Rashi's daughters

Yocheved bat Shlomo Yitzchaki (Hebrew: יוכבד בת שלמה יצחקי) was born between 1058 and 1062 in Troyes, and died in 1135 in Ramerupt. She married Meir ben Samuel, son of Samuel of Vives and Miriam. He was born around 1060 in Ramerupt, where he died in 1135, a few months after her.

They had four sons: Isaac ben Meir, Samuel ben Meir, Solomon ben Meir, and Jacob ben Meir. Despite the modern Ashkenazi naming custom, Yocheved's son Solomon was born during her father's lifetime. Yocheved and Meir had at least two daughters who married Rashi's students: Hannah, a teacher of laws and customs relevant to women, married Samuel ben Simcha. Their son, Isaac of Dampierre, became the leading Talmudic scholar of his generation. Another daughter, whose name is unknown, married Samson ben Joseph.[2]

Yocheved's name appears in MS de Rossi 181.[3]

Miriam bat Shlomo Yitzchaki (Hebrew: מרים בת שלמה יצחקי) was born between 1058 and 1062 and died after 1090. She married Judah ben Nathan son of Nathan of Paris and Alvina. He was born around 1065 in Mainz and died around 1105 in Paris.

They had a one known daughter, Alvina, a learned woman whose customs served as an example for other Jewish women. They also had three sons: Yom Tov ben Judah, Samson ben Judah and Eliezer ben Judah. Yom Tov later moved to Paris and headed a yeshiva there, along with his brothers.[4]

Rachel bat Shlomo Yitzchaki (Hebrew: רחל בת שלמה יצחקי) was born in Troyes around 1070. She married Rabbi Eliezer. They had no children.

Almost nothing is known about Rachel except for a letter that Rabbenu Tam wrote to his cousin, Yom Tov, in which he mentioned that their aunt Rachel was divorced from her husband, Eliezer.[5] One of Rashi's responsa[6] discusses the case of his young daughter losing a valuable ring at a time when Yocheved and Miriam were adults, so there was clearly another daughter much younger than her older sisters. In addition, Rashi is mentioned as having a grandson, Shemiah, and a granddaughter, Miriam, whose mother was neither Yocheved nor Miriam. Judy Chicago, in her compendium of significant women in history,[7] lists Rachel (b. 1070), daughter of Rashi, as a learned woman who acted as his secretary and took his dictation when he was infirm.

Some scholars, based on a responsum that details how Rashi mourned for a little girl during a Jewish festival even though such mourning is prohibited, have postulated that he was mourning the death of his own young daughter, who would have been younger than Rachel.[8]

There are a couple of legends about Rashi's daughters, all suggesting that they possessed unusual piety and scholarship.[9]

The best-known, and most likely to be true, states that they were learned in Torah and Talmud at a time when women were forbidden to study Talmud.[10] While it seems impossible for girls with a yeshiva in their home to grow up without knowledge of Torah, there is more evidence than this. A responsum of Rashi notes that he is too weak to write so he is dictating to his daughter, which indicates that she was capable of understanding and writing complicated legal issues in Hebrew. There are two versions of this responsa, the other stating that Rashi was dictating to the "son of my daughter" instead of just "my daughter." However, it seems unlikely that Rashi would use the awkward expression, "son of my daughter" instead of, "my grandson," and more likely that "son of" was added in later. There is also evidence that Rashi's daughters and granddaughters taught Torah to local women and served as models for the proper performance of Jewish rituals.[11]

While there is no evidence that Rashi's daughters themselves wore tefillin, it is known that some women in medieval France and Germany did,[12] and that Rabbenu Tam, Rashi's grandson, ruled that a woman doing any mitzvah that she is not obligated to, including tefillin, must make the appropriate blessing.[13]

• Video Lecture on Yocheved bat Rashi by Dr. Henry Abramson