Rashbaz (y z - i), the initials of Rabbi Simon ben-Zemai h Duron, who belonged to a family which, originally of Provence, was then settled in Spain, and ul- timately emigrated to Algien. In the persecution that took place in 1391, Simon Duran. with a number of his coreligionists, emigrated to Algien, win-re. from his profound learning, be obtained the title of the Creat. Here he succeeded Ribash (q. v.), who bad also fled from Spain, as the head of all the Jewish congregations, which position he occupied until his death, in 11 1 1. He wrote various works, some bo violent against Christian- ity and Modernism that they have very properly been suppressed by his coreligionists. Of his works we mention E2B1UQ ~~"N. T/u Lover oftlie Just, a eom- mentary on dob. with an introduction on the princi- ples upon which it should be expounded; edited by Jos. Malcho (Venice, 1590), and reprinted in Frankfurt his Rabbinic Bible:— n*i3X "~. Shield of the, Fa- thers, a great theological work, in three parts, treating of different subjects, especially of the fundamental arti- cles of religion ; to be found in the Bodleian and in <>ji- penheimeriana ; one part is a commentary on the trea- tise Abolh (Livorno. 1762; Leipsic. 1855), while the sec- ond part, which is very severe against Christians and Turks, has been published by his son under the title of ":."" nop, Bow mid shi, Id. He was also famed for his medical abilities, and practiced with great reputa- tion in Aragon. His profound erudition in Rabbinical lore, philosophy, and medicine procured for him the es- teem of the learned Israelites of bis lime. His learned solutions of upwards of 700 points ot law are consulted at the present day. See Funt, Bibl. Jud. i. 216 sq.; De Rossi, DizionaiHo Storico degli Autori Ebrei (Germ. transl.), p. 92; id. Bibliotheca Aniichristiana, p. 109, 111; Lindo. Hist, of tlir Jews in Spain, p. 194; Finn; Sephardim, p. 387; Basnage, Hist, des Juifs | Daylor's trans!.), p. 657; Steinschneider, Jewish Literature, p. 128; Etheridge, Intro,/, to Hebrew Literature, p. 289j Gratz, Gesch. <l. Juden (1875), viii. 101, 154, 170 Bq.; Jost, Gesch. il. Judenth. u.s. Secten, iii. 87 ; Zunz, Lit, m- turgesch. </. synagog, Poesit (Berl. 1865), p. 251 ; Cassel, Leitfaden der jud. Gesch. ». Literatur, p. 13; but espe- ciallv Jaulus, It. Simeon ben-Zemach I in run. in Fran- kel's Monatsschrift, 1874, p. -_'ll sq. (R P.)
Rashi p'b-l), formed of the initials of Rabbi Sol- omon I/ciiAKi. or Isaaki ben-Isaac, the great Tal? mudic scholar and commentator, founder of the German no-French school of Biblical exegesis, and erroneously called Jarchi, was bom in KH<> at Troyes, in Cham- pagne, and not at Lunel, in Perpignan. He was the son of a thorough Talmudist, and thus from his youth imbibed an insatiable desire to become master of Rab- binic lore. He was a pupil of R. Isaac ben-Jakar, the greatest pupil of Rabbi Genhom (q. v.). As to the extent of his seliolarship, it is a matter of dispute. Basnage terms him one of the most learned of the rab- bins, w bile .lost lakes but a low estimate of his scientific and literary attainments. However this ma\ be, be was certainly a master in Israel in the ordinary learn- ing of his people, the Holy Scriptures, and the whole cycle of Talmudic lore. He spent much of his lite m wandering from place to place, visiting the different seats of learning in Italy, Greece, Palestine, Egypt, Persia, and Germany, giving lectures and maintaining disputations in the Jewish schools. At Worms they may still show, as they could a few yean ago, the chamber where he taught o class of stu lents, and the tone seal hewn in the wall from which he dispensed bis instructions. His famous lectures secured for him the distinguished and witty title of Parshandatha (xni3dD), i.e. Interpreter of thi Law, which is the name of one of Hainan's sons (Esther i\.7i. Under the title *"~ ";■•;" z. Le wrote a commentary on thirty treatises of the Talmud, printed in the editions,
RASIII
915
RASKOLNIKS
of that work, and the several books separately in many different editions; they are also published with super- commentaries and glossaries:— rt-X *p*lS S, A Com- mentary on A both (Cracow, 1621, a. o.) :— tTPSOCn S, A Commentary on the Mishna, condensed from that on the Talmud (Berlin, 1716): — A Commentary on the 100 Chapters of the Bereshith Rabba, i"Q"l t£5"Vra O I-PUJSOab (Venice, 15(58):— a collection of Halachoth, entitled C"HSn O (Constant. 1802): — penitential hymns, or Selichoth. Besides these, and other works too many to be enumerated, he also wrote on the Old Test., under the general title of Perush al Esi-im va- arba, "21X1 d"ni3i b'J 1T11E, which, for the most part, is found in the Rabbinic Bibles. They have also been published in different portions in numerous edi- tions, with and without the text, especially that on the Pentateuch, a good and critical edition of which has been edited by Dr. A. Berliner (Berlin, 1866). Various parts have also been translated into Latin by different authors, but more extensiveby by B. J. F. Breithaupt, 1710-14 (viz. Pentateuch, 1710; historical books, 1714; Prophets, Job, and Psalms, 1713), who also accompanied the translation with very learned and extensive anno- tations, besides giving the supercommentaries entitled miS 115 by Lowe (Prague, 1578), and d"»a.3n TlBttJ by Sabbatai Bass. Rashi, having been long engaged in writing annotations on the Talmud, formed the habit of composing after the manner of that work, in an ex- tremely concise and obscure style, and with the fre- quent use of its terms and idioms. He condensed as much as possible, and endeavored to give the precise original thought by a natural method of interpretation, by explaining the grammar of the passage, by para- phrasing its meaning, by supplying the wanting mem- bers of elliptical forms, and by sometimes rendering a word or expression into the French of that day. At the same time, he did not fail to bring forward the re- ceived interpretations of the Talmud and Midrashim, and to point out the support which the Rabbinical Ha- lachoth receive from such passages as he thought avail- able. The rigid brevity of his style, which often leaves the reader in perplexity as to his meaning, has served to call forth a number of supercommentaries on his works by several Jewish authors, which are enumerated in Fi'irst. In his commentaries on the Bible he com- bines the traditional exposition contained in the Tal- mud and Midrashim with a simple and liberal explana- tion of the text, and does not see any inconsistency in putting side by side with the Halachic and Hagadic interpretation his own verbal interpretations, which are sometimes at variance with tradition. Though unac- quainted with the labors of the Spanish grammarians and expositors, he incorporates in his commentaries all the lore contained in the cyclopaedias of Jewish tra- dition, as well as the learning of the French expositors, and all are made tributary to the elucidation and illus- tration of the Scriptures. Rashi's piety and learning were so great, and his influence upon the Jewish nation by means of his expositions was so extraordinary, that his comments are almost looked upon as part of the Bible, and his interpretations in the present day are re- garded by the most orthodox Jews as the authoritative import of Holy Writ. Rashi died July 13, 1105. See Furst, Bibl. j'ud. ii, 78-90 ; De Rossi, Dizionario Sto- rico degli Autori Ebrei (Germ, transl.), p. 125 sq. ; Kit- to, Cyclop, s. v. ; Herzog, Real-EncyHop. s. v. ; Theolog. Unicersctl-Lexikon, s. v. ; Steinschneider, Catalogus Li- brorum Ilebr. in Bibl. Bodleian, col. 2340-2357 ; Turner, Jewish Rabbis, p. 17 sq., 69 sq., 110 sq. ; Basnage, Hist. des Juifs (Taylor's transl.), p. 630; Geiger, J'ud. Zeit- schnft, 1867, p. 150 sq. ; id. Parshandatha (Leips. 1855), p. 12, etc.; Zunz, in Zeitsch rift fur die Wissenschaft des Judmthums (Berl. 1822), p. 277, etc.; id. Ileisst Rashi Jarphi? in Jost's Annalen, i, 328 and 385, etc. ; Zunz,