Rashi — Edition Insights

Humor and Midrashic Heritage

Liber identifies "flashes of wit and humor" in Rashi's Biblical commentaries, pointing to "piquant allusions" and "pleasantries" that he says are "a bit highly-spiced for modern taste." He traces this quality to the "old Midrashic spirit grafted upon the gaiety of 'mischievous and fine Champagne.'" The comparison to La Fontaine—another writer from Champagne—is explicit: Liber quotes a French critic who called La Fontaine "the milk of our early years, the bread of the adult, the last meal of the old man." He applies this to Rashi, though he cautions against pressing the analogy too far.

The evidence for Rashi's humor is drawn from the commentaries themselves, not from biographical anecdotes. Liber notes that Rashi "unbent a little" in his Biblical work, and that his "smiling geniality" appears in the text. This is a specific claim about voice and tone, supported by the excerpts' reference to "unceremonious conversations" and "unpretentious homilies."

Popular Reach and Lasting Influence

Liber argues that Rashi's Bible commentaries achieved extraordinary popularity: "Few works have ever been copied, printed, and commented upon to the same extent." He cites their use in sermons, their inclusion in rabbinical Bibles, and their role in introducing "Halakic and Haggadic elements" to non-scholars. The commentaries, he writes, "threw into circulation a large number of legends, which became the common property of the Jews."

This section of the biography relies on evidence of reception rather than authorial intent. Liber notes that Rashi's "expressions and phrases entered into current speech" and that his commentary "has become to the Jews inseparable from the text." He acknowledges that modern critics consider the work of Rashi's disciples superior, yet Rashi's version eclipsed them. The claim is that the commentaries functioned as a classic, not that they were the most original scholarship of their time.

The Talmud Commentaries as Academic Work

Liber draws a sharp contrast between Rashi's Bible and Talmud commentaries. The former, he says, is "a popular work for the use of the masses"—written for devotion and general reading. The latter is "a learned treatise for the use of students," originating in Rashi's school and "elaborated there during a long time." The excerpts describe the Talmudic discussions as "long, exhaustive, and often dry-as-dust," and suggest that Rashi turned to Biblical interpretation as a relief from that rigor.

This distinction is central to Liber's argument about Rashi's dual role as teacher and popularizer. The evidence for the Talmud commentary's academic nature comes from its setting—the school—and its purpose: "serious study in the academies." Liber does not provide extensive quotations from the Talmud commentary in the excerpts, so his characterization rests on this structural contrast rather than on detailed textual analysis.

Liber's biography is best read as a study of Rashi's literary legacy rather than a personal history. The excerpts focus on how the commentaries were written, received, and used, with particular attention to the difference between popular and academic audiences. Readers interested in the social history of medieval Jewish learning will find Liber's evidence about the circulation of legends and the use of commentaries in sermons especially valuable. The book's strength lies in its close attention to the texts themselves, even when the biographical record is thin.