Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, who brought the Talmud within reach of millions, dies at 83

Adin Steinsaltz, an Israeli rabbi who devoted nearly a ­half-century to translating the Talmud for modern readers, an epic undertaking that unlocked for millions of people a foundational but often impenetrable Jewish text, died Aug. 7 in Jerusalem. He was 83.

His death was announced by the Steinsaltz Center in Israel, which describes as its mission “making a world of Jewish knowledge accessible to all,” and was reported in publications including the Jerusalem Post, which said the rabbi had been hospitalized for a lung infection. In 2016, he had a stroke that left him unable to speak.