Rashi's Commentary on Psalms: (18 The Brill Reference Library of Judaism)

This new volume in the Reference Library of Judaism faithfully 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. "The final result is a valuable resource for students and scholars alike. With only seven other works on Rashi's commentary on the Psalms, G.'s work is a very welcome addition in the growing scholarship on both Rashi and the Psalms, indeed it is an indispensable reference volume for all those working in that area." A. Jeffers

Table of Contents:
Introduction I. Rashi’s Life: An Overview II. Rashi’s School and Disciples III. The Viticulture Question IV. Rashi’s Literary Output A. Rashi’s Liturgical Poetry B. Rashi’s Exegetical Compositions 1. Rashi’s Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud a. The Scope of Rashi’s Commentary on the Talmud b. The Characteristics of Rashi’s Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud c. The Problem of Rashi’s “Editions” of his Talmud Commentary 2. Rashi’s Biblical Commentaries a. Their Scope b. Pseudo-Rashi on Chronicles c. Pseudo-Rashi on Ezra-Nehemiah 3. Rashi’s Commentaries on Liturgical Poetry C. Rashi’s Responsa D. Rashi as Storyteller V. Rashi as ‘Parshandatha’ VI. The Importance of Rashi’s Commentary on Psalms VII. The Method and Purpose of the Present Translations and Notes a. The Method b. The Lemmas c. The Purpose VIII. Synonymous Parallelism in Rashi’s Exegesis IX. Previous Studies X. The Choice of a Hebrew Text RASHI’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER IN ENGLISH WITH NOTES RASHI’S COMMENTARY ON PSALMS IN ENGLISH WITH NOTES Bibliography HEBREW SECTION Foreword to Hebrew Section Abbreviations Employed in the Manuscript Hebrew Text of Rashi’s Commentary on Psalms Appendix: Hebrew Text of Commentary on Psalms Attributed to Rashi in the Second Rabbinic Bible Indices 1. Index of Biblical Sources 2. Index of Ancient Biblical Manuscripts and Versions 3. Index of Rabbinic Sources 4. Index of Other Ancient and Medieval Authorities 5. Index of Medieval Manuscripts 6. Index of Modern Authorities 7. Index of Subjects and Terms

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).

Review :
'...gain entrance to the world of Rashi via a wide-ranging introduction and a thorough explication of one of his most important commentaries. The added bonus is Gruber's erudite philological treatment of many lexical difficulties in Psalms.' Isaac Gottlieb, Review of Biblical Literature, 2005.