Short for Rabbi Solomo Yitzhaqi (or Solomon ben Isaac), Rashi is one of the most famous Jewish rabbi and remains a highly influential in modern Jewish scholarship as a biblical and talmudic commentator.
Born in the French city of Troyes in Champagne, Rashi returned to his hometown at the age of 25, having studied under the prominent Rabbi Gershom ben Judah (the "Light of the Exile") the in a yeshiva (a Jewish seminary) in Worms (where Martin Luther was tried five centuries later) and Mainz. There he remained for the rest of his life. Working in the vineyards to support himself, he founded a yeshiva which would produce a number of outstanding Jewish scholars. There also he worked on the most famous of his works, his commentary on the Talmud which would become so important that subsequent Jewish scholars agreed that the basic needs of a commentary on the Talmud has been accomplished and what remained to be done was simply to for refinements (called tosafot) that simply qualify or expand on Rashi's exegesis and interpretations. Rashi's method of interpretation was a finely balance mixture and integration of the literal and non-literal. It was so popular it was the first work to be printed in Hebrew (1475). The work would—through its influence on biblical studies from the Victorines through Nicholas of Lyra and to the Reformers—also leave its mark on Christian Church.
Further Reading & Resources:
☰ Britannica
☰ My Jewish Learning
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