Rashi ṿeha-pulmus ha-Yehudi-ha-Notsri

About this book

Rashi saw before him three sacred missions, to which he devoted his diverse literary enterprise: the interpretation of the Bible and the Talmud; strengthening the Jewish community; controversy with Christianity. While the first two missions were widely used in the research literature, the third mission was only partially discussed. "Rashi and the Judeo-Christian Controversy" came to fill this void. The essay is written in a broad historical perspective that includes Rashi's work in many and varied fields, directly or indirectly related to the Judeo-Christian controversy that gained great momentum in his day. The Christian Church in the thirteenth century saw Rashi as its main enemy, claiming that it harmed the saints of Christianity and its efforts to convert Jews to their religion. Many of Rashi's controversies have been erased by Christian censorship, erasures reflected in the patterns of interpretation. On the other hand, Rashi's controversies have been preserved in manuscripts, which are widely used in the book.