The People's Bible

I just came upon a website promoting The People's Bible. I have not heard of this translation before. Here is some information about its author, Rabbi Sidney Brichto:

I come from an Othodox Jewish background and was raised with a love for the bible and my literary heritage. I decided that there were many dimensions to human spiritual aspirations and that it was not reasonable to assume that any person or group had a monopoly on the 'word of God'. I became a Liberal Rabbi because it enabled me to hold on to the foundations of my faith without compelling me to surrender my free will. This view has enabled me to appreciate the faiths of others whether they were fundamental or radical. Also I could see that different spiritual faiths reflected different aspects of human psychological and religious needs, I have an enormous respect for Christianity, Islam and all the religions whose existance over hundred and thousands of years prove that they have successfully tapped into the nature of the human soul. For this reason I have written and been involved in ecumenical discussions and debates which reveal the similarites differences in human perspectives which has led to such an enrichment of civilisation.

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I have read the Old Testament many times, but in the course of translating the bible to make it more accessable I have, myself, learned so much. This I think was due to reading it not with a need to rationalise it as my religous heritage, but as a library of books which reveal so much about the nature of men and women, and their aspirations for a purpose in life, whether or not one believed in the sanctity of its origins.

As to the New Testament, this is the first time, I believe, that a Rabbi has ever translated it. I did so because I felt that as a Jew, I would have a different insight into the birth of Chrisitianity, than would Christians who were, so to speak, to the religion born. Already my translation of Luke & the Acts of the Apostles and the completion of my first draft of The Letters of Paul have given me a greater appreciation fo the revolutionary genius which led to the domination of Christianity in Western culture. Indeed I also now feel, and I direct this to my Jewish readers, that one cannot properly understand Judaism without understanding Christianity. They both present radically different, but equally valid methods for achieving a world living in harmony and peace.

Several books of the Bible translated by Rabbi Brichto can be purchased at amazon.co.uk or amazon.com.

Shabbat Shalom.