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This new volume in the "Reference Library of Judaismfaithfully presents the complete Hebrew text of Rashi's (1040-1105) psalter commentary according to Vienna Heb. ms. 220 together with a fully annotated scientific translation into contemporary idiomatic English.
The supercommentary places one of the finest commentaries by the single most influential Hebrew biblical exegete in dialogue with the full gamut of ancient, medieval and modern exegesis. The supercommentary identifies Rashi's sources and pinpoints the exegetical cruces to which Rashi responds, defines the nuances of Rashi's exegetical, linguistic and theological terminolgy, and guides readers to use the translation to gain access to the Hebrew.
The introductory chapters constitute the most up-to-date discussion of the scope of Rashi's literary legacy and of the history of research. They include highly original discussions of the Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah commentaries commonly attributed to Rashi and fully annotated English translations of 1) Rashi's programmatic essay on the problem of homonymity in biblical exegesis; 2) Rashi's commentaries on liturgical poetry; 3) one of Rashi's liturgical poems, and 4) the famous medieval poem, which declares Rashi to be the Torah Commentator par excellence.
About the author
Mayer I. Gruber, Ph.D. (1977) in Ancient Semitic Languages & Literatures, Columbia University, and Rabbinic Ordination from Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1970, is Associate Professor in the Department of Bible & Ancient Near East at Ben-Gurion University. His publications include
Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in the Ancient Near East (Biblical Institute Press, 1980) and
The Motherhood of God and Other Studies (Scholars Press, 1992).
