The Jewish Press: Why should someone buy the Steinsaltz Talmud over ArtScroll’s immensely popular Shas?Read it all for lots more on Rabbi Steinsaltz and his Talmud translations. And his detective novels.
Rabbi Steinsaltz: Look, it’s not the same. I would put it in the following way: When you learn from my Gemara, I hope that you get a kick to learn further, and that you don’t feel that you know everything and that all the problems are answered.
Does the ArtScroll Shas not do that as well?
I think ArtScroll gives too much in a way. Everything is in there. I’m trying to have it in a way that you study and want more.
Basically I want, not just that you will look at the Gemara, but that you will get involved in it. You cannot learn Gemara completely passively. You have to be a participant.
There are two parts to what Hillel HaZaken said about kol haTorah kulah. One part is always quoted – “What you don’t want done to you, don’t do to others.” But the other part – “And all the rest go and learn” – is no less important.
I hope to have people who will learn and say, “We want to know more, we have more questions.”
Speaking of the Artscroll Talmud, at Hirhurim - Torah Musings, Rabbi Gil Student has a review of the new English translation of the Steinsaltz Talmud with the Artscroll version: Koren Steinsaltz Talmud. Excerpt:
Which edition is better? It depends what you are looking for. Even seasoned scholars can gain from the Artscroll’s commentary. Koren Steinsaltz’s commentary offers much less to such people.(Via the Talmud Blog on FB).
People looking for a good translation that will help them master the Talmud itself will certainly prefer the Koren Steinsaltz. It is less of a crutch and more of a tool, specifically designed to offer students entry to Talmud study, to ask questions and to find for themselves a friend and a teacher with whom to advance their study.
For more on Rabbi Steinsaltz and the Steinsaltz Talmud, see here with many links. For more on the Artscroll/Schottenstein Talmud see the relevant paragraphs in this post and the links that follow. And note the reference there to the earlier Soncino and Neusner translations.