Commentators:R. Shelomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)/0

R. Shelomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

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See also: Rashi's Torah Commentary

Rashi

Name	Rashi, R. Shlomo Yitzchaki, רש"י, ר' שלמה יצחקי
Dates	1040 – 1105
Location	France
Works	Commentaries on Tanakh and Talmud, Sifrut Debei Rashi
Exegetical Characteristics
Influenced by	R. Yaakov ben Yakar, R. Yitzchak HaLevi, R. Yitzchak ben Yehuda
Impacted on	Everyone

Background

Life

• Name – R. Shelomo b. Yitzchak (ר' שלמה בן יצחק), of which Rashi (רש"י) is an acronym.
• Dates – c. 1040¹ – July 13, 1105.²
• Location – Rashi lived for most of his life in Troyes, although he studied in both Mainz and Worms.
• Occupation – 
• Family – Rashi’s uncle, the brother of his mother, was ר' שמעון הזקן, a student of R. Gershom. Rashi had four daughters: Yocheved, Miriam, Rachel,³ and a daughter who died during Rashi's lifetime.⁴ Yocheved married R. Meir b. Shemuel, and had four sons (Rashbam, R. Tam, R. Yitzchak, and Shelomo) and one daughter⁵. Miriam married R. Yehuda b. Natan (Rivan), and had a son named R. Yom Tov.
• Teachers – Rashi studied at Mainz under R. Yaakov b. Yakar, and following R. Yaakov's death in 1064, he learned under R. Yitzchak b. Yehuda. He then moved to Worms, and studied under R. Yitzchak HaLevi. All of his teachers were students of R. Gershom.
• Contemporaries – 
• Students – R. Yosef Kara, Rashi's son-in-law R. Yehuda b. Natan, Rashi’s grandsons Rashbam and R. Tam, his secretary R. Shemayah, R. Simcha MiVitri.
• Time period – 
  • –
• World outlook – 

Works

• Biblical commentaries – Rashi wrote commentaries on all of Tanakh.
• Rabbinics
  
  • Talmudic commentaries – Rashi wrote commentaries on most, if not all,⁶ of the tractates of the Talmud Bavli.
  • Halakhic codes – Rashi did not write any halakhic codes himself. However, his students did author a number of halakhic works based on his teachings, including Machzor Vitri, Siddur Rashi, Sefer HaPardes, Sefer HaOreh, and others.
  • Responsa – In modern times, some of Rashi's surviving responsa were collected into a single work.⁷
• Piyyutim – Rashi wrote a number of piyyutim. Although we don't know of any commentaries on piyyutim that Rashi wrote himself, his exegesis was incorporated into R. Shemayah's commentaries on the piyyutim.
• Misattributed works – Commentaries on the end of Iyyov (from Iyyov 40:25 onward), Ezra, Nechemyah, and Divrei HaYamim; Commentaries on Moed Katan, Ta'anit, Nedarim, Nazir, and Horayot.

Torah Commentary

Characteristics

• Verse by verse / Topical – Rashi's Torah commentary is a local, verse by verse commentary, marked by its succinct and clear style.
• Genre – 
• Structure – 
• Language – 
• Peshat and derash – Rashi lays out his attitude towards Peshat and Derash in a number of programmatic statements, perhaps the most important being his comments to Bereshit 3:8, where he writes: " יש מדרשי אגדה רבים... ואני לא באתי אלא לפשוטו של מקרא, לאגדה המישבת דברי המקרא, ופשוטו ושמועתו, דבר דבור על אופני".  [See also his introduction to Shir HaShirim, and his comments to Bereshit 49:22, Shemot 6:9, Shemot 23:2 and Yeshayahu 26:11 where he writes similarly.]  Rashi appears to be saying that his main goal is to explain the simple sense of scripture, and that he will incorporate Midrashic material only if it helps achieve that goal and is harmonious with the verses.    [noet that based on yesh 26:11 " ואינן מיושבין או על דיקדוק הלשון או על סדר המקראות" he means that the midrash chosen should fit with the syntax /grammar,  and context of the evrse]
  As even a quick glance at Rashi's commentary betrays that much of it stems from Midrashic sources, Rashi's supercommentaries and modern scholars debate how to read Rashi's statement and to what extent he achieved the stated goal.  
  ·         According to some, Rashi statement should be taken at face value and Rashi should be viewed as a pure exegete who brings derashic explanations only when they serve to answer a textual or conceptual peshat-oriented question. [See משכיל לדוד לר' דוד פרדו ויקרא ה':י"ז who writes, "---".  Among modern scholars Nechama Lebowitz most famously takes this position, writing, " Rashi enlists midrashim only when they respond to a question which arises from the text of the verse, when they resolve a difficulty, solve a problem or fill in a gap — i.e., when they help the reader to understand the text written. He does not cite midrashim in order to decorate the words of the Torah with pearls of rabbinic wisdom, nor does he bring them for a mere sermon, a moral lesson or anything of that sort " See נחמה ליבוביץ' ומשה ארנד, פירושי רש"י לתורה, עיונים בשיטתו, ב, תל אביב תש"ן עמוד 460] [see Moshe Ahrend Machanayim for examples of places where some might have said that this is "pure midrash" but how nonetheless can see ho it fits "with the mag" of the verse and is motivated by sometextual etc question.  Also brings ex where brings both peshat and derash to show that need both cuz peshat alone no suffice…]
  ·         Others disagree suggesting that sometimes Rashi will incorporate midrashim only for their pedagogic value, even when there is no textual difficulty. [See ספר זכרון על פירוש רש"י לר' אברהם בקראט דברים י"ג:ט, Mizrachi Bereshit 12:1.Beer Yitzchak Ber 42:2  Among modern scholars, see A. Grossman 195 in chakhmei tzrfat / pirkei nechama--- who believes that Rashi sometimes brings midrashic material due to religious polemics or for its moral messages.  For example, --- See article by nevo who quotes supercommentaries and scholars]
  ·         It is also possible that Rashi aimed to explain the text according "פשוטו של מקרא", but did not totally achieve his goal.  See Rashbam Bereshit 37:2 " והודה לי שאילו היה לו פנאי היה צריך לעשות פרושים אחרים לפי הפשטות המתחדשים בכל יום".  Ibn Ezra : "והדורות הבאים שמו כל דרש עיקר ושרש כרב שלמה ז"ל שפירש התורה, נביאים וכתובים, על דרך דרש והוא חושב  כי הוא על דרך פשט, ואין בספריו פשט רק אחד מני אלף ..."

Methods

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Themes

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Textual Issues

• Manuscripts – 
• Printings – 
• Textual layers – 

Sources

Significant Influences

• Earlier Sources – 
• Teachers – 
• Foils – 

Occasional Usage

• –

Possible Relationship

• –

Impact

Later exegetes

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Supercommentaries

• –

¹ Maharshal in Responsum #29 states that Rashi was born in year 4800 (1039-1040). A. Grossman (חכמי צרפת הראשונים, pg. 122), however, cites manuscripts (MS Jerusalem 3616, MS Zurich Heid. 145 p. 71v) who date Rashi's birth to year 4801 (1040-1041), and explains the Maharshal's date, as well as the age at death of 65 (mentioned in various sources), to be round numbers.

² This date, Thursday, 29 Tammuz 4865, is found in the colophons of a number of manuscripts of Rashi’s commentary on Torah (MS Casanatense 2848, MS Parma 3115), in addition to a number of other early sources (including MS Moscow 109 p. 73).

³ Rachel is mentioned in a responsa written by R. Tam (Sefer HaYashar Teshuvot #25) to his cousin R. Yom Tov, referring to their join aunt Rachel ("מרת רחל דודתנו"), who had been divorced.

⁴ Sefer HaNeyyar (Hilkhot Chol HaMoed pg. 110) mentions Rashi mourning for his daughter during Chol HaMoed.

⁵ This granddaughter of Rashi was the mother of R. Yitzchak b. Shemuel, known as ר"י הזקן.

⁶ Rashi's commentaries on Ta'anit, Nedarim, Nazir, Bava Batra (from 29b onward), and Makkot (from 20a onward) have not survived.

⁷ These responsa were collected mainly from the works of Rashi's students.