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About Rashi
General
Rabbi Shlomo Yizhaki, better known by his initials, Rashi,
though no longer read and studied as widely and assiduously
as in previous generations, is still accepted as the authoritative
commentator on the Bible and Talmud. Rashi's commentaries
accomplished the remarkable feat of interpreting the Bible
in terms of eleventh-century Franco-German Jewry.
Rashi's role in the history of Jewish culture can best
be summed up in the words of the fourteenth-century Spanish
Rabbi Menahem ben Zerah, "(Rashi) wrote as if by divine
inspiration...Without him the Talmud would have been forgotten
in Israel." In spite of the widespread fame that Rashi
attained during his lifetime and the many studies of this
works by generations after him, precious little is known
about him as a person. |
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Early Life
Rashi was born in 1040 in Troyes,
the capital of Champagne in northern France. Rashi married young
and had three daughters. Like other scholars of his day who
were eager to pursue their education, Rashi traveled to Worms
and Mayence, centers of Jewish learning in Germany. After spending
eight years of study in Germany, he returned to his native city
of Troyes at the age of 25 where he began his lifelong career
of teaching and writing. Soon after, he organized a Talmudic
school of his own, and hundreds of students flocked to receive
the benefits of his vast erudition and distinctive method of
interpretation.
Relations with Non Jews
Though close social and ecomonic contacts existed between the
Jews and their non-Jewish environment, there was little common
ground in the area of religious and cultural ideas and practices.
Owing to strong spiritual and communal disciplines from within
and the rivalries between the political interests of the church
and state from without, Jews of Troyes and neighboring communities
enjoyed rights and privileges accorded to ecclesiastics, noblemen,
and the ruling counts vassals. They were free to choose their
residences, and rulers could not legally seize the property
of Jews who had decided to move to other locations. The Crusades
in 1096 brought an era of lawlessness and persecution and those
rights and privileges were curtailed. The Crusades also renewed
disputes with Jews in regard to the merits of Judaism and Christianity.
Traditionalist and Realist
Rashi's commentaries and writings reveal familiarity not only
with the wine industry in which he engaged but also with such
subjects as carving, engraving, falconry, fishing and bee husbandry,
glasswork, botany, ship repairs, and military affairs. This
wide range of interest undoubtedly contributed to what might
be described as Rashi's pragmatic and wholesome views on a number
of questions of Jewish law and practice.
Major Contributions
The secret of Rashi's influence is to be sought chiefly in his
methods and skills as a commentator and teacher. Rashi's contribution
consists in his blending of both peshats, literal exegesis,
combinded with derash,free interpretation and homiletic comment.
Also when Rashi was in doubt as to whether his contemporaries
would understand a certain Hebrew or Aramaic term, he did not
hesitate to translate it into French. He used some three thousand
French words, which have been studied by scholars of Romance
languages as an important source of information about the French
language of the eleventh century.
From
"Rashi" by Samuel Blumenthal, in: Great Jewish Personalities
in Ancient and Medieval Times.
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