The Kestenbaum Edition Tikkun: The Torah Reader's Compendium Hardcover – April 1, 2002

Good formatting, proper translation, insightful commentary

This tikkun has excellent layout and content. Particularly notable is that the column which includes the vowels (nikkud) uses a font similar to the appearance of a torah scroll and has the exact same words on each line as are in the corresponding column of torah script. These features greatly simplify the transition from practicing with the vowels and cantillations to chanting the torah script. The orthography of the nikkud kamatz shows the user how to distinguish the variant sounds of this vowel in some traditions -- a major help.Interesting additional content includes: All the haftarot, including those for special occasions, along with an explanation above the "normal" haftarah telling what changes are to be made for special occasions. The torah commentary is primarily about the text itself (rather than the meaning of the text) and contains valuable information that is very difficult to obtain from any other source if you are curious about strange symbols and variations in the Torah script.The Amazon price is much lower than the publisher's price, especially if you are in a location that qualifies for free shipping from Amazon.

As a b'nai mitzvah teacher I love this tikkun. It's much easier to read (the printing is clear) than the tickkun I had before. It marks which schwas are vocal, so you don't have to apply the rules to figure it out. I especially like having the English translation laid out exactly parallel on the page with the Hebrew. And it's helpful to have the Hebrew laid out the way your scroll might be. (we have some older scrolls that aren't laid out this way). You do have to accept the fact that it's sexist and assumes girls can't become bat mitzvah and read the Torah, but it's technical aspects are great.

Thank you B"H

As with all Artscroll products, this was very well produced, with nicely worked embossing and gold inlay on the front leather. The Tikkun was needed for a bat mitzvah, and it did the job handsomely. My former synagogue had the use of this exact same Tikkun version, and it showed only minor wear after many years of weekly use. After nearly a year of personal ownership of this volume, it shows not a lick of wear. It has two ribbons, not the standard single one, and the printing is very high quality. The shipper or maker was kind enough to include a small and quite legible blessing in Hebrew inside the front cover, a truly kind, nice and unexpected gift. I could not afford it directly from the Artscroll website, and found it here for about half the price, a very affordable alternative when you cannot afford a sefer torah.

This tikkun is almost everything one could want in one place for studying to read Torah. It begins with an explanation from the author as to how it was developed, and it also contains the blessings for Torah and Haftorah readings. All parshiot are indexed in a table with their corresponding haftarot as well as reading for special occasions. The most notable feature is it's layout: It has three columns of print. English is on the left page and two fonts of Hebrew (STaM and Masoretic) are on the right. This allows the reader to cross-reference as they study. Additionally, one feature that's particularly nice--and absent from many other versions--is that all three columns reflect each other with regards to position. What I mean by that is that what you're reading in the English is straight across in the Hebrew; no searching up and down. Also, both the STaM and vowelized text are in identical positions in relation to each other. A word in the vowelized Hebrew is on the same line as it is in the Torah script. Again, this makes cross-referencing a breeze.The only down side I see to this tikkun is the STaM text doesn't match the positioning in an actual Torah scroll like some do. While this may be a minor inconvenience, it does effectively eliminate this particular tikkun as a viable reference for locating one's position in the scroll.All that said, I can't help but say that this tikkun is a beautiful work of art and a valuable resource, especially for the beginning Torah reader. I would recommend it to anyone, especially for a bar/bat mitzvah student.

This has been an essential learning item / resource in my home as I learn trope. Is this something to haul around everywhere? No, definitely not, but if you sit down with it at a desk or table and understand how vital it is for learning, it goes from cumbersome to wonderful. I really do not regret this purchase and would highly recommend it for the bar or bat mitzvah student in your life and definitely for adults learning trope!

My sons and I have been using this tikun for a wile. It is helpfull to have the translation line by line, more or less corresponding to the same line on the hebrew side.Part of the commentary remarks on the placement and reason for use of certain trope marks in a specific place over a word. It explains how it is different from tropemarks on the same word in other places in the Torah, and how it effects the meaning of the word.The only minus points are that it is very heavy, so you don't want to travel with it, and the line up of the text is not always the same as in the scroll.