The Jewish Eye - The Complete ArtScroll Machzor for Rosh Hashanah: Large Print Edition

The Complete ArtScroll Machzor for Rosh Hashanah

The Complete ArtScroll Machzor for Rosh Hashanah
The Weinberg Foundation Large Type Edition - Nusach Ashkenaz
A new translation and anthologized commentary By Rabbi Nosson Scherman, and Co-edited by Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz
Mesorah Publications, Ltd., (1994)
ISBN: 0-89906-723-9

Reviewed by Rochelle Caviness:

Rosh Hashanah is rapidly approaching. If you, or a family member, suffers from low vision, or if you simply prefer the ease of reading offered by large print books, I highly recommend that you take a look at ArtScroll's large print Complete Machzor for Rosh Hashanah and its companion, the large print Machzor for Yom Kippur.

This beautifully bound, and organized holiday prayer book, will be a boon to the many people who have difficulty reading standard print. The main body of the text is printed in a clear, crisp, black, 18-point font. Commentaries are printed with a 16-point font. Throughout, the words are well spaced for ease of reading, and subject headers, titles, and other important navigation markers are printed in bold lettering. This prayer book is printed in vowelized Hebrew with the English translations on the facing pages. The book is right opening.

The Complete ArtScroll Machzor for Rosh Hashanah adheres to the Ashkenaz tradition, and it features an English translation by Rabbi Nosson Scherman. The text was co-edited by Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz. Rabbi Scherman's English translation is beautiful, and it captures the true essence of the Hebrew text.

This holiday prayer book includes instructional guidelines, and is enhanced by Rabbi Scherman's commentaries. These commentaries elucidate important aspects of the prayers, and explain specific aspects and traditions associated with the prayer service. If you are familiar with any of the other fine prayer books in the ArtScroll Mesorah Series, you will notice that this prayer book does not have as extensive a collection of commentaries as many other prayer books in this series. The main reason that the commentaries where kept at a minimum in this edition was to keep the prayer books down to a manageable size, without eliminating any of the text from the prayer book itself.

This Machzor covers the entire two-day Rosh Hashanah period. It includes all the customary prayers and services, such as the Minchah service for Erev Rosh Hashanah, Maariv (for both nights), Shacharis, Mussaf, and Minchah for both days, The Shofar Service, the Tashlich prayer, and the Maariv service for the conclusion of Yom Tov. Also included are the prayers for kindling the lights, and instructions on who should kindle the candles and when they should be lit. The text ends with a selection of laws and customs related to Rosh Hashanah, Verses, in Hebrew only, associated with peoples names, and transliterated versions of the Rabbis' and Mourner's Kaddish.

As with all the books in the ArtScroll Mesorah Series, this prayer book adheres to only the highest standards - in all aspects of its construction. This high standard includes not only the textual content, but also the quality of the printing and the binding. In addition the superb content and printing mentioned above, this prayer book is also very well made. It is very well bound and should stand up well to years of use. As well, a ribbon has been sewn into the binding so that you can easily mark your place. The hardcover edition, which was examined for the purposes of this review has a dark blue cover with gold embossed lettering. The ArtScroll Rosh Hashanah Machzor is also offered in a variety of leather bindings, including alligator, white, and maroon leather. This should enable you to easily find an edition whose binding matches that of your existing collection of Holy books.

This large type edition of the ArtScroll Rosh Hashanah Machzor was made possible by a grant from The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. It was also made possible by the Mesorah Heritage Foundation's sponsorship of the scholarly work needed to bring such a monumental work to fruition. The Weinberg Foundation also made possible the publication of a large type edition of the ArtScroll Yom Kippur Machzor, which matches the Rosh Hashanah Machzor. Combined, this two-volume set offers readers a unified, and complete set of Machzorim for the High Holy Days.

Related Reviews:

The Complete ArtScroll Machzor for Yom Kippur, by Rabbi Nosson Scherman and Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz.
The Weinberg Foundation's large type edition of the ArtScroll Yom Kippur Machzor, offers the complete text of the standard print Yom Kippur Machzor, with abridged commentaries. Text is presented in vowelized Hebrew with English translations on the facing pages.
Artscroll Sabbath and Festivals Siddur, edited by Rabbi Nosson Scherman
The Nusach Ashkenaz edition of the Weinberg Foundation Large Type Edition of the Artscroll Sabbath and Festivals Siddur featuring a new translation and anthologized commentary by Rabbi Scherman.

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