In the Orient there are no signs of his
influence until the end of the twelfth century. In 1192, barely
eighty years after Rashi's death, an exilarch had one of his
commentaries copied; and at the beginning of the thirteenth
century we find the commentator Samuel ben Nissim, of Aleppo,
making a citation from Rashi.
But it is naturally in the regions nearest to France that Rashi's
influence made itself most felt. The profound Talmudist, Zerahiah
ha-Levi, who lived at Lunel (1125-1186), rather frequently cites
"R. Solomon the Frenchman," and contents himself with merely
referring to Rashi's commentary without quoting in full, a fact
which shows that the work was widely spread in the Provence. A
number of years later, about 1245, Meir, son of Simon of
Narbonne, wrote in his apologetic work, "The Holy War": "The
commentaries are understood by all readers, for the least as well
as the most important things are perfectly explained in them.
Since their appearance, there is not a rabbi who has studied
without using them." I have already referred to the testimony of
Menahem ben Zerah;[144] to his may be added that of another
Provencal, Estori Parhi, who left France in 1306 to visit Spain,
and wrote an interesting book of Halakah and of recollections of
his travels. About 1320, David d'Estella, philosopher and poet,
wrote: "It is from France that God has sent us a bright light for
all Israel in the person of R.
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