Shlomo ben Yitzhak (Rashi)
Perhaps the best known and most basic of all Rishonim, Rav Shlomo Yitzchaki (son of Yitzchak) lived in Troyes, France from 1040 until 1105. His most important work is his commentary on the Talmud, which appears on the inside margin of almost every page (except for in a few select areas where his commentary is unavailable to us) and is responsible for opening up the Talmud to a much wider range of students than ever before possible. His commentary explains the text phrase by phrase, and thus is an invaluable guide for reading through a page of the Talmud. In addition, Rashi authored an equally famous commentary on the Torah, which incorporates his own views, as well as many Midrashim and grammatical notes. He also wrote a commentary on the rest of the Bible, as well as supplications for mercy written in the wake of the First Crusade (1096), which ravaged many communities in Europe. His grandsons include the Tosafists Rashbam and Rabbeinu Tam, and his students also included Rav Simcha of Vitri and Rav Shemaya.
View on Noahides
- Main article Judaism and Other Religions
Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhak, the great eleventh-century commentator on the Bible and Talmud is a standard in the Jewish curriculum. Because Rashi is seen as the indispensable commentator, it is difficult to overstate his influence on contemporary discourse. In traditional settings, Torah and, later, Talmud are approached first, and often exclusively, through the lens of Rashi’s commentary. He cites many of the polemical and negative rabbinic statements about gentiles or their typological equivalents in Noah, Esau, and Bilaam. Even his very first comment on the Bible contains his own gloss on the Midrash, viewing the gentiles as armed robbers. His particularism is shown in statements such as: “I ask from You that Your Shekhinah should not rest anymore on the nations of the world and we will be separate from all other nations. (Commentary to Exodus 33:16)
Rashi typified the particularism of many of his successors in Franco-German Jewish culture. I will not delineate these variants, nor will I relate all the negative images of Christianity left in the writings of medieval Ashkenaz Jewry.[13]
Ours is not the first generation of Jews bothered Rashi’s exclusionist, anti-gentile tone. Sifthei Hakhamim, by Rabbi Shabbatai Bass, a sixteenth-century commentary on Rashi, consistently reworks Rashi to impose a more ethical reading. However, the role of these comments of Rashi in the Jewish education system today remains problematic.
