In this age of influencers, we hear about young people barely out of their teens who have millions of followers on whatever the latest social media 'shiny thing dangling' happens to be. I'm not impressed. The latest internet sensation will be long gone and forgotten before its digital 'memory' disappears. Who pays attention to anything 'so yesterday'?

It's important to put things into perspective to drink in what real cultural influence looks like.

Among Jewish influencers, of course, Moshe Rabbenu has to be at the top of the list and there's Ezra the Scribe, and so so many more. But my vote goes to Rashi. Perhaps this greatest of Jewish influencers ever died more than 900 years ago! His enormous scholarship, renown, and recognition has influenced Jews in all communities worldwide. His name is synonymous with traditional Jewish learning since the 12th Century and his commentaries are still consulted by students and teachers 24 hrs a day around the world.

We know him mostly as RASHI, but that 'nickname' stands for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki or ben Yitzchak. Born in Northern France around 1035 in Troyes, in northern France. He spent his youth learning in yeshiva in Worms, Germany, with the renowned Rabbenu Gershom, 'The light of the diaspora.' He witnessed the Crusades rampaging through Europe on their way to the Holy Land. Upon his return to Troyes, at 25, he began teaching in his own yeshiva and composing his commentaries.

Rashi's famous commentaries cover almost all of books of the Hebrew Bible and almost all 72 tractates of the Babylonian Talmud. The Bible commentary provides necessary support to understand or better appreciate the text. Rashi might explain a difficult word, sometimes translating it into Old French, provide background on a story, and relate disparate events. Like a grain of sand is at the root of an oyster, Rashi's comments are 'sparked' by some 'irritant' in the text, which enables the teacher or student to always ask, 'What's bothering Rashi?' The difficult talmudic commentary helps a student understand the facts and/or logic of an argument and details unfamiliar concepts or words.

We have no 'original' Rashi manuscript, but we do have an early 12th-century manuscript of the Torah, Leipzig 1, which contains what is said to be a copy of Rashi's secretary's copy of the Torah commentary. The Torah Commentary was the first Jewish book published!

Rashi's commentaries quickly became the key to Jewish literature becoming more democratic as they reduced the necessity for a master teacher. Rashi's familiarity with the vast midrashic literature enabled him to construct his comments into a cogent aid to appreciating what the text is saying. The comments are concise, never wordy, but easily understood. His comments are so appropriate and thoughtful that Rashi's explanation or interpretation of the Biblical text often became the traditional or popular interpretation, almost the 'official' interpretation. In the traditional world, to this day, every student learns 'Chumash and Rashi' ie. the Torah with Rashi's commentary.

In his own words, Rashi explained, "I, however, am only concerned with the plain sense of Scripture and with such Agadoth that explain the words of Scripture in their context." (Comment on Genesis 3:8)

Both commentaries have been fundamental to our understanding of the Bible and the Talmud.

The following is a classic example from the Torah commentary in which Rashi references relevant midrashic material to 'explain' or contextualize the story line. In a famous example from Genesis 4:8:

וַיֹּאמֶר קַיִן אֶל־הֶבֶל אָחִיו וַיְהִי בִּהְיוֹתָם בַּשָּׂדֶה וַיָּקָם קַיִן אֶל־הֶבֶל אָחִיו וַיַּהַרְגֵהוּ׃

Cain said to his brother Abel … and when they were in the field, Cain set upon his brother Abel and killed him.

Reading the Torah, one expects Cain to say something as the verse opens but there is no quoted text. This is an obvious rough spot.

Rashi comments:

יאמר קין אל הבל. נִכְנַס עִמּוֹ בְּדִבְרֵי רִיב וּמַצָּה לְהִתְעוֹלֵל עָלָיו לְהָרְגוֹ. וְיֵשׁ בָּזֶה מִדְרְשֵׁי אַגָּדָה, אַךְ זֶה יִשּׁוּבוֹ שֶׁל מִקְרָא:

ויאמר קין אל הבל AND CAIN SPAKE TO ABEL — He began an argument, striving and contending with him to seek a pretext to kill him. There are Midrashic explanations of these words, but this is the plain sense of the text.

We also see here that Rashi references his 'process.' He tells us that he could have used one of many midrashim which ask and answer the same question, but he instead chose to explain this gap in the text by supplying a context of the murder of Abel. This explanation of the obvious problem in the text has become its classic interpretation.

Every influencer has their influences! Rashi lived during the 12th-century Renaissance during which there was a revival of intellectual curiosity, with influences from Muslim lands and intellectual growth in Christian Europe. This influenced Rashi and some earlier sages. The increased sensitivity to the literary characteristics of the Bible and a desire to understand what the text really meant spurred them to write commentaries in this new genre. Rashi's technique uses the exegetical material from midrash to develop a 'pshat' commentary expressing the 'literal' meaning of the text. There is less 'religious truth-seeking' (Harris) and more reading according to literary context.

Seeking to understand the 'pshat', literal meaning of the text, is a learning pursuit which is still informed by the great influencer, Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak. There's no dance routine or fashion statement, but 900 years of influence on the Jewish world certainly speaks to what 'influence' really is.