Rashi (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)

To this day, the commentaries on the Bible and Talmud written by the 11th-century scholar known as Rashi remain unsurpassed. Rashi's 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 super-commentaries. Christian scholars, too, have relied heavily on his explanations of biblical texts. In this volume, author 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. Grossman discusses each of Rashi's main commentaries in turn, including such aspects as Rashi's 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 unanswered: 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. *** "Grossman's book should become an essential part of anyone's library who studies and teaches Torah, and most certainly will prove to be of great interest to those desiring to understand the mindset and achievements of one of the great Jewish leaders of medieval Ashkenaz." - Jewish Book Council *** "...Grossman draws heavily from the current Israeli scholarship on Rashi, including his own scholarly works to present a well-rounded picture of Rashi." - AJL Reviews, February/March 2013 *** "Did Rashi last because he made classical Jewish texts clear as never before? And what does it mean to make a biblical text 'clear'? Grossman's Rashi tries to answer these questions and many others, and it is full of new ideas. A patient reading of Rashi reveals how its subject left 'an indelible mark on Jewish culture . . . greater than that left by anyone else since the completion of the Talmud'." - Ivan G. Marcus, Jewish Review of Books, Spring 2014Ëœ