Rashi (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)

by Avraham Grossman

To this day, the commentaries on the Bible and Talmud written by the eleventh-century scholar known as Rashi remain unsurpassed. His influence on Jewish thinking was, and still is, significant. His commentary on the Pentateuch was the first Hebrew book to be printed, giving rise to hundreds of
supercommentaries. Christian scholars, too, have relied heavily on his explanations of biblical texts. In this volume Avraham Grossman presents a masterly survey of the social and cultural background to Rashi's work and pulls together the strands of information available on his life, his
personality, his reputation during his lifetime, and his influence as a teacher. He discusses each of his main commentaries in turn, including such aspects as his sources, his interpretative method, his innovations, and his style and language. Attention is also given to his halakhic monographs,
responsa, and liturgical poems. Despite Rashi's importance as a scholar and the vast literature published about him, two central questions remain essentially what was Rashi's world-view, and was he a conservative or a revolutionary?

Professor Grossman considers these points at length, and his in-depth analysis of Rashi's world-view - particularly his understanding of Jewish uniqueness, Jewish values, and Jewish society - leads to conclusions that are likely to stimulate much debate.

Genres: Judaism, Religion, History

344 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2012

Reviews

[Yehuda Isseroff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I really wanted to love, but unfortunately, could barely make it through. Maybe it’s because the last biography I’ve read was Halbertal’s Maimonides, which I thought was amazing. But I still was somewhat disappointed with this book on its own. A few of the negative things that jumped out to me were:
The amount of conjecture and unfounded assumptions that the author used in his arguments
The repetitiveness of particular examples, some of which were repeated three or four times (eg. about Rashi’s humility and pursuit of truth, again and again and again…)
The book felt twice as long as it needed to be; most of the time it felt like you could read every other sentence and still come out with whatever he’s trying to say
Many of the topics selected were kind of dull
I hope that someone decides to try again in writing a biography of Rashi. Would love to see Halbertal do that.

That said, if you dig long enough, there were some pearls to dig out of the book, and I did learn a number of interesting things. Enough to earn three stars.

_________
Pages with Book Darts:
14: We know nothing of Rashi’s wife, but we know a bit about his daughters
22: Rashi learned with his grandson, Rashbam, and even named a linguistic rule after him
28: Rashi’s practice of not having a full Shalosh Seudos during the winter months
45: Maimonides did not explicitly mention Rashi’s commentaries, “though he may well have been influenced by them {how? -YI}
68: Large collection of sources (75) that Rashi drew from in his responsa
115: Rashi had dozens of drawing in his commentary on Talmud, including a map of the Land of Israel {mentioned twice, but no pictures of the map or any examples of his drawings -YI}
125: Rashi coined more than 1,300 Hebrew words, including hatzlacha, haskamah, yahadut, hafukh, be’ur, kitzur, among others
134: Rashi’s commentary speaks to every level of student; the higher the level, the more you can appreciate of his commentary
183: Rashi was the first person in the Jewish world to draw a map of the land of Israel, and apparently it was based on the Christian models at the time
224: His student Reb Shemayah reported that Rashi would make a separate shehakol on something he really liked before washing and hamotzi
264: Rashi’s decision on treating those who converted to Christianity but then returned to the fold
270: Rashi’s view on a wife’s role in a marriage
276: Rashi’s stance on chalitzah and the accusation from a 16th century Rabbi that his ruling was affected by the fact that he was a father to only daughters (and subsequent rejection)
282: Comparison of tzneiut between Muslim lands and what Rashi was advising

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I’m going to be one of those cheesy people who goes “if I could give this book six stars, I would!”

Because it’s true. . . this book is incredible. Besides for the fact that it is clear, well-written, thorough, and informative, it strikes a balance rarely found in Jewish history books. Very often when you’re looking at books about Jewish history, specifically about important people in Jewish history, you need to choose between one of two attitudes. Either you’re reading a hagiography that completely glorifies the person being discussed, glossing over all their flaws and painting them as a nearly saint-like individual, often without using solid academic sources or thorough research. Alternatively, if you want to go the more academic route, you tend to find yourself reading books that are totally irreverent and have no qualms about writing about Jewish leaders in utterly disrespectful ways. It is rare that you find a book that strikes that balance. . . and Avraham Grossman does it perfectly. In a voice that is respectful and reverent, viewing Rashi in an extremely positive and respectful light and teaching many valuable lessons about his character and approaches, Grossman carefully examines evidence and puts together a scholarly, sound book that views Rashi within the context of his time and teaches his readers how Rashi approaches his commentary.

Seriously, this book should be required reading in every Bais Yaakov and yeshivah. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to learn a Rashi the same way again. Grossman adds so much depth and nuance into the understanding of how Rashi thinks and writes. Just read this book. . . you won’t regret it.

[Michael Lewyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most interesting questions about Rashi that this book seeks to answer are:
1. Why is Rashi important? How did Rashi's work become more widely used than other Torah commentaries? Grossman suggests a variety of factors. Rashi's use of midrash (Talmudic-era legends) spices up the Torah for readers, but his concise style makes his commentary easier to read than the original midrashic books; by contrast, commentaries focused on Hebrew grammar seem dry and lifeless. His lack of interest in philosophy makes his commentary accessible to less intellectual and mystical-minded readers. The dire conditions of medieval Jewry made his hostility to Christianity popular.
2. Why did Rashi add midrashic legends to his commentary, rather than focusing on the plain meaning of the text or on philosophical lessons? Grossman suggests that one common purpose was to add "pedagogical messages"-especially to help them fight Christian propaganda. So Rashi often used legends (especially from the body of literature known as midrash) to show the virtues of the Jewish patriarchs or the vices of non-Jews. For example, medieval Jews treated Esau as a symbol of Christianity, and Rashi consistently uses anti-Esau legends, even when their relevance to the text of the Torah is questionable. By contrast, Rashi tends to downplay commentary criticizing jewish patriarchs and matriarchs. Rashi also adds legends of miracles to his commentary, in order to "emphasize God's great love for the nation of Israel."

[Lena Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a university research project, so I skimmed parts of it.

[Steve Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Masterwork by a scholar. Everything you always wanted to know about Rashi.