14 - Midrashic Texts and Methods in Tosafist Torah Commentaries

Summary

The relationship between biblical and talmudic studies in medieval Ashkenaz is rather complex, and a number of trenchant questions remain. From all that we know about the Tosafists, and as E. E. Urbach's thorough treatment of their extensive literary corpus (in his seminal work, The Tosafists: Their History, Writings, and Methods) serves to demonstrate, talmudic and halakhic studies were at the core of the tosafist enterprise. Although the Talmud obviously cites and interprets myriad biblical verses for both halakhic and aggadic purposes and Tosafot passages include a fair amount of biblical interpretation in the course of their discussions and deliberations, the talmudocentric orientation of the Tosafists remains paramount throughout.

Thus, for example, in the realm of biblical studies, we cannot be certain that the search for peshat in twelfth-century northern France took place within the confines of the tosafist study halls, even though some of its leading adherents were also leading talmudic Tosafists. Rashi's grandson Rashbam (Rabbi Samuel ben Meir, c.1085– c.1158), the first of the twelfth-century northern French pashtanim (exegetes who sought the simple meaning of Scripture) who was also a full-fledged Tosafist, produced a comprehensive commentary on the Torah dedicated to omek peshuto shel mikra (the simple, literary interpretation of the biblical text), as well as commentaries on many of the other books of the Bible, not all of which are extant. Rabbi Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor of Orléans (d. c.1200), a Tosafist student of Rabbenu Tam (Rabbi Jacob ben Meir, 1100–71), authored an extensive Torah commentary that was somewhat closer to the method of Rashi's commentary in terms of its use of both peshat and derash, as well as a commentary on the book of Psalms, of which only fragments are extant. In another study, I demonstrate that there were several other Tosafists in this period and beyond, including two additional Tosafist students of Rabbenu Tam, Rabbi Yom Tov of Joigny and Rabbi Jacob of Orléans (both of whom died in England c.1190), as well as Rabbi Moses of Coucy (d. c.1250), who produced a significant number of comments on the Torah, broadly following the commentaries and exegetical styles of Rashi and Bekhor Shor.