6 replies to this topic

[Josh Barkin]

I'd like to hve an Acordance module of Rashi's commentary (to the Bible, although his Mishnah commentary would be nice, too) in Hebrew and English. To my knowledge, both are available in the public domain.

I'd ideally like to be able to set it up just like the Schocken notes to Fox's Torah translation, side-by-side with the traditional text.

While I'm dreaming, I'd also like Midrash Rabbah, Midrash Tankhumah, and the Talmud. (IMHO, having such texts available would make Accordance the premiere tool for Jewish scholars, who would have a lot to gain from Accordance's powerful interface, not to mention its built in hypertextuality.)

I'm a student at a Jewish seminary, and I'm constantly evangelizing my colleagues to the Accordance side. The first question they always ask is, "Wow, what a great tool. Does it have Rashi?"

[Helen Brown]

Josh:

Thank you for your support and encouragement. We do plan to get more classic Jewish texts and commentaries, and as a high priority we plan to release the JPS Torah Commentary Series.

[AlejandroBotta]

I strongly support Josh's request. I am really glad to hear about Accordance plans to release JPS commentaries! (next year? ) However, if Accordance wants to lead in the area of Jewish Studies, Rashi (Torah) and the Talmud should be made top priorities. Davka is already offering a collection of ready-to-use Hebrew/English Jewish texts (Talmud with Rashi, Siddur, Machzor, Passover Haggadah, and Kitzur Shulchan Aruch) in word processing format. There shoould be a way to "convert" those texts into Accordance. Artscroll published a beautiful edition of Rashi (Torah) with the support of the Mesorah Heritage Foundation. Perhaps we need a foundation to fund the production of these texts . The coming SBL meeting would be a nice place to ask scholars about their suggestions.

[Helen Brown]

We are not lacking for suggestions. Our problem is getting the rights to use the etexts. We have tried to arrange something with Davka, but failed. Perhaps our Hebrew scholars can have some influence in these circles.

[AlejandroBotta]

We are not lacking for suggestions. Our problem is getting the rights to use the etexts. We have tried to arrange something with Davka, but failed. Perhaps our Hebrew scholars can have some influence in these circles.

Could we begin some sort of list of people interested in getting more modules related to Jewish Studies in order to discuss what we think the most needed texts are?
Then we could create a preassure group and make an offer those people could not refuse....

[DavidKrishef]

We are not lacking for suggestions. Our problem is getting the rights to use the etexts. We have tried to arrange something with Davka, but failed. Perhaps our Hebrew scholars can have some influence in these circles.

Could we begin some sort of list of people interested in getting more modules related to Jewish Studies in order to discuss what we think the most needed texts are?
Then we could create a preassure group and make an offer those people could not refuse....

If you are compiling a list of Accordance users who dream of having the set of Bar Ilan or even Davka Classics texts within the Accordance software, add me to the list.

David Krishef

[arnehalbakken]

Our problem is getting the rights to use the etexts. We have tried to arrange something with Davka, but failed.

Helen, have you checked into Mesorah Publications? http://mesorahpublications.com/

They have midrashic texts, etc. in digital format. (I'm not sure of they own the rights to those e-texts or not.)