if by Divine inspiration. Without him, the Babylonian
Talmud would have been forgotten in Israel." The
echo of this enthusiastic opinion is heard in the words
of the Hebrew scholar H. L. Strack, a Christian, and
the modern Jewish scholar A. Darmesteter. The one
says: "Rashi wrote a commentary which the Jews hold
in extraordinarily high regard and which all must
concede is of the greatest value." Darmesteter wrote:
"Suppress the commentary of Rashi, that masterwork
of precision and clearness, and even for a trained
Talmudist, the Talmud becomes almost enigmatical."

Can more be said? The commentary has become, in
brief, The Commentary, the Commentary par excellence,
Konteros (Commentarius).

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