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handwriting that was common at that period – in this script (people)

wrote letters, poems and books. In Torah books they used this script in
order to distinguish between the Torah and the Rashi Commentary.

As a commentator, Rashi did not accept that what is written in the Torah
is simple [obvious]. According to his approach, every little detail, every

word and every letter in the Torah have an explanation and logic. In the
story of the creation of the world it says: “Then God formed the man of

dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life…”
(Genesis 2:7). When God created man, first he created his body from the
dust of the earth, and after that he breathed the spirit of life into him.

Rashi asked himself why it is written “and He breathed into his nostrils”,
why God created Man both from the earth as well as from spirit? He

found a fascinating explanation to this: God created Man both from land
and from heaven (the body he created from the dust of the earth and the
soul from the wind in the skies), and the reason to this is the competition

between the earth and the heavens. On the first day God created the
heavens and the earth. On the second day He created the sky – for the

heavens. On the third day (He created) the land – for the earth. On the
fourth day (He created) the celestial bodies – for the heavens, and on the
fifth day the water animals – for the earth. So far there is a „draw‟

between the heavens and the earth. Therefore on the sixth day God had to
create both from the heavens and from the earth, so that the heavens and

the earth wouldn‟t be jealous of each other and wouldn‟t quarrel with
each other. (In Rashi‟s language: earth = the lower, heavens = the upper).

A Shortage of Words
(Throughout) all the long period of exile, and the Medieval Era [period]

in it, Hebrew was a language that (people) didn‟t speak [in]. Indeed,
many books and magnificent pieces were written in Hebrew, but Hebrew

stopped living in the mouths of the people. Even Rabbi Judah HaLevi and
Rashi who wrote their pieces in Hebrew did not speak Hebrew.

A language that is not spoken over a long period is forgotten, freezes and
stops to develop. In a living language, (people) invent an adequate new
word for every new tool and for every new concept. But in a language

that none speak, this [the] thing doesn‟t happen. For example, when they
invented the printing press, the eye glasses and later steam and the

motorcar, adequate words were invented for them in the various

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