"That You Will Set Before Them" Like a Prepared Table: Text-Awareness in Rashi's Torah Commentary

• In Event: Medieval Biblical Interpretation

Abstract

There is an inherent irony in the written transmission of "Oral Torah." Rashi's consciousness of the relatively recent shift toward the written transmission of "Oral Torah" has been explored primarily with respect to his Talmud commentary, but not in relation to his Torah commentary. In this paper, I will present and analyze three of Rashi's comments in his Torah commentary that reflect his awareness of the Sages' commitment to the oral transmission of rabbinic tradition, Exodus 21:1, 34:27 and 34:32.
By exploring Rashi's comments in relation to their respective sources, I will show three distinct changes that Rashi regularly made to selected midrashim in rewriting them for his Torah commentary. I will also explore the question of whether these specific comments were primarily motivated by his intention to explicate the biblical text or by other extra-textual pedagogic and historical factors.
The larger questions underlying Rashi's adaptation of midrashic sources and his motivations to include these three specific comments are: Why did Rashi write his Torah commentary in the late eleventh century? What historical factors converged in northern France at this time that influenced him to compose this unique and original rabbinic composition? The answers to these questions lie in a combination of factors, primary among them, the recent inscription of "Oral Torah," the rise of literacy and increasing textualization.

author

• Yedida Eisenstat, York University