Rashbam

Rashbam displays a great deal of respect towards his grandfather, Rashi, having learnt a great deal from him, but this does not prevent him from arguing on his views. The Rashbam’s commentaries are original and creative; his avoidance of Midrashic material allows him to look at the verse in an innovative, direct way.

The nature of Rashbam’s commentary makes the following assumptions:

• The commentaries prior to him, including his grandfather Rashi, might have thought that they were explaining the verses in accordance with the peshat, their commentaries do not express the simple meaning of the verse.
• The “enlightened” are those who study Tanakh without relying on any Midrashic material.
• The Rashbam’s pursuit of pure peshat does not take away from his regard for the Sages’ traditions, which are reliable and valid. The data derived from the derash is more important than the data derived from peshat.
• Nonetheless, the peshat maintains an independent significance.
• Both the Peshat and the Derash are true readings of the Torah.

The principles of Peshat according to Rashbam include:

• Taking into account common sense, logic and nature.
• A verse must be understood as part of the general context in which it is placed and as being integrated in the sequence of verses in which it is found.
• The peshat of Tanakh should be understood on its own, without consulting any external information; all data must be either explicit in the text or implicit in human logic or accepted practice.

Rashbam’s Rules for Understanding the Biblical Lexicon include:

• Synonyms are used in juxtaposition to each other without alluding to a different meaning to each word.
• When the Torah introduces a passage with “And it was at that time,” it is an expression which comes to tell us that this event is closely tied to the previous event.