In his second lecture for Torah in Motion on the Chatam Sofer, professor Marc B. Shapiro says: “The Chatam Sofer gave his approval for the Talmud to be translated into German. What were the objections of the other rabbis? They said that there are parts of the Talmud that we don’t want non-Jews to see. This is an old issue. The Chatam Sofer was the only one who gave permission for this until modern times. It’s amazing that Artscroll got away with their translation. Supposedly Rav Shach was ready to ban it but the American rabbis prevailed against him.”
“What are the halachot (Jewish laws) and aggadot (teachings) that we don’t want the non-Jews to see? The halachot are obvious. There are certain laws that discriminate against non-Jews. Some have been taken out of the Talmud. Aggadah is even more problematic. The non-Jews made fun of aggadah. They saw these wild stories and used them to mock the Jews as idiots. Therefore, you didn’t want to give them ammunition.”
The Rav opposed translated aggadot.
“These translations [historically] were written for non-Jews. They were not written for Jews who were ignorant. They wanted to show the non-Jewish world that this was an important text. The Chatam Sofer received several such letters and confessed that he made a mistake. He withdrew his approval. Rather than hurting his reputation, it increased it.”
“It seems that some of the [Artscroll] translations taking place now are taking place because of institutional inertia. It’s like a non-profit foundation exists and people’s livelihood depend on this so it is make-work.”
