief Rabbi Kook of Palestine, and a Hebrew foreward by Rabbi J. M. Mereminsky. The original text is printed along with the translation.

Eva Dobkin.