Introduction
In Rashi’s commentary on Genesis 3:8, it states: ‘I have come only to explain the plain meaning of scripture (p’shuto shel mikra).’ This early comment in Genesis, among many other similar statements, is understood by some supercommentaries to serve as a fundamental guiding principle for Rashi’s commentary on the Torah. There are three general views pertaining to the nature of Rashi’s commentary: a. some argue that Rashi is not at all a commentary committed to p’shat, since it primarily cites midrash. This is the view of R. Abraham Ibn Ezra (1009-1167) and found in the introduction to Sefer ha-Zikaron commentary on the Torah.[1] This is the view of Avraham Grossman a… Read More »