Mi Yodeya is a question and answer site for those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I try to understand the difference between two Chumash:
Kehot Chumash Synagogue Edition
Gutnick Chumash Synagogue Edition
What is the main difference and which one is recommended for use by Chabad Lubavitch? (Assuming that a person doesn’t know Hebrew yet)
Kehot is the official publishing body of Chabad.
The Gutnick Chumash (published by kol Menachem) is made by rabbi Chaim miller who is a Lubavitcher.
Each one has its advantages and drawbacks. But overall I find they are relatively similar but that the kehot one does a better job at translating and helping to understand the basic Chumash. But the Gutnick one tends to be more popular.
Both translations attempt to weave the interpretation of rashi into the text so what you get is not a word-for-word translation of the hebrew text of the torah. Not to say that it's ideal to interpret the torah literally, but what you get is a watered-down, one-sided view of the torah and rashi's interpretation according to the view of the translator which i consider to be a downside. The gutnick chumash has a box with explanations of different passages, terms, or ideas presented in the torah according to various commentators which i think is kind of cool. Both have a running commentary based on the writings of the lubavitcher rebbe. As mentioned in the other answer they're both pretty similar, but kehot is the official publishing house of chabad. If i had to pick one I'd probably pick the gutnick but i would honestly find a different chumash if you wanted a more accurate or less biased translation. Of course all translations are biased but in this case it's very obvious and so fundamental to the translation it's hard to work around.
