Rabbi Shlomo Yitshaki (in English, Solomon ben Isaac) is known, following the customary way of referring to great medieval Jewish scholars, as Rashi, the Hebrew acronym for his name. He wrote what continue to be the most important and extensive commentaries in Hebrew on the Hebrew Bible and the Bab-ylonian Talmud. The Bible commentaries have been a major part of biblical studies among Jews, and more than two hundred commentaries were written on his Torah commentaries, some by famous Jewish scholars in their own right. Rashi's Torah commentaries were also used by important Christian medieval Bible scholars, such as Hugh of St. Victor, Andrew of St. Victor, Peter Comestor, Roger Bacon, and Nicolas de Lyra.

Little is known of Rashi's early life. Most scholars accept 1040 as the year of his birth, although some maintain that no one could have accomplished all that he did in only sixty-five years...