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Chapter 7
Concepts of Scripture in the School of Rashi
Robert A. Harris
In considering the defi nition of a “Jewish conception of Scripture,” it is just
so right on many levels to begin with Rashi’s Torah commentary: Jewish
children have begun their own studies with this work almost since the very
generation in which he wrote it. Rashi, or Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (1040 –
1105), lived in Troyes, in Champagne country in northern France. Th ough
as a young man he studied in the great centers of rabbinic scholarship in
Germany, Rashi’s fame rests on the Bible and Talmud commentaries he
wrote aft er his return to France. Th ese commentaries provide a unique
blend of ancient, traditional approaches to Torah (midrash, see later in
this chapter) and a newer, literary method that came to be called peshat
(contextual or “plain sense” understanding; again, see later). In the intro-
duction to his very fi rst comment of his Torah commentary, Rashi tackles
(among other issues) the question of “What is Torah?”:
Said R. Isaac: 1 He ought to have begun the Torah [with the words,] Th is
month shall be for you [the beginning of the months] (Exodus 12:2), for that
passage contains the fi rst commandment that Israel was commanded. And
what is the reason that he began with [the narrative of ] creation? On ac-
count of [the idea expressed in Psalms,] Th e strength of His deeds he has
declared to his people, to give to them the inheritance of the nations (Psalm
111:6). For should the nations of the world say to Israel, “You are bandits,
for you have conquered the lands of the seven [Canaanite] nations,” [Is-
rael] could say back to them, “Th e whole world belongs to the Holy One,
Blessed be God. God created it, and gave it to those for whom it was fi t in
his eyes. According to His will did He give it to them, and according to His
will did He take it from them and give it to us.”