This week’s Torah reading of Vayera begins with the appearance of three angels in front of Abraham’s tent—a passage that is surprisingly confusing. At times it is not clear who is being addressed, and verbs switch unexpectedly from singular to plural. Since the 2nd century, Christian exegetes have interpreted these verses as referring to the Trinity. The Sephardi commentator Abraham ibn Ezra (1089–1164) in fact cites this interpretation to refute it. By contrast, Samuel ben Meir (a/k/a Rashbam, ca. 1080–1160)—the grandson of the great exegete Rashi and uniquely committed to literal readings of Scripture—seems to draw on the standard Christian reading while rejecting its Christological implications. Or so Martin Lockshin argues:
Rashbam . . . explicitly reports on conversations he had with Christians about the meaning of biblical verses. He has no doubt that his own interpretations are superior. For example, he writes that they admitted that he was right and that their Latin books were inaccurate. . . . Similarly, Rashbam reports that he explained to them the principle behind the law of not mixing linen and wool and they accepted his explanation. . . . In these reports, Rashbam expresses no disdain toward them.
Moreover, writes Lockshin, the influence appears to have been mutual:
In her important book In Hebreo, Montse Leyra Curia of Madrid’s San Dámaso University notes that Rashbam’s slightly younger Christian contemporary, Andrew of St. Victor (d. 1175), quotes Jewish interpretations of the Bible frequently and without rancor. She argues, convincingly in my opinion, that Andrew did not have the text skills to read medieval Hebrew. What he knew about Jewish biblical exegesis—and he knew a lot—was from conversations with Jews.
Leyra counts up the number of times where the interpretation that Andrew writes in the name of the Iudaei or Hebraei, the Jews, is the same as Rashi’s, Ibn Ezra’s, or Rashbam’s. She concludes that Andrew’s largest source of Jewish exegesis of the Torah was Rashbam’s commentary, which he must have learned from conversations either with Rashbam or with a student of his. This supports the implications from Rashbam’s own commentary, that he discussed the Bible with Christians, and that the discussions were not necessarily confrontational.
More about: Biblical commentary, Hebrew Bible, Jewish-Christian dialogue