Commentators:R. Shemuel b. Meir (Rashbam)/0

R. Shemuel b. Meir (Rashbam)

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Rashbam

Name	R. Shemuel b. Meir ר' שמואל בן מאיר, רשב"ם
Dates	1085-1174
Location	France
Works	Tanakh and Talmud commentaries
Exegetical Characteristics
Influenced by	Rashi, his father R. Meir
Impacted on	R. Eliezer of Beaugency, R. Yosef Bekhor Shor

Background

Life

• Name – 
  • Hebrew name – R. Shemuel b. Meir (ר' שמואל בן מאיר), of which Rashbam (רשב"ם) is an acronym.
• Dates – c.1085¹ – c.1174.²
• Location – Rashbam lived in cities in Northern France including Troyes, Ramerupt, Paris, Caen, and Loudun.³
• Occupation – Rashbam had a flock of ewes, which provided milk and wool.⁴
• Family – Rashbam was the grandson of Rashi⁵ and the son of R. Meir.⁶ His brothers were R. Yitzchak and R. Tam. He had a daughter Marona and perhaps a son Yosef.⁷
• Teachers – 
• Contemporaries – 
• Students – 
• Time period
  • –

Works

• Biblical commentaries – Rashbam wrote a commentary on most or all of Tanakh. See below regarding his Torah commentary.⁸ Commentaries of Rashbam on Tehillim, Iyyov, Kohelet, and Shir HaShirim have recently been published, but his authorship of these works is disputed. Citations from Rashbam's commentaries on Neviim and Ketuvim also survived in the Arugat HaBosem of R. Avraham b. Azriel and in some Northern French commentaries.
• Grammar – 
• Rabbinics – 
  • Talmudic novellae – Rashbam wrote commentaries on the tenth chapter of Pesachim and on Bava Batra 29a through the end⁹ in order to complete missing sections of Rashi's commentary. In addition Rashbam wrote commentaries on Eiruvin,¹⁰ Gittin,¹¹ Bava Kama,¹² other sections of Bava Batra,¹³ and Niddah¹⁴ which are not extant, but are cited by other commentaries.
  • Halakhic codes – 
  • Responses to the works of others – 
  • Responsa – 
• Jewish thought – 
• Commonly misattributed to Rashbam – 

Torah Commentary

Textual Issues

• Manuscripts – Rashbam's commentary on Torah survived only in one manuscript, MS Breslau 103, and even this manuscript was lost during the Holocaust. This manuscript was missing the first three Parashot of Sefer Bereshit, Parashat Pinechas, and Devarim 33:3 through the end.¹⁵ Rashbam's commentary on Bereshit 1 was discovered by A. Geiger in MS Munich 5, and it is now incorporated in most printed editions. In 1882, D. Rosin published a critical edition based on MSS Breslau 103 and Munich 5. Rashbam's commentary on part of Devarim 34 was published by M. Sokolow in 1984 from MS Oxford 34.  Regarding the reconstruction of the missing portions of Rashbam's commentary, see Rashbam's Torah Commentary.
• Printings – The commentary was printed for the first time in 1705 in Berlin.
• Long and short commentaries – 
• The writing process – 
• Ramban's later updates – 

Characteristics

• Verse by verse / Topical – 
• Genre – 
• Structure – 
• Language – 

Methods

• – 

Themes

• – 

Sources

Significant Influences

• Earlier Sources – 
• Teachers – 
• Foils – 

Occasional Usage

• –

Possible Relationship

• –

Impact

Later exegetes

• –

Supercommentaries

• –

¹ We do not know the exact date of Rashbam's birth. The approximation of 1085 is based on the fact that he argued with Rashi (See Rashbam's commentary on Bereshit 37:2), might have even ruled Halakha in front of him (Mordekhai Sanhedrin 702), and possibly Rashi learned from his interpretations (R. Chaim Paltiel Bereshit 49:22). Since Rashi died in 1105, the assumption is that Rashbam must have been born at least 20 years earlier to argue with him.

² The date of Rashbam's death is also unknown. Sefer HaYuchsin v.5 (p.218) gives a date of 4935 (1174/75) which would make Rashbam 90 when he died, but the basis for this is unknown. D. Rosin rejects the date, and says instead that Rashbam died after 1158, since he is hinted to in Ibn Ezra's Iggeret HaShabbatIggeret HaShabbatAbout R. Avraham ibn Ezra, in the words of "ולא תשא פני איש". Assuming Ibn Ezra is responding to Rashbam's commentary, then it seems Rashbam was still alive in 1158.

³ In MS Ginsburg Rashbam writes that in 1130 he was in Ramerupt, and E. Urbach suggest he left Troyes to there after Rashi died. R. Tam in Sefer HaYashar Teshuvot 41 writes that Rashbam is not with him in Ramerupt, rather in Caen. Rashbam himself also mentions that he was asked a question in Loudun (Rashbam Bemidbar 30:2), and in Paris (Rashbam Bemidbar 11:35, Or Zarua 1:476).

⁴ See Shibbolei HaLeket 2:33: "ראיתי רבנו תם ז"ל שהקפיד על רבנו שמואל זצ"ל, שהיו לו רחלות הנה {צ"ל: הרבה} רחוקות קצת מן העיר ועומדות אצל גוי אחד. והיה שולח שם רבינו שמואל בכל השכמה בתו לראות, ולא היתה מספקת לבוא שם עד שחלבו הגוי כולו או רובו.", and the parallels cited by Urbach in Ba'alei HaTosafot p. 46, n. 13.

⁵ See Rashbam's commentary on Bereshit 37:2.

⁶ See Rashbam's commentary on Bereshit 25:32.

⁷ See Sefer HaYuchsin v.5 (p.218) and discussion in E. Urbach, Baalei HaTosafot, (Jerusalem, 1986) pp. 114-115.

⁸

⁹ Two versions of this commentary survived in two different printings, Bomberg and Pisarro.

¹⁰ See Tosafot MegillahMegillah 18b s.v. קנקנתוםAbout Ba'alei HaTosafot

¹¹ See TosafotBava Metziah 19a s.v. וליחושBava Batra 27a s.v. ולכתובAbout Ba'alei HaTosafot

¹² See Tosafot Bava KamaBava Kama 68a s.v. מהAbout Ba'alei HaTosafot

¹³ See Rashbam on Bava Batra 50b s.v. "רב מרי"

¹⁴ See TosafotYoma 18b s.v. והאמרYevamot 80b s.v. עדAbout Ba'alei HaTosafot

¹⁵ To compensate, the manuscript contained Parashot Vaetchanan, Eikev, and Reeh twice, with slight changes.