The Jewish Audio Bible

By: Rabbi Chaim Miller - translator

Narrated by: Dan Lenard

The Five Books of Moses, with Readings from the Prophets (Haftarah Cycle) and Introductions

The Jewish Audio Bible is a masterful delivery of the Kol Menachem Chumash (Gutnick Edition) - a much loved, best-selling translation of the Five Books of Moses, with readings from the Prophets (Haftarah cycle). The Jewish Audio Bible skillfully weaves classic Rabbinic interpretations into the translation, offering a timeless perception of the sacred text's multiple layers. Enjoy hours of inspirational learning, with this soul-stirring audio presentation by one of America's most talented voice artists.

©2009 Kol Menachem (P)2009 Kol Menachem

Caution; contains editorial remarks

This a really good reading...however, I have to give it 3 stars with a caution, Please do not think this is only the Jewish bible. It also contains commentary that is not generally agreed upon but is this author's and a minority's interpretation.
Unfortunately, this is not clearly stated. I feel it misleads the reader/listener.
This is compounded by the fact that some editorial thoughts are included in the beginning of each section (which I found useful and thought provoking) and commentary is mixed in with the translation so the average listener does not know what is the transliteration and what is the authors added comments. I only know because I listen to this side by side with the generally accepted translation done by JPS and I read the Jewish Bible.
This narration is very good and the work is good. They should have done a better job letting the reader know what is their opinion and what is the direct translation. It is bad enough in some places when they add who sentences to what people say that was actually not said.

Easy to listen to and understand.

I particularly like that the sections are in very easy English. The musical breaks between sections make it very pleasant to listen to. I'm really enjoying my purchase.

You Just Hit the Mother Lode

What made the experience of listening to The Jewish Audio Bible the most enjoyable?

I was able to hear the closest modern English translation of the original Hebrew, with the correct pronunciations of names, cities and events. It's not like it varies tremendously from the "standard" bible. But it adds another layer that just doesn't come out in a traditional protestant or Catholic bible. If you really want to hear the true bible that is often called the Old Testament, get the Jewish Audio Bible. You will not regret it.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Hey Gentiles! Here's the real deal!

The simpleton English diminished it.

What did you like best about The Jewish Audio Bible? What did you like least?

Dan Leonard's voice is nice.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

This translation uses very colloquial,common English I guess the reason for that was to make it more understandable to someone with a second grade vocabulary or has some sort of cognition defect. So it seems a little comical that G-d would say thinks like "get going!" I guess I am used to the torah being translated with archaic words like "Thou, art, hast. etc." This translation does abolish that sort of thing. The very basic vocab made the text tedious and repetitive. I would also have gotten rid of the advertising too!

Have you listened to any of Dan Lenard’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Any additional comments?

I had never really read the whole Torah before and I was able to get through it with this audiobook but....it wan't easy. It was like forcing my self to finish the vegetables on my plate.

1/3 to 1/4 of the time is a repeating commercial

Wow I’m tired of hearing about the other books available from the publisher. Ever 4-6 minute chapter contains about two minutes of commercial. It’s ridiculous and falsely inflated the overall time of the reading and commentary.

Aside from that, I am not Jewish so I can not speak to the accuracy or similar. I found the narrator easy to listen to and understand.

What Were They Thinking?

What disappointed you about The Jewish Audio Bible?

As an Orthodox Jew, I expected better. Cheesy elevator music between each chapter along with a narrator that often uses an immature "angry" voice for the voice of G-d completely ruined it for me. Why can't he just read the Torah in a mono-tone voice? That's all I wanted. No music needed. No acting needed.

Are the producers the most important part?

The Audio book is ok. Not great but ok. However, it is really annoying that before every paragraph the producers are listed for 30 seconds and then again for about 40 seconds at the end. So there are about 100 paragraphs and more than 1.5 hours is just listing the producers again and again. Even when fast forwarding it's starts to go on your nerves after some time.

Extra

I don't understand the extra information that I have not seen in the Torah about eve having Cain before the fall and mentioning twin sisters? I don't see that anywhere in any bible nor the Torah. Confused.

Editorial comments

I was looking for just the text but there are editorial comments from a particular perspective which I found unwanted and distracting

I stopped listening very quickly and found a different version with (I hope) just the text

terrable

This book is not enjoyable. Instead of being continuous the book is broken up with music after every chapter and the book intro with the stats of the authors the narrator and translation credits being played after every event. I don't like it at all.