on of Jacob Alfassi, derived his name from Fez,
where he was born in 1013. He gave his intellect entirely to the Talmud,
but he acquired from the Moorish culture of his day a sense of order and
system. He dealt exclusively with the _Halachah_, or practical contents
of the Rabbinic law, and the guide which he compiled to the Talmud soon
superseded all previous works of its kind. Solomon, the son of Isaac,
best known as _R_abbi _Sh_elomo _Iz_chaki (Rashi), was born in 1040, and
died in 1105, in Troyes, in Champagne. From his mother, who came of a
family of poets, he inherited his warm humanity, his love for Judaism.
From his father, he drew his Talmudical knowledge, his keen intellect.
His youth was a hard one. In accordance with medieval custom, he was
married as a boy, and then left his home in search of knowledge rather
than of bread. Of bread he had little, but, starved and straitened in
circumstances though he was, he became an eager student at the Jewish
schools which then were dotted along the Rhine, residing now at Mainz,
now at Speyer, now at Worms. In 1064 he settled finally in Troyes. Here
he was at once hailed as a new light in Israel. His spotless character
and his unique reputation as a teacher attracted a vast number of eager
students.

Of Rashi's Commentary on the Talmud something has already been said. As
to his exposition of the Bible, it soon acquired the widest popularity.
It was inferior to his work on the Talmud, for, as he himself admitted
in later life, he had relied too much on the Midrash, and had attended
too little to evolving the literal meaning of the text of Scripture. But
this is the charm of his book, and it is fortunate that he did not
actually attempt to recast his commentary. There is a quaintness and
fascination about it which are lacking in the pedantic sobriety of Ibn
Ezra and the grammatical exactness of Kimchi. But he did himself less
than justice when he asserted that he had given insufficient heed to the
_Peshat_ (literal meaning). Rashi often quotes the grammatical works of
Menachem and Dunash. He often translates the Hebrew into French, showing
a very exact knowledge of both languages. Besides, when he cites the
Midrash, he, as it were, constructs a Peshat out of it, and this method,
original to himself, found no capable imitators.

Through the fame of Rashi, France took the leadership in matters
Talmudical. Blessed with a progeny of famous men, Rashi's influence was
carried o