Book Description

This new volume in the Reference Library of Judaism faithfully presents the complete Hebrew text of Rashi's (1040-1105) psalter commentary according to Vienna Heb. ms. 220 together with a fully annotated scientific translation into contemporary idiomatic English. The supercommentary places one of the finest commentaries by the single most influential Hebrew biblical exegete in dialogue with the full gamut of ancient, medieval and modern exegesis. The supercommentary identifies Rashi's sources and pinpoints the exegetical cruces to which Rashi responds, defines the nuances of Rashi's exegetical, linguistic and theological terminolgy, and guides readers to use the translation to gain access to the Hebrew. The introductory chapters constitute the most up-to-date discussion of the scope of Rashi's literary legacy and of the history of research. They include highly original discussions of the Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah commentaries commonly attributed to Rashi and fully annotated English translations of 1) Rashi's programmatic essay on the problem of homonymity in biblical exegesis; 2) Rashi's commentaries on liturgical poetry; 3) one of Rashi's liturgical poems, and 4) the famous medieval poem, which declares Rashi to be the Torah Commentator par excellence. "The final result is a valuable resource for students and scholars alike. With only seven other works on Rashi's commentary on the Psalms, G.'s work is a very welcome addition in the growing scholarship on both Rashi and the Psalms, indeed it is an indispensable reference volume for all those working in that area." A. Jeffers