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In his commentaries, Rashi "produced a wonderful linguistic
achievement."
— Chaim Nahman Bialik, 20th-century national
Jewish poet laureate |
A characteristic of Rashi´s commentaries is his meticulous analysis of
the language of the text. He was both philologist and linguist, and derived his
grammatical principles from rabbinic literature and the Hebrew works of the
Spanish Hebrew grammarians, Menahem b. Jacob ibn Saruq and Dunash b.
Labrat.
Scattered throughout his commentaries are many remarks on syntax,
tenses, moods, conjugations deletion of parts of the sentence, prepositions
required by certain verbs and changes in word order. Occasionally he formulates
rules on linguistic usage, and discusses the shades of meaning of various
synonyms. He discriminates clearly between biblical Hebrew and mishnaic Hebrew
(e.g., Ps. 76:11), even though he sometimes interprets the verse in accordance
with the rabbinic literature (Ex. 12:7), for which he was criticized by his
grandson, Samuel b. Meir.
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Model of interior of the Rashi Chapel
Worms, Germany
The
"Rashi Chapel" was built by David Yehoshua Oppenheim, leader of the Jewish
community in Worms in 1624, some 500 years after Rashi's death. This chapel,
which was in fact a study room, was largely reconstructed in 1855.
A model with "Rashi's chair" may be viewed at Beth Hatefutsoth (Museum of the
Jewish Diaspora), Tel Aviv
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Rashi often resorts to his French vernacular (la'az) in
order to explain difficult or obscure Hebrew or Aramaic words and phrases, often
transliterating the appropriate French rendering into Hebrew script. In his
commentaries he made use of some eleven hundred French glosses, and a vocabulary
of about three thousand different words appear in his works. These glosses have
proven an invaluable resource for the study of Old French.
Occasionally, he uses Old French glosses in his observations of biblical
realia. For example, in describing the ephod, one of the priestly
garments (Exodus 28:4,), he comments that "it is like a kind of apron which is
called poinceint in French, which women of rank tie on when they ride
horseback." In describing the ordination of Aaron and his sons (Exodus 28:41),
he explains the phrase "you shall fill their hands" as follows: "When someone is
appointed to take charge of something, the ruler places a leather glove in his
hand. They call it gant in French, and by this means he empowers him.
This act of handing over the glove is referred to as revestir in
French."
Rashi also wrote a small number of glosses in German. However, some of the
existing German glosses, and all of the Slavonic glosses, were added by other
scholars in subsequent generations. Rashi placed great reliance on te'amei
hamikra, he cantillation symbols which indicate how a verse is phrased and
chanted, as an aid to interpretation.
While it is recognized that Rashi's
commentary on the Pentateuch is the first known Hebrew work to have been printed
(1475), few are aware of his enormous contribution to the development of the
Hebrew language. Yitzhak Avinery's Dictionary of Rashi's Commentaries to the
Bible and Talmud (published in Hebrew in Tel Aviv, 1949; revised 1985))
credits Rashi with some 1,300 new phrases; many common, everyday Hebrew words
are found for the first time in Rashi's writing (for example, his Hebrew terms
for jester, erudition, support, ambition, agreement, success, Judaism). Writes
Prof. Nahum Sarna: "We are only just beginning to appreciate fully the great
variety, richness, and noble simplicity of Rashi's Hebrew style, the naturalness
of his harmonious and smooth blending of biblical and rabbinic Hebrew."
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