Get to Heaven Keep the Seven

Everybody wants spirituality. To be a good person means to walk in G-d's ways. How does that translate to reality? The only guidebook to spirituality that has stood the test of time is the Hebrew Bible. The Bible says that the Jews will be a light onto the nations. But if you are not a born Jew, you have to convert, which is not so easy!! If you do convert, it is a lot of work to be a Jew (three times a day prayer, keeping kosher, observing the Sabbath).

This blog will show you how to be Jewish without the work!!

Monday, July 17, 2017

What Is Rashi Script and Where Did It Come From?By Yehuda Shurpin

Can't see images? Click here...

Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

One Step at a Time

Learn to deal with your difficult life situations one step at a time. Don't view all that you have to do as a mountain to climb in one jump. Divide tasks into steps small enough for you to deal with little by little. Focus on the specific task at hand and take pleasure with every small amount that you do.

Love Yehuda Lave

What Is Rashi Script and Where Did It Come From? By Yehuda Shurpin

I've seen Hebrew lettering printed in both standard "square" letters and "Rashi script." Can you please explain the origins of this script? Did Rashi have his own unique Hebrew script?

Reply

Rashi is an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040–1105 CE), whose commentary, without exaggeration, is considered the foremost biblical commentary to this very day. The vast majority of Jewish Bibles are printed together with Rashi's classic commentary, which is usually printed in a different script. Rashi, however, never wrote in this script.

Before getting into the origins of this script and where it got its name from, it should be pointed out that except for the letters א ב צ ש, Rashi script is very similar to the conventional fonts used in printing Hebrew:

The Printing Press

Up until the 15th century, Jewish scribes meticulously wrote each copy of the Bible, the commentaries, and other manuscripts. With the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1439, "the People of the Book" began to take advantage of this innovative way to disseminate Jewish works.

It is not clear which Hebrew work can claim the title as the first Jewish book printed, since many of the early Jewish incunabula were printed without a date. However, the first Jewish work printed with a date is Rashi's commentary on the Pentateuch, published on February 5, 1475, in Reggio, Calabria, by a Sephardic Jew named Abraham Garton. (This was not the first printed edition of Rashi's commentary; between 1469 and 1472, three brothers, Obadiah, Menasseh and Benjamin of Rome, were known to have printed an edition of Rashi, but it was undated.1) What is unique about the 1475 edition of Rashi is that the printer created and used a new typeface based on existing Sephardic semi-cursive handwriting.

A page from the only known nearly complete copy of the first dated print of Rashi, housed in the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma (image via University of Pennsylvania).

While the first editions of Rashi's commentary were printed as a separate work without the actual biblical text, later on, this typeface was adopted by other printers when they printed works such as the Mikraot Gedolot, an edition of the Bible that includes various commentaries such as Rashi. In order to distinguish between the biblical text and the commentaries, the biblical text was printed in the common square typeface, while the commentaries were printed in what is today known as Rashi script.

Although it is not clear who actually coined the term "Rashi script," the term evolved from the fact that Rashi's commentary—printed in "Rashi script"—is not only the most prominent commentary, it is often printed as the sole commentary alongside the Torah.

Reasons for Using Rashi Typeface

In addition to using the Rashi typeface as a means of differentiating between the texts, there are a number of reasons why printers chose to use this script:

1) Rashi script was a more compact typeface, which allowed more words to be fit on a page. At a time when paper and printing were very expensive, many opted to use Rashi script for other Hebrew works.

2) The Rashi typeface was considered to contain a "lesser degree of holiness," so some chose to use it for rabbinic writings.

3) The common square typeface used in printing resembles the letters in a Torah scroll, and one is not supposed to use the Torah script for anything other than Torah scrolls and other holy articles. Since Rashi script is quite different from Torah script, some have preferred it.2

Nevertheless, the Lubavitcher Rebbe strongly encouraged the use of the common square typeface so that these many commentaries and Torah thoughts be more accessible to the most people possible.3

Final Thoughts on Learning Rashi

Discussing Rashi's commentary, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, instituted that each person learn, as part of his or her daily study, a part the weekly Torah portion together with Rashi's commentary. Each Torah portion is split into seven parts, corresponding to the seven days of the week. Thus, on Sunday, one would learn from the beginning until "Sheini," the second aliyah, and on Monday until "Shelishi," the third aliyah, etc.

Rashi's explanation of the Torah is an indispensable part of a person's daily study of the Torah.

His commentary has the unique ability to both clarify the "simple" meaning of the text in a way that even a bright five-year-old could understand, but at the same time, provide the crucial foundation upon which most of the other classic commentaries are built upon. It also serves as the foundation for some of the most profound legal as well as mystical discourses, and it has garnered many "super commentaries" of its own.

Given the primacy of Rashi's commentary, it is fitting that the the script generally used to denote rabbinic commentary to the Bible became universally known as Rashi script.

For the daily Torah study of Rashi, including online text, video and audio classes, see here. To download the daily study app, click here.

Footnotes 1. "Rashi: Commentary and Plain Meaning," University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Judaica Online Exhibitions (accessed June 28, 2017). 2. Magen Avraham, Orech Chaim 334:17; see also Igrot Kodesh, vol. 18, p. 177, and Shulchan Menachem, vol. 5, p. 214, and fn. 13. 3. See Torat Menachem 5749, vol. 3, p. 101, quoted in Shulchan Menachem, vol. 5, p. 215. by Yehuda Shurpin

Can You Create an Oxymoron?

Think you have a good command of the English language? Try and match one half of the oxymoron to the other, and let us know how well you did. An oxymoron is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory, but which contain a concealed point (examples: Science Fiction, Living Dead, Dark Light). In this test, you'll be given one half of an oxymoron, and it is up to you to pick the other half. Good luck!

http://www.ba-bamail.com/content.aspx?emailid=21865

 

The WISDOM of PHYLLIS DILLER

 

Phyllis Diller was an American stand-up comedian, actress, singer, dancer, and voice artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, her self-deprecating humor, her outrageous hair and clothes.

As your beauty fades, so will his eyesight. 

 

-Phyllis Diller

 

  Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance? 

 

-Phyllis Diller

 

 Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shovelling the sidewalk before it stops snowing.

 

-Phyllis Diller

 

 The reason women don't play football is because 11 of them would never wear the same outfit in public.

 

-Phyllis Diller 

 Best way to get rid of kitchen odors:  Eat out. 

 

-Phyllis Diller 

 

 A bachelor is a guy who never made the same mistake once.

 

-Phyllis Diller 

 

 I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford.  Then I want to move in with them. 

 

-Phyllis Diller  

 

 Most children threaten at times to run away from home.  This is the only thing that keeps some parents going. 

 

-Phyllis Diller 

Any time three New Yorkers get into a cab without an argument, a bank has just been robbed. 

 

-Phyllis Diller 

  

 We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve years telling them to sit down and shut up. 

 

-Phyllis Diller 

 

Burt Reynolds once asked me out. I was in his room. 

-Phyllis Diller

 

 What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day. 

 

-Phyllis Diller

 

The only time I ever enjoyed ironing was the day I accidentally got gin in the steam iron. 

 

-Phyllis Diller  

 

His finest hour lasted a minute and a half. 

 

-Phyllis Diller 

 

 Old age is when the liver spots show through your gloves. 

 

-Phyllis Diller 

 

My photographs don't do me justice -they look just like me.

 

-Phyllis Diller 

 

 

 Tranquilizers work only if you follow the advice on the bottle -  keep away from children. 

 

-Phyllis Diller 

 

 I asked the waiter, 'Is this milk fresh?' He said, 'Lady, three hours ago it was grass.' 

 

-Phyllis Diller 

 

 

 

The reason the golf pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing.

 

-Phyllis Diller

 

 You know you're old if they have discontinued your blood type. 

-Phyllis Diller

See you tomorrow

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

Your mailing address

Contact Phone

Website

LIKE TWEET FORWARD

You received this email because you signed up on our website or made purchase from us.

Unsubscribe

No comments:

Post a Comment