ePub Craft Conflict: Masonic Trench Art and Military Memorabilia by Nicholas J. Saunders; Mark J R Dennis in History

Description

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 supercommentaries. Christian scholars; too; have relied heavily on his explanations of biblical texts. In this volume - now available in paperback - 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 Rashi's 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 his sources; his interpretative method; his innovations; and his style and language. Attention is also given to Rashi's 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 worldview; and was he a conservative or a revolutionary? Professor Grossman considers these points at length; and his in-depth analysis of Rashi's worldview - particularly Rashi's understanding of Jewish uniqueness; Jewish values; and Jewish society - leads to conclusions that are likely to stimulate much debate.