Yocheved bat Rashi (Jewish Biography as History)

14th century illuminated manuscript. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
14th century illuminated manuscript, Italy. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Yocheved  was the daughter of one of Judaism’s greatest scholars: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, better known as Rashi.  A fascinating woman in her own right, this lecture will survey some of the references to Yocheved (and her illustrious sisters) and what light this sheds on the history of medieval Jewish women.

2 Comments

  1. Yael Zweig says:
    December 22, 2015 at 4:52 pm

    Yocheved Bat Rashi

    Yocheved bat Rashi was an extraordinary woman though almost all we know about her are legends. Born in 1058 to the world renown and most famous Jewish scholar Rashi, Yocheved bat Rashi was the eldest of the four daughters of Rashi. We don’t know much about Yocheved bat Rashi but her and husband Meir, had six kids. Three of their sons became famous scholars and commentators themselves, adding to her legacy they she was a highly intelligent scholar herself. So much so that Rashi in one place writes “and I called to my daughter”, seemingly to work on a certain question together.
    One of the legends about her is that Yocheved along with her sisters wore Teffilin but Rashi nor did any of her sons specifically mention anything like this.
    What we do know is that she came from an illustrious family filled with torah and has inspired countless generations of jewish woman to continue a higher level of learning while building a torah home.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    July 13, 2016 at 5:23 pm

    I thought Rashi had two daughters?

    Reply

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