Review of the book "Rashi's commentary on the Torah: Canonization and resistance in the reception of a Jewish classic", by Eric Lawee.

Abstract

It is very unusual for a scholar to identify a subject of manifestly great importance that has barely been addressed, but Eric Lawee has succeeded in doing so. Almost all traditionally educated Jews have at some point consulted supercommentaries on Rashi, but the genre has never undergone serious scholarly investigation. Moreover, the centrality and status of Rashi’s commentary is taken for granted to the point where one does not consider the process by which it achieved that status, let alone the possibility that it could have elicited vigorous criticism and resistance.