The Etz Hayim contains the Hebrew text of the Torah, it contains the Jewish Publication Society (JPS)'s modern English translation of the Hebrew text, it contains a number of commentaries, written in English, on the Torah which run alongside the Hebrew text and its English translation, and it also contains a number of essays on the Torah and Tanach in the back of the book. The Etz Hayim contains three types of commentary: the p'shat which discusses the literal meaning of the text, the drash which draws on Talmudic, Medieval, Chassidic, and Modern Jewish sources to expound on the deeper meaning of the text, and the halacha l'maaseh which explains how the text relates to current Jewish practice and Halacha, or Jewish law. The essays in the back cover a wide range of topics, from Kashrut to e