The New Artscroll Mishnayos: Product Recommendation

Question

In addition to their (rather expensive and extremely expansive) Yad Avraham series, Artscroll is now publishing a Schottenstein Edition of the Mishna.

Both versions (Yad Avraham and Schottenstein) exist in a Hebrew edition as well as in an English edition.

I have been using the English Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud Bavli lately, and find that it has been of inestimable value in improving my study (and chazorah) of gemara. Has anybody here used either of these Artscroll Mishna commentaries?

What I would like is (if at all possible) a comprehensive breakdown of Artscroll's "Mishnayos", for the purposes of comparison. Are they comprehensive? Easy to read? Easy on the eyes?

Effectively, would you recommend one of them over the other, and why?

Answer 1

I have learned the entire Mishna based on the Yad Avraham series in English. I also own much of the newer Schottenstein Edition of the Mishna. Here are a few thoughts

• I found the introductions to each tractate to be incredibly well done and useful. Just reviewing the introductions to all tractates would be in itself wonderful learning. I compared the introductions to Brachot and it is somewhat more detailed in the Yad Avraham edition
• The commentary in the Yad Avraham edition is very very very (!) detailed. It was too much for me when learning the text but is obviously what you want if you are interested to go in depth in certain places
• The translation between both is very different. Yad Avraham translates the English "in one go", like the Stone Chumash does, while Schottenstein has the literal translation a few words, then a few words of explanation to make it a running text, then again literal translation. Exactly as the elucidation of the Talmud Bavli you refer to. The latter (Schottenstein) is far more readable and avoids to constantly need to refer to the notes
• The Yad Avraham has 44 volumes, the new Schottenstein has 21. In the introduction to Schottenstein, artscroll themselves address the difference between them. They write

The Yad Avraham is an encyclopedic, in-depth commentary that presents many explanations and explores nuances and complexities, raises questions and cites a wide variety of works on the Mishnah and Talmud. Its thoroughness has won the praise of even masters of the Talmud throughout the world so that those who study and benefit from the Schottenstein edition may turn to the Yad Avraham commentary when they wish to delve into the nuances of the Mishna more deeply and explore a wider range of comments. Thus, in effect, the two editions complement each other

When I learn the Mishna again from beginning to the end, I plan to use the Schottenstein edition.

Finally, note that

• I bought the "personal size" (small size) full set which retails for 500$ but can regularly be bought at an additional discount of 10-20% when artscroll runs a sale. You can also buy one order of the mishna now to start learning and buy the others when the discounts start
• The Schottenstein is about 30% cheaper (4 sets of Zeraim, Moed, Nezikin, Nashim are about 200$ vs 290$ for Yad Avraham)