Rashi comments on this verse that " The entire people will be so imbued with the spirit of sanctity that God's Presence will rest upon them collectively, as if the congregation itself was the Ark of the Covenant.

Rashi, the great 12th century commentator on the Bible and Talmud, states clearly of the fetus lav nefesh hu: " it is not a person.

Rashi comments on this verse that " The entire people will be so imbued with the spirit of sanctity that God's Presence will rest upon them collectively, as if the congregation itself was the Ark of the Covenant.

He draws on Maimonides ' work but also offers Talmudical material ( in effect a summary of the Talmudic discussion ) largely following the commentary of Rashi.

Others, such as the medieval commentator Rashi, held on the contrary that the building of the Ark was stretched over 120 years, deliberately in order to give sinners time to repent.

According to tradition, Rashi was first brought to learn Torah by his father on Shavuot day at the age of five.

Rashi died on July 13, 1105 ( Tammuz 29, 4865 ) aged 65.

* Rashi's middle daughter, Miriam, married Judah ben Nathan, who completed the commentary on Talmud Makkot which Rashi was working on when he died.

Drawing on the breadth of Midrashic, Talmudic and Aggadic literature ( including literature that is no longer extant ), as well as his knowledge of grammar, halakhah, and how things work, Rashi clarifies the " simple " meaning of the text so that a bright child of five could understand it.

Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi wrote that " Rashi ’ s commentary on Torah is the ‘ wine of Torah ’.

Rashi wrote commentaries on all the books of Tanakh except Chronicles I & II.

Today, tens of thousands of men, women and children study " Chumash with Rashi " as they review the Torah portion to be read in synagogue on the upcoming Shabbat.

According to halakha, a man may even study the Rashi on each Torah verse in fulfillment of the requirement to review the Parsha twice with Targum ( which normally refers to Targum Onkelos ) This practice is called in Hebrew: " Shnayim mikra ve-echad targum ".

Rashi wrote the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud.

As in his commentary on the Tanakh, Rashi frequently illustrates the meaning of the text using analogies to the professions, crafts, and sports of his day.

Rashi exerted a decisive influence on establishing the correct text of the Talmud.

Siddur Rashi, compiled by an unknown student, also contains Rashi's responsa on prayer.

With it, any student who has been introduced to its study by a teacher can continue learning on his own, deciphering its language and meaning with the aid of Rashi.

The Schottenstein Edition interlinear translation of the Talmud bases its English-language commentary primarily on Rashi, and describes his continuing importance as follows:

In 2006, the Jewish National and University Library at Hebrew University put on an exhibit commemorating the 900th anniversary of Rashi's death ( 2005 ), showcasing rare items from the library collection written by Rashi, as well as various works by others concerning Rashi.

These were the basis of Simcha ben Samuel's Machzor Vitry ( 11th century France ), which was based on the ideas of his teacher, Rashi.

By far the best known commentary on the Babylonian Talmud is that of Rashi ( Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1040 – 1105 ).

Rashi, in a note to Shabbat 21b, says their purpose is to publicize the miracle.

# Blessing: Rashi ( quoting Tosefta ) says that this refers to the blessing the people gave King Solomon at the dedication of the First Temple.

Rabbeinu Ḥananel says this refers to not describing the day as " Sukkot ," similar to what Rashi says at regel ( see # 3 above ).

( Note: The Talmud quoted by Rashi says that his wives built the temples and he is considered responsible for not stopping them.

Nachmanadies, an important Spanish-Jewish medieval commentator says, like Rashi, that the prefix of the letter ב in word breishis cannot be understood to mean " in " as in the beginning, which would mean the order of creation.

The branches are often artistically depicted as semicircular, but Rashi may be interpreted as saying they were straight, and Maimonides, according to his son Avraham, held that they were straight ; other authorities, including Ibn Ezra, say they were round.

The Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus states that three of the seven lamps were allowed to burn during the day also ; however, according to the Talmud ( Rashi, Tractate Shabbat 22b ), only the center lamp was left burning all day, into which as much oil was put as into the others.

Rashi points out that Rebecca, Rachel and Leah were also prophets.

Rashi and his family survived the major anti-semitic outbreak when he was 45 years old ; many of his teachers who were some of Judaism's greatest Ashkenazi sages and his mentors did not survive.

Although there are many legends about his travels, Rashi likely never went further than from the Seine to the Rhine ; the utmost limit of his travels were the yeshivas of Lorraine.

Some of the other printed commentaries which are attributed to Rashi were composed by others, primarily his students.

Among the founders of the Tosafist school were Rabbi Jacob b. Meir ( known as Rabbeinu Tam ), who was a grandson of Rashi, and, Rabbenu Tam's nephew, Rabbi Isaac ben Samuel.

In the early medieval era, Rashi concluded that some statements in the extant text of the Talmud were insertions from later editors.

On the verse, “ He set the borders of peoples according to the number of the Children of Israel ,”( Deut., 32: 8 ) Rashi explains: “ Because of the number of the Children of Israel who were destined to come forth from the children of Shem, and to the number of the seventy souls of the Children of Israel who went down to Egypt, He set the ‘ borders of peoples ’ be characterized by seventy languages .”

Sets of tefillin dating from the 1st-century CE discovered at Qumran in the Judean Desert revealed that some were made according to the order understood by Rashi and others in the order of Rabbeinu Tam.

Rashi ( Rabbi Shlomo Itzhaki ) argues that " Keturah " was a name given to Hagar because her deeds were as beautiful as incense ( hence: ketores ), and / or that she remained chaste from the time she was separated from Abraham — keturah Q ' turah derives from the Aramaic word for restrained.

Rashi argues that " Keturah " was a name given to Hagar because her deeds were as beautiful as incense ( hence: ketores ), and / or that she remained chaste from the time she was separated from Abraham — keturah Q ' turah derives from Aramaic word for restrained.

In fact, the period of the Tosafot began immediately after Rashi had written his commentary ; the first tosafists were Rashi's sons-in-law and grandsons, and the Tosafot consist mainly of strictures on Rashi's commentary.

Often they were written in Hebrew letters, including the block letters used in Hebrew today and Rashi script.

The debates between Dunash and others were finally decided in the centuries after his death by Rabbeinu Tam, a grandson of Rashi, who attempted to judge between the two schools of thought, and by Rabbi Joseph Kimhi, father of the noted grammarian Rabbi David Kimhi ( RaDaK ), who supported Dunash's positions.

Subsequently, great rabbis such as Rashi, Maimonides, Don Isaac Abrabanel, and the Maharal of Prague, were all considered to be of the Davidic line by Orthodox Judaism.

Legend has it that when Rashi was holding his infant grandson, the baby touched the tefillin that were on Rashi's head.

The writings and rulings of those such as Rashi ( 1040 – 1105 ), Maimonides ( 1135 – 1204 ), Yosef Karo ( 1488 – 1575 ) who published the most widely accepted code of Jewish law the Shulkhan Arukh, Isaac Luria ( 1534 – 1572 ), the Vilna Gaon ( 1720 – 1797 ), the Chafetz Chaim ( 1838 – 1933 ) and many others have shaped Jewish religious law for almost two thousand years, as their religious rulings were published, distributed, studied, and observed until the present time.

His wishes were never carried out, and his money was used to publish another of Segal's works, Divrei David (" The Words of David "), a supercommentary on Rashi ( Dyhernfurth, 1690 ).

The Talmud in Sukkah 28a tells that while he was absorbed in studying Torah, if a bird flew over his head it would be burnt ( possibly a metaphor meant to say that any scholar who wished to differ in opinion with him was incapable of such ; Rashi suggests that the Ministering Angels HaShareis were responsible because they longed to hear his words of Torah.

His commentary in an important complement to the commentary of Bartenura ( Tosafot to Bartenura ’ s Rashi, as it were – hence the title.