Editing Rashi (section)

===Commentary on the Talmud===
[[File:Raschihaus.jpg|thumb|200px|''Raschihaus'', Jewish Museum, Worms, Germany.]]
Rashi's commentary on the Talmud continues to be a key basis for contemporary rabbinic scholarship and interpretation. Without Rashi's commentary, the Talmud would have remained a closed book.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zeitlin|first=Solomon|date=October 2, 1940|title=RASHI Rabbi Solomon of France|journal=The American Jewish Year Book|volume=41|pages=111–140}}</ref>

Rashi's commentary had a profound influence on subsequent Talmud study and scholarship:
{{Blockquote|The commentaries of Rashi democratized talmudic scholarship. Prior to his work, the only way to master a tractate was to travel to a talmudic academy and study at the feet of a master. No written work could systematically convey with any degree of sustained accuracy the precise line of a talmudic argument... With the appearance of Rashi’s work, anyone, regardless of means, could by dint of talent and effort master any talmudic topic. It further expanded the range of knowledge of most scholars. Previously, one knew accurately only what one had been fortunate to study at an academy... The lifelong study of Talmud, the constant conquest of new tractates, and the unlimited personal acquisition of knowledge was in many ways the consequence of Rashi’s inimitable work of exposition.<ref name=haym/>}}

The presence of Rashi's commentary also changed the nature of subsequent Talmud commentaries:
{{blockquote|This is not to say that Rashi’s explanations were definitive. Far from it. For some three hundred years scholars scrutinized his commentary, criticized innumerable passages, and demanded their reinterpretation. Yet, all realized that the problem that had confronted scholars for close to half a millennium—how to turn the abrupt and sometimes gnomic formulations of the Talmud into a coherent and smoothly flowing text—had been solved definitively by Rashi. The subsequent task of scholars, therefore, was to emend and add to his interpretations.<ref name=haym>[[Haym Soloveitchik]], "The Printed Page of the Talmud: The Commentaries and Their Authors", in ''Printing The Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein'' (Yeshiva University Museum, 2006),  ([https://web.archive.org/web/20090216172520/http://www.printingthetalmud.org/essays/4.html link])</ref>}}

In general, Rashi's commentary provides the ''[[peshat]]'' or literal meaning of the Talmud, while subsequent commentaries such as the [[Tosafot]] often go beyond the passage itself in terms of arguments, parallels, and distinctions that could be drawn out.<ref name="Rashab_2">See [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144840/jewish/Chapter-XXVIII.htm ''Kuntres Eitz HaChayim'' ch 28] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418072346/https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144840/jewish/Chapter-XXVIII.htm |date=2023-04-18 }} for discussion of the interrelation between Rashi and Tosfot</ref> This addition to Jewish texts was seen as causing a "major cultural product"<ref name="Bloomberg, Jon 2004">Bloomberg, Jon. ''The Jewish World in the Modern Age''. Jersey City, NJ: KTAV Pub. House, 2004. 69.</ref> which became an important part of Torah study.<ref name="Bloomberg, Jon 2004"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14457-tosafot|title=TOSAFOT - JewishEncyclopedia.com|website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com|access-date=2021-09-26|archive-date=2021-09-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926163145/https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14457-tosafot|url-status=live}}</ref>
In the standard printed Talmud, the Tosafot's commentaries can be found in the Talmud opposite Rashi's commentary. The Tosafot also added comments and criticism in places where Rashi had not added comments.

Rashi also exerted a decisive influence on establishing the correct text of the Talmud. Up to and including his age, texts of each Talmudic tractate were copied by hand and circulated in yeshivas. Errors often crept in: sometimes a copyist would switch words around, and other times incorporate a student's marginal notes into the main text. Because of the large number of merchant-scholars who came from throughout the Jewish world to attend the great fairs in Troyes, Rashi was able to compare different manuscripts and readings in [[Tosefta]], [[Jerusalem Talmud]], [[Midrash]], [[Targum]], and the writings of the [[Geonim]], and determine which readings should be preferred. However, in his humility, he deferred to scholars who disagreed with him. For example, in [[Kodashim|Chulin]] 4a, he comments about a phrase, "We do not read this. But as for those who do, this is the explanation..."