The first complete French translation of the Talmud is complete
The complete translation project of the Talmud was launched at the residence of the President in the presence of President Herzog and businessman and philanthropist Patrick Drahi
In a ceremony at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Israel marked the completion and publication of the first full French translation of the Babylonian Talmud. The project is based on the landmark commentary of the late Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz and funded by the Patrick and Lina Drahi Foundation.
The date was not chosen by coincidence. The ceremony fell on the 9th of Tammuz, exactly 782 years after the Paris Disputation of 1242, which ended with King Louis IX ordering the burning of thousands of Talmud volumes and Jewish manuscripts in the city's public square. Marking the launch on that same date was a deliberate act of historical closure.
President Isaac Herzog, who hosted the event alongside businessman and philanthropist Patrick Drahi, called the translation "a gateway to making the Talmud accessible to the entire world." The project is expected to open Talmudic study to millions of French speakers across France, Belgium, North Africa, Canada, and Israel's own French-speaking immigrant community.
The translation builds on Rabbi Steinsaltz's pioneering method, developed over nearly five decades and guided by his conviction that "the Torah is the inheritance of every Jew." Steinsaltz restructured the traditional page layout, divided the text into paragraphs, vocalized the Aramaic, and added scientific, historical, and biographical commentary, making the Talmud's dense Amoraic discussions accessible to the modern reader. He passed away in 2020, having received the Israel Prize for his work.
Drahi, whose foundation financed the project, reflected on what the Talmud's culture of debate might offer the wider world: "Dispute is an inseparable part of the Talmud, and in the Talmud it leads to mutual enrichment. I hope this edition will also contribute to our ability to listen to the voice of the other."
Rabbi Meni Even-Israel, the rabbi's son and CEO of the Steinsaltz Center, framed the publication in broader terms: "Today's event marks the continuity and eternity of the Torah of Israel and the people of Israel."
Disclosure: The Drahi family, which leads the Patrick and Lina Drahi Foundation, owns i24NEWS.