— Nordhoff, Communistic Societies, p. 81-86. (J. H. W.)
Raratongan Version. Raratonga, the largest and most important of the Harvey Islands, between '500 and 600 miles west of Tahiti, and discovered by the Rev. John Williams, of the London Missionary Society, in 1823, is inhabited by about 3500 inhabitants. The lan- guage of Raratonga is spoken throughout the other six islands of the Harvey group : and although it has a close affinity to the Tahitian and Marquesan idioms, yet a distinct version of the Scriptures was found necessary. The Raratongan version mainly devolved on the Rev. John "Williams, and in 1830 the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Galatians were printed. In 1836 an edition of 5000 copies of the New Testament was pub- lished in London by the British and Foreign Bible So- ciety. In 1842 a second edition of 5000 copies was printed, and in 1851 the entire Scriptures were pub- lished by the same society, having availed itself of the Raratongan version prepared by Mr. Buzacott, a mis- sionary at Raratonga. Of the first edition 5000 copies were printed, but in 1854 a subsequent edition of 5000 copies was rendered necessary, which is still in course of circulation. The good effects of reading this version, and the change thereby produced in the state and char- acter of the natives of Raratonga, have been thus de- scribed by the martyred Williams : " In 1823 I found them all heathens; in 1834 they were all professing Christians. At the former period I found them with idols and maraes; these, in 1834, were destroyed. I found them without a written language, and left them reading in their own tongue the wonderful works of God." See The Bible of Every Land, p. 378 sq. (13. P.)
Rashba (X ;'"), the initials of Rabbi Solomon ben-Abraham Ibn-Adrat, a native of Barcelona, who was born about 1285, and died in 1310. He studied under Nachmanides (q. v.), and in 1280 he was ac- knowledged president of the school of Barcelona, and a kind of oracle with the East and the West, with which he maintained an extensive correspondence. He was an acute thinker, an enemy to all equivocation, and an advocate of the open truth. He wrote a large collec-
RASHBAM
914
RASHI
tion of D^'C'in, or Novellas, discussive and expository of Talmadic law, published in successive portions and times: — rvOIOni r~"Nr. Questions and Answers on law and ritual subjects (Lemberg, 1812) :— rVnax, Let- ters (ibid. 1809): -~~r, r~rzv. On Sabbath and Festival Observances > Iimla, 1820):— r~~n miD, Th. I.inr of th House, domestic regulations from the lal- mud (Prague, L811): — H115X lUIIS, Explanations qfth Agadoth (Furtb, 1766). He also prohibited the study of Grecian philosophy until after twenty -live years of age. See Flint, Biol. Jud. i. 18 Bq.; De Rossi, Dizionario Storico degli Autori Ebrei (Germ, transl.), p. 26; Griitz, Gesch. d. Juden, -v'ri, l.">7 Bq.; Lindo, Hist, of the Jews in Spain, p. 112; Finn, Sephardim, p. 301 Bq.; Etheridge, Introd. to Hebrew Literature, p. •-'.">•-': DessaueT,Gesck.d.Isi-aelken,p.2%; but especially the monograph by Dr. Perles, Salomo ben.- Abraham ben- Aderet, sein Leben u. s, Schriflen, nebst handschriftlichen Beilagen lumersten Mali //< runs,/,!/, Inn (Ihvslau, 1863), ami tin- reviews ofthal monograph in Frankel's Monats- schrift, 1863, p. 183 Bq.; Geiger, Jud. Zeitschrift, 18G3, p.59sq. (B. P.)
Rashbam (Z 313*1), the initials of Rabbi Sami e . i.i x-.M iVi;. Rashi's daughter's son, who was born at Ra- mero about 1065, and died in 1 154. He was a sober exe- gete, appealing to the "intelligentes." He completed the commentaries on certain Talmudic treatises left un- finished by lii.s grandfather Rashi (q.v.), and also the commentary on Job. Rashbam's literal, grammatical, and exegetical principles in the interpretation of the Word of God convinced his grandfather to such a de- gree that he declared that if he had to rewrite his cx- positious he would adopt those principles. In this manner Rashbam wrote his commentary on the Penta- teuch, under the title of C~ 2)"liri S, The Exposition of 'Rashbam, which was published for the lirst time in the edition of the Hebrew Pentateuch, with several commentaries (Berlin, 1705). It was republished in the imperfect condition from Oppenheimcr's MS., be- ginning with Gen. xviii, and ending with Dent, xxxiii. ;>. in the excellent edition of the Hebrew Pentateuch, with sundry commentaries (Amsterdam. 1727-29). Dr. A. Geiger published from a Munich MS. a portion of the missing commentary, extending from Gen. i, 1-31, in the Kerem Chemed (Berlin, 1854), viii, 11 51, which, however, has not been inserted in the excellent edition of the Pentateuch, w ith sundry rabbinic commentaries. published at Vienna in 1859, in which Rashbam's com- mentary is given. A supercommentary, entitled "~~ bsfra',3, Tin Horn of Samuel, on Rashbam's exposi- tion, by S. S. Hessel, was published in Frankfort-on-the- Oder in 17_'7. Rashbam also wrote a Commentary on lb. Fivi Megittoth, of which that on the Son-- of Songs and Ecclesiastes was published by A. Jellinek (Leipsic, 1855), while excerpts from the other three Megilloth were also edited by the same author | ibid. 1855 i. Rash- bam is also said to have written a commentary on the
Psalms, which was edited by Isaac Salanow. Berlin,
and reprinted in Vienna in 1816; but it is very doubtful whether he is really the author. See Flint, Bibl. Jud. |.; De Rossi, Dizionario Storico degli Autori 'ii. transl.), p. 285; Ginsburg, in Kitto's Cy- rlo/i. s. \ . -. Griitz, Gesch. </. Juden, vi, 158 sq.; dost. Gesch. d. Judenth. u. s. Secten, ii, 391; iii, 34; Lew. Ex- egesi bet den franzos. Juden (Leips. 1873), p. 17 sq. . Ginsburg, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, p. 12 sip, where the iir-i chapter of the commentary on Ecclesiastes is given in English (Lond. 1861 I; id. Song of Songs (ibid. 1857), p. !:; sq.; Zunz, Zur Geschichte «. Literatur (lierl. 1845), p. 7u Bq.; Geiger, in b""3BS3 'V-: (ibid. 1847), p. 29 89; id. Par handatha (Leips. 1855), p. 20 24; Jellinek, in his edition ol the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes (ibid. 1855 . p. \ ii sq. d'>. P.)