As is natural, it was of his teachers that Rashi preserved the
most faithful recollections, and he refers to them as
authoritative even after he had surpassed them in knowledge and
reputation. He does not always mention their names in repeating
their opinions. If it were possible to make a distinction and
decide the authorship of each sentence, it would be found that we
are not far from the truth in asserting that the greater part of
the pupil's work was the work of his masters.[20]
But in literature, as elsewhere, honor does not redound to the
workmen who have gotten the material together, but to the
architect, wise and skilful [skillful sic], who conceives and
carries out the plan for the entire edifice, and, with the stones
others have brought, constructs a monument of vast proportions.
CHAPTER III
RASHI AT TROYES-LAST YEARS
The youth Rashi has now completed his apprenticeship; in his
studies and travels he has amassed a vast store of information,
which he will use for the profit of his contemporaries and of
posterity; and he now believes himself in possession of
sufficient knowledge and experience to strike out for himself.
Moreover, he must now provide for his family-we have seen that he
married while still a student. But he does not give up his
studies.
His change of abode was the only change in his life, a life of
remarkable unity, the life of a student.
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