Rashi is the acronym of Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, a French religious educator and the head of the Troyes Rabbinical Court. Rashi is most known for his commentaries on the Talmud and the Torah, which are very influential in rabbinic scholarship even today. He is a renowned Jewish scholar who educated himself in Worms and Mainz.
Background
Ethnicity:
Although he never claimed that, the legend is that he was a descendant of King David
Rashi was born into a rather poor family in Troyes, France. His father Yitzchak was a scholar and a very smart person but he was working as a winemaker and had only modest income. His mother was related to the Rabbi of Mainz, Simon the Elder. It is believed that Rashi is a descendant of King David although he never claimed this himself. The name Rashi is actually an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki.
Education
There is a legend about Rashi’s birth. When Rabbi Yitzchak, his father, had come across a rare diamond he went to sell it to get his family out of poverty. However, when he realized that the bishop that wanted to buy it wished to place it on his cross, he decided to throw it in the sea. It was then when the heavenly voice spoke to him and said that for the sacrifice made he will have a son who will outshine all the precious stones that exist on the Earth.
And really, Rashi demonstrated his intelligence ever since he was little. His first teacher was his father, who taught him about Torah. After his death, Rashi had gotten married and then decided to pursue his education in Worms where Rabbi Yaakov ben Yakar and Rabbi Isaac ben Eliezer Halevi were his teachers.
In 1065, he moved to Mainz, where he continued the study Torah and Talmud under the guidance of Rabbi Isaac ben Judah, learning and understanding the Talmud’s distinctive logic. Soon after, he decided to return to Troyes, probably when he found out that his mother was very sick.
Career
After his return to Troyes in 1065, Rashi was called up to become a member of the Troyes Rabbinical Court (Beth din). The Court’s task was to answer to queries related to halakha, Jewish religious laws. Upon the passing of Rabbi Zerach ben Abraham, Rashi took his place as the leader of the Court, refusing the salary that came with it. As for his revenue, the majority agrees that he was making wine for a living, considering that he learned the craft from his father, although this hasn’t been confirmed by an official source.
In 1070, Rashi decided to start his own yeshiva, an institution where Torah and Talmud will be studied. He attracted lots of disciples in a short amount of time. This is when he began working on his commentaries of the Torah and the Talmud. It is believed that all the commentaries were derived from the lectures he gave in his yeshiva. He used his own insights, as well as the answers that his students provided during the discussion. Rashi didn’t publish these works but they had been found and printed for the first time in 1475. Ever since he wrote the commentaries, they are used for interpreting the Talmud and the Torah, even in the contemporary rabbinic scholarship.
There are numerous legends that speak of Rashi’s travels but the truth is that he probably never went farther than Lorraine, where he also lectured at the local yeshivas. He witnessed the terrible People’s Crusade in 1096 when 12,000 Jews were murdered in Lorraine. Rashi decided to pay his respect by writing penitential poems called Selichot, where he mourned the slaughter of the innocent and the destruction of the local yeshiva, which was one of the greatest in the region. Some of the Selichot (seven of them) are saved.
Rashi died in 1105 in Troyes, where he was also buried.
(His commentary on the Torah and the Talmud is an essentia...)
Religion
Rashi was a rabbi and the head of the Troyes Rabbinical Court. He studiet the Torah and the Talmud extensively and provided his commentaries that helped many who studied after him.
Politics
Although Rashi was the unofficial leader of the small Jewish community in Troyes, he didn't have a desire to participate in politics.
Views
Rashi tried to provide in his comments a mixture of two fundamental ways of interpreting – the literal and nonliteral. He carefully analyzes text as well as context, trying to explain the symbolism and parable hidden in the literal interpretation. The fact that even non-scholars could have understood the Talmud and the Torah with the help of Rashi’s commentary is why they became so popular and are still being used today.
The commentaries that Rashi wrote are actually a collection of his lectures and conclusions he gathered from discussing the Talmud and the Torah with his students. Not all of them are necessarily his stances, there are some claims that not even all commentaries that are attributed to him today are not his but rather of his disciples who finished his work.
Either way, the influence that Rashi’s work had was incredible. Not only he influenced the Jewish scholars but Nicholas of Lyra, a Franciscan scholar from the 13th century, stated that Rashi had a great impact on his Christian Bible study. Lyra will later be a great source of the Bible work conducted by Martin Luther.
Quotations:
"The world exists for the sake of kindness."
"The fool who traveled is better off than the wise man who stayed home."
"Teachers learn from their students' discussions"
"Naked a man comes into the world and naked he leaves it, after all is said and done he leaves nothing except the good deeds he leaves behind."
Membership
Rashi became a mamber of the Troyes Rabbinical Court in 1065 and later he became the head of the Court
Troyes Rabbinical Court
,
France
Personality
Rashi was a modest, kind man who devoted himself to studying religious texts and educating his disciples. He propagated good deeds and believed that kindness should be essential for all people in this world.
Physical Characteristics:
Rashi's physical appearance was in accordance with the fact that he was a rabbi. He is portrayed as a man with a long beared in modest clothes.
Interests
Reading, Writing
Philosophers & Thinkers
Rabbi Isaac ben Eliezer Halevi
Politicians
Rabbi Zerach ben Abraham
Writers
Rabbi Yaakov ben Yakar
Connections
Rabi married when he was 17 years old and he had three daughters - Yocheved, Miriam and Rachel.
Rashi: A Light After the Dark Ages: Leonard Nimoy, Paul Scofield, Armand Assante, Ashley Lazarus: Amazon Digital Services LLC
In the calm before the Crusades, one man changed the way the world would understand the Bible. Set in the 11th Century, "Rashi" is the story of a unique hero, a Torah commentator who lived at the beginning of the Reign of Terror, the Crusades. A winemaker by trade, Rashi, in an age of illiteracy debated theology with his Christian neighbors and delved into the mysteries of the Bible.
Rashi
Maurice Liber's 1906 biography of Rashi is one of the classics of the biography genre. It explores not only the life of one of the most important rabbis in Judaism, but also his impact on future generations. Rashi, a medieval French rabbi, was famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible).