It is certain that
the family has produced illustrious offspring, among them
Yosselmann of Rosheim (about 1554), the famous rabbi and defender
of the Jews of the Empire; Elijah Loanz (about 1564-1616),
wandering rabbi, Kabbalist, and commentator; Solomon Luria[154]
(died in 1573 at Lublin), likewise a Kabbalist and Talmudist, but
of the highest rank, on account of his bold thinking and sense of
logic, who renewed the study of the Tossafists; and Jehiel
Heilprin (about 1725), descended from Luria through his mother,
author of a valuable and learned Jewish chronicle followed by an
index of rabbis. He declared he had seen a genealogical table on
which Rashi's name appeared establishing his descent from so
remote an ancestor as Johanan ha-Sandlar and including Rashi in
the steps.[155] This family, which was divided into two
branches, the Heilprins and the Lurias, still counts among its
members renowned scholars and estimable merchants.
As if the numberless copies of his commentaries had not sufficed
to spread Rashi's popularity, the discovery of printing lent its
aid in giving it the widest possible vogue. The commentary on
the Pentateuch is the first Hebrew work of which the date of
printing is known. The edition was published at Reggio at the
beginning of 1475 by the printer Abraham ben Garton. Zunz
reckoned that up to 1818 there were seventeen editions in which
the commentary appeared alone, and one hundred and sixty in which
it accompanied the text.
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