© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���4 | doi � �. ��63/�5700704-� �34� �68 The Review of Rabbinic Judaism �7 ( �0 �4) �07–� �7 brill.com/rrj The Secret of the Popularity of Rashi’s Commentary on the Torah Eran Viezel Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheba, Israel eviezel@bgu.ac.il Abstract How can we account for the popularity of Rashi’s commentary on Torah? Scholars have suggested that Rashi’s personality and his public and literary activities, on the one hand, and the special style of his commentary, on the other, account for the popu- larity of the commentary. The author proposes that in addition to these factors, it was a unique methodology that caused Rashi’s Torah commentary to become so universally loved: Rashi explained the Torah, above all, by means of aggadot meyashevot, i.e., agga- dot that fill gaps in the text but preserve the sequence and meaning of the narrative plot. As far as can be determined, there is no other exegete who invented similar crite- ria for selecting rabbinic aggadot. The aggada meyashevet has a unique effect upon the Torah, which can be called “thickening:” the reader enjoys the benefit of following the narrative plot, as well as interwoven and integrated subplots. Rashi’s Torah commen- tary creates an expanded Torah which is loved by its readers far more than the Torah itself, without the aggadot that thicken it. Keywords Rashi – Torah commentaries – Aggadot Meyashevot – Peshat exegesis – Derash exegesis The wide circulation and substantial influence of Rashi’s Torah commentary is well-known. Early on—probably already in Rashi’s lifetime—this work became the first point of entry for anybody wishing to comment on the Pentateuch.1 1 The author of Sefer Rushina, a contemporary of Rashi who composed his works in south- ern Italy, seems to have already availed himself of Rashi’s commentary on Torah; see