Preface, p. 13, and Steinschneider, Hebr. Handschr. in der kön. Bib. Berlin, p. 3. (4) Responsa; see, for example, Raban (Prague, 1610, folio), leaves 143, col. 2, to 146b, col. 1, and elsewhere. (5) Of his controversies with Christians nothing is left except what is occasionally to be found in his commentary on the Pentateuch. (6) On his book on the calendar calculations see Berliner Magazin, vii. p. 185. (7) On the true author of the commentary on Aboth, ascribed to Rashbam, see Taylor, Catal., No. 20. (8) Although the attack on his hemero-nyction theory (commentary on Gen. i. 4, 5) was made by Ibn 'Ezra (Iggereth Hasshabbath; see Kerem Hemed, iv. pp. 159-173, and Mibhar Hammaamarim by Nathan b. Shemuel, printed at Leghorn in 1840, leaves 58a-66a) in Rashbam's lifetime he seems not to have answered it. (S. M. S.-S.)

3

Her name is unknown, as is also that of the wife whom
Rashi, according to Mishnic precept (Aboth, v. 21), married
at the age of eighteen. Soon after his marriage, and with
his wife's consent, he left her to prosecute his studies in
Germany, returning home only from time to time. She
bore him no sons, but three daughters.10

Rashi had at least six teachers,-(1) his father; (2) R.
Ya'akob b. Yakar (chief rabbi at Worms) for Bible and
Talmud (Rashi on T. B., Pesahim, 111a), a disciple of
R. Gershom (Rashbam, ibid., and Siddur, ii. leaf 10a) and
friend of R. Èli'ezer haggadol; (3) his successor, R. Yishak
Segan Leviyyah (T.B., Beşah, 24b), a pupil of R. Eliezer
haggadol; (4) his mother's brother, already named (T.B.,
Shabbath, 85b); (5) R. Yishak b. Yehudah, also a pupil
of R. Eliezer, and head of the community at Mainz
(Pardes, xxi.); (6) R. Elyakim, head of the community
at Spires (ibid., clix., clxxxi., ccxc., cccvi.). Besides the
oral instruction of his teachers, Rashi had and used copies
of, and commentaries on, sundry parts of the Talmud
written by these scholars themselves or by their teachers
or disciples (T. B., Berakhoth, 39a, 57b; Shabbath, 10b;
R. Hasshanah, 28a; Sukkah, 45b; Siddur, ii. leaf 10a).
He had also before him all the Jewish literature existing
and known at his time, as the Bible, part of the Apo-
crypha, all the Targums, sundry cabbalistic works (Sepher
Yeşirah, Hekhaloth, &c.11), both Talmuds, the Midrashim,
Sheeltoth, Halakhoth Gedoloth, Teshuboth Haggeonim, the
works of R. Mosheh Haddarshan, the lexicographical works
of Menahem b. Seruk and Donash b. Labrat, and, last but
not least, the commentaries of R. Gershom, which he used
largely, but mostly silently.12 He also used the works of
his own contemporaries, such as the 'Arukh.13 His studies
completed, Rashi returned to his native town and opened
a school for Bible and Talmud. His fame quickly rose;
disciples gathered round him from the whole north of
France and south of Germany, and men in office, who had
grown grey in study, addressed to him "religious ques-
tions," his "answers" to which give us insight into his
character, piety, and ability.14 He died on 13th (not 26th)
July 1105,15 having already seen two of his grandsons “in-
9 See Hophes Matmonim, ed. Goldberg, p. 2 ('ND INIIYI D"MTI

RASHI (), that is, RABBENU SHELOMOH YISHAKI (Solomon, son of Isaac), whence by Christian writers he is also called Isacides 1 (1040-1105), was the greatest rabbi of the Middle Ages. He is equally important for Biblical and Talmudic study, and in the former connexion as interesting to Christians as to Jews from the influence of his exegesis on Luther's Bible (through De Lyra; see vol. xi. p. 601) and on the English version of the Old Testament (mainly through Ibn 'Ezra, and still more through Kimhi). Rashi is the most eminent of the "sages" or "great men of Lothaire " 2 (, .e., Lorraine) in whom culminated that movement of Jewish scholarship to which Charlemagne had given the first impulse. From the Jew Isaac, first interpreter and then ambassador in his famous mission to Hárún ar-Rashid, Charlemagne had doubtless learned how superior in literary attainments the Jews of the East were to those of the West, and therefore he gave great privileges to the accomplished Makhirites who were introduced into the south of France, and spread Jewish culture and literature there. Later on he brought from Rome to Mainz the Kalonymites, a family of distinguished Talmudists, poets, &c., of Lucca;5 and soon Spires, Worms, and Mainz (spoken of as Shum, D") became famous seats of Jewish learning; their ordinances (Takkanoth Shum) were of normative authority for centuries, and the study of the Hebrew Bible and the Babylonian Talmud steadily spread from southern Germany to northern France. Though Spires, Worms, and Mainz by the partition treaty of Verdun in 843 belonged to East Frankland, yet in Jewish literature Lothaire includes these cities; and all the greatest doctors of Jewish lore in the south of Germany or north of France belong to the "great men sages of Lothaire."6 Rashi was born, in the year in which the last nominal gaon of Pumbaditha died, at Troyes, where his father Yishak was no doubt rabbi. R. Yishak was probably a disciple of R. Gershom; certainly he was an eminent Talmudist.7 wife, Rashi's mother, was a sister of R. Shime on hazzaken. 1 The interpretation of the of "" as meaning Yarchi (Jarchi), i.e., of Lunel, is not to be charged on Buxtorf, nor on Seb. Münster, being already found in the text of the Pugio Fidei of Raymundus Martini, written in the second half of the 13th century.

מלכות לותיך

Or c

His

2 Lothaire never means Lhuitre (Luistre), as appears from the phrase "realm of Lothaire." Instead of 7 in Rashi's so-called Siddur, ii. leaf 33a, must be read 1 y, as will be easily

seen from the context.

3 See Yoḥasin Hasshalem (London and Edinburgh, 1857, 8vo), p.84. 4 Possibly also, like some princes of the 10th century, Charlemagne encouraged Jewish literature in order to keep at home the considerable sums which the Jews had been wont to send to the Babylonian geonim. 5 See 'Emek Habbakha, ed. Letteris (Vienna, 1852, 12mo), p. 13, and Wiener's German translation (Leipsic, 1858, 8vo), p. 8. Reshal's Responsa, § xxix., is unfortunately corrupt in many places. 6 See Brit. Mus. MS. Add. 27200, leaf 24a.

7 This appears from an explanation quoted from him by his son on a passage of 'Abodah Zarah (f. 75a, catchword). This treatise was at that time scarcely studied, even by eminent rabbis, and the explanation is markedly superior to one which Rashi also gives from R. Ya'akob b. Yakar, hitherto regarded as the most eminent of his teachers.

8 Not to be confounded with his older contemporary, the poet and Halakhist, Shime'on b. Yishak haggadol. The epithets "hazzaken" and "haggadol" both mean "the elder," but the epithet is varied to distinguish the persons.

לפניהם

10 They married three of their father's disciples. The husband of
the eldest was, according to Schiller-Szinessy (Camb. Cat., ii. 88 sq.,
note 1), R. Simhah of Vitry-le-Français (ob. 1105), reputed author of
the Mahzor Vitri, which, if the other MSS. so called have no better
title to the name than that in the British Museum, Add. 27200-1, must
Schiller-Szinessy, op. cit., ii. 61 sq.). The issue of this marriage was
now be regarded as lost (Taylor, Catal. MSS. of Aboth, &c., No. 20;
(1) R. Shema'yah of Soissons (see MISHNAH, vol. xvi. p. 506); (2)
R. Shemuel, who married his cousin, Rashbam's only sister. Rashi's
second daughter, Yokhebed, married R. Meir of Rameru (b. Shemuel), a
brother of R. Simhah, He was father of four sons,-(1) Ribam (R.
Yishak b. Meir), who died in his father's lifetime; (2) RASHBAM (q.v.);
(3) R. Tham or Rath; (4) R. Shelomoh (Br. Mus., Add. 27200, leaf 158b).
The third daughter, Miryam, married R. Yehudah b. Nathan, who sup-
plemented his father-in-law's commentary on Makkoth, and wrote the
commentary that goes by Rashi's name on T. B., Nazir, &c. Their son's
name was R. Yom Tob (Sepher Hayyashar, Vienna, 1810, § 599).

11 See Rashi, T. B., Berakhoth, 51a; Hagigah, 13a; Sukkah, 45a;
and many other places. See also Siddur, ii. leaf 22b, col. 2 (on the
reading of the Shema' in bed). Such passages as Kiddushin, 71a, do
not, when rightly understood, testify to the contrary. Rashi's "they"
refers not to his contemporary teachers, but to those of the Talmud who
"had not explained to us the Holy Names of the Twelve and Forty-two.'
It is therefore quite untrue that Rashi "knew nothing of kabbalah."
12 R. Gershom, "the light of the Diaspora " (see vol. xvi. p. 506),
died in the year in which Rashi was born, and was the immediate
teacher of his teachers. One of his commentaries is printed in the
Shittah Melcubbeṣeth on Karethoth, Vienna, 1878, folio.

18 See T.B., Shabbath, 13b, catchword inn.
14 See Hophes Matmonim, p. 8.

15 See MS. De-Rossi (Roy. Libr., Parma) 175 (Catal., p. 116), and
MS. Luzzatto (Literaturbl. d. Orients, vii. p. 418). This precious MS.,
which subsequently belonged to Halberstam of Bielitz, is now the
property of the master of St John's College, Cambridge.

terpreting' in his presence, and the budding intelligence | massekhtoth death surprised him. Rashi on the Talmud has never of a third, who became the greatest Talmudist of his age. Rashi, though not the originator of all that he teaches in his commentary on the Talmud, had so digested the whole literature bearing on that stupendous work that his teaching, even when it appears to be imitative, is really creative. In his Biblical commentaries he has not, of course, grammatical and philological knowledge of the modern type, but he had a very fine sense for linguistic points, which was not equalled, much less surpassed, by the greatest rabbis who followed him. He gave satisfaction, if not to all, at least to the best of his time, and, as the great German poet says, "he who has given satisfaction to the best of his time lives for all ages."

consul, and the seat of a local governor nominated by the | brought out the first complete editions of Snorro's Edda sháh.

It is the centre of the silk trade, which once flourished so greatly in Persia as to show an annual export of nearly a million and a half pounds in weight, valued at £700,000. In 1882, however, the prevalence of disease among the silkworms caused many of the peasants of Gilan to abandon the culture of silk in favour of rice, which became largely exported to Russia. But the geographical position of Rasht gives it a world-wide reputation irrespective of trade. If the roads by Trebizond, Erzeroum, and Tabriz on the one hand and by Poti, Tiflis, and Tabriz on the other can still be considered the two "commercial highways" from Europe to Persia, the line of land and water communication by Astrakhan and the south-eastern shores of the Caspian has a good claim to be called the true modern highway for travellers and diplomatists moving in the same direction.

Rasht was visited in 1739 by "two English gentlemen from Petersburg," whose narrative, published three years later, contains much interesting information on the existing relations of Gilan with Russia. It is noteworthy, but not astonishing, to find that in those days the sháh (Nádir Kúli) was himself in a manner the sole merchant or trader in all Persia." In 1744 Jonas Hanway came there also; but no fuller account of the capital of Gilan has perhaps ever been recorded than that of Samuel Gmelin in 1771, when Hidáiyat Khán ruled the province, and Karim Khán Zend was sovereign of Persia. Gmelin was received with extraordinary honours, as an imperial officer of Russia, and every opportunity was afforded him of observing the country, its features and produce, and of acquainting himself with the manners and customs of the inhabitants. In 1882 a concession for the construction of a railway from Rasht to Teheran, via Kazvin, was granted to a M. Boital. It is probable that no more practical effect will be given to this scheme than to that of Baron de Reuter some ten years before.

See A Journey through Russia into Persia (London, 1742); Histoire des Décou vertes, vol. ii. (Lausanne, 1784); Eastwick, Three Years Residence in Persia (1864); Telegraph and Travel (1874); and published official Reports (1882).

The

RASK, RASMUS CHRISTIAN (1787-1832), an eminent scholar and philologist, was born at Brändekilde in the Island of Fünen or Fyen in Denmark in 1787. He studied at the university of Copenhagen, and early distinguished himself by singular talent for the acquisition of languages. In the year 1808 he was appointed assistant keeper of the university library, and some years after wards made professor of literary history. In 1811 he published, in Danish, his Introduction to the Grammar of the Icelandic and other Ancient Northern Languages, from printed and MS. materials which had been accumulated by his predecessors in the same field of research. reputation which Rask thus acquired recommended him to the Arna-Magnæan Institution, by which he was employed as editor of the Icelandic Lexicon (1814) of Björn Haldorson, which had long remained in manuscript. About the same time Rask paid a visit to Iceland, where he remained from 1813 to 1815, and made himself completely master of the language and familiarized himself with the literature, manners, and customs of the natives. To the interest with which they inspired him may probably be attributed the establishment at Copenhagen, early in 1816, of the Icelandic Literary Society, which was mainly instituted by his exertions, and of which he was the first president.

and Sæmund's Edda, in the original text, along with
Swedish translations of both Eddas, the originals and the
versions occupying each two volumes. From Stockholm
he went in 1819 to St Petersburg, where he wrote, in
German, a paper on "The Languages and Literature of
Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and Finland," which was pub-
lished in the sixth number of the Vienna Jahrbücher.
From Russia he proceeded through Tartary into Persia,
and resided for some time at Tabriz, Teheran, Persepolis,
and Shiraz. In about six weeks he made himself suffi-
ciently master of the Persian to be able to converse
freely in that language with the natives. In 1820 he
embarked at Bushire for Bombay; and during his residence
in the latter city he wrote, in English, "A Dissertation on
the Authenticity of the Zend Language" (Trans. Lit. Soc.
of Bombay, vol. iii., reprinted with corrections and addi-
tions in Trans. R. As. Soc.). From Bombay he proceeded
through India to Ceylon, where he arrived in 1822, and
soon afterwards wrote, in English, "A Dissertation respect-
ing the best Method of expressing the Sounds of the
Indian Languages in European Characters," which was
printed in the Transactions of the Literary and Agricultural
Society of Colombo. Rask returned to Copenhagen in May
1823, bringing with him a considerable number of Oriental -
manuscripts, Persian, Zend, Pali, Singalese, and others,
which now enrich the collections of the Danish capital.
He died at Copenhagen on 14th November 1832.

In October 1816 Rask left Denmark on a literary expedition, at the cost of the king, to prosecute inquiries into the languages of the East, and collect manuscripts for the university library at Copenhagen. He proceeded first to Sweden, where he remained two years, in the course of which he made an excursion into Finland, for the purpose of studying the language of that country. Here he published, in Swedish, his Anglo-Saxon Grammar in 1817. In 1818 there appeared at Copenhagen, in Danish, an Essay on the Origin of the Ancient Scandinavian or Icelandic Tongue, in which he traced the affinity of that idiom to the other European languages, particularly to the Latin and the Greek. In the same year he

During the period between his return from the East and his
death Rask published in his native language a Spanish Grammar
(1824), a Frisic Grammar (1825), an Essay on Danish Orthography
(1826), a Treatise respecting the Ancient Egyptian Chronology and
an Italian Grammar (1827), and the Ancient Jewish Chronology
previous to Moses (1828). He likewise edited an edition of Schneider's
Danish Grammar for the use of Englishmen (1830), and super-
intended the English translation of his valuable Anglo-Saxon
Grammar by Thorpe (1830). Rask's services to comparative
nexion between the ancient Northern and Gothic on the one hand,
philology were very great. He was the first to point out the con-
and of the Lithuanian, Sclavonic, Greek, and Latin on the other,
and he also has the credit of being the real discoverer of the so-
called "Grimm's Law" for the transmutation of consonants in the
transition from the old Indo-European languages to Teutonic,
although he only compared Teutonic and Greek, Sanskrit being at
the time unknown to him. Rask's facility in the acquisition of
languages was extraordinary; in 1822 he was master of no less
than twenty-five languages and dialects, and is stated to have
studied twice as many. His numerous philological manuscripts ·
were transferred to the king's library at Copenhagen. Rask's
Anglo-Saxon, Danish, and Icelandic Grammars have been given
to the English public by Thorpe, Repp, and Dasent respectively.
RASKOLNIKS. See RUSSIA.

RASPBERRY. See HORTICULTURE, vol. xii. p. 276.
RASTATT, or RASTADT, a small town in Baden, is
situated on the Murg, 4 miles above its junction with
the Rhine and 12 miles south-west of Carlsruhe. It
is a fortress of great strength, commanding the passage
through the Black Forest. The only notable building is
the old palace of the margraves of Baden, a large Renais-
sance edifice in red sandstone, now partly used for military
purposes and containing a collection of pictures, antiquities,
and trophies from the Turkish wars. The industry of
Rastatt is almost confined to local needs, and the town
may be said to live on the garrison, which forms nearly
half of its population (1880) of 12,356. Two-thirds of
the inhabitants are Roman Catholics.

Previous to the close of the 17th century Rastatt was a place of no importance, but after its destruction by the French in 1689 it was rebuilt on a larger scale by Margrave Lewis, the well-known imperial general in the Turkish wars, and became the residence of the margraves of Baden down to 1771. In 1714 the preliminary articles of the peace between Austria and France, ending the War Rastatt in 1797-99 had for its object the re-arrangement of the of the Spanish Succession, were signed here. The congress of map of Germany by providing compensation for those princes who had relinquished to France territory on the left bank of the Rhine.

1

very much tion is milder and more tamable than that of M. decu- | been named M. leuconota. All the ratels are of the same colour, namely, iron-grey on the upper parts of manus, and it is therefore the species to which the tame white and pied rats kept as pets commonly belong. It is the head, body, and tail, and black below, a style of colorasaid that in some parts of Germany M. rattus has been tion rather rare among mammals, as the upper side of the lately reasserting itself and increasing at the expense of body is in the great majority darker than the lower. Their M. decumanus, but this seems very unlikely from the pre- body is stout and thickly built; the legs are short and vious history of the two animals (compare MOUSE, vol. strong, and armed, especially on the anterior pair, with xvii. p. 5). long curved fossorial claws; the tail is short; and the ear-conches are reduced to mere rudiments. These modifications are all in relation to a burrowing mode of life, for which the ratels are among the best adapted of all carnivores. The skull is conical, stout, and heavy, and the teeth, although sharper and less rounded than those of their allies the badgers, are yet far less suited to a purely carnivorous diet than those of such typical Mustelida as The two species of the stoats, weasels, and martens. ratel may be distinguished by the fact that the African has a distinct white line round the body at the junction of the grey of the upper side with the black of the lower, while in the Indian this line is absent; the teeth also of the former are on the whole decidedly larger, rounder, and heavier than those of the latter. In spite of these differences, however, the two ratels are so nearly allied that they might almost be considered to be merely geographical races of a single widely spread species.

The brown or Norway rat, M. decumanus, is a heavily built animal, growing to 8 or 9 inches in length, with a bluff rounded head, small ears (see fig., B), and a comparatively short tail,-always shorter than the head and body combined, and generally not longer than the body alone. Its colour is a uniform greyish brown above, and white below, the ears, feet, and tail being flesh-coloured; melanistic varieties are by no means rare, and these are often mistaken for true black rats, but the differences in size and proportions form a ready means of distinguishing the two. The brown rat is believed to be a native of western China, where a wild race has been recently discovered so like it as to be practically indistinguishable. The two species agree fully in their predaceous habits, omnivorous diet, and great fecundity. They bear four or five times in the year from four to ten blind and naked young, which are in their turn able to breed at an age of about six months. The time of gestation is about twenty days. (0. T.)

RATAFIA is a term applied to a flavouring essence, the basis of which is the essential oil of bitter almonds. Peach kernels are properly the source of ratafia, but any of the other substances yielding bitter almond oil is used. The name "ratafia" is also applied in France to a variety of liquors, and from Dantzic a special liqueur is sent out under the name of "ratafia" (see vol. xiv. p. 686). RATEL. The animals known as Ratels or Honey-sionally partakes of honey. It is often very destructive to poultry, badgers are small clumsy-looking creatures of about the size and appearance of the true badgers, and belong to the same natural group of the Carnivora, namely, the subfamily Melina of the large family Mustelida, which contains the otters, badgers, stoats, weasels, &c. (see MAMMALIA, vol. xv. p. 440). Of the ratels two species are generally recognized, viz., the Indian Ratel (Mellivora indica), a

native of all the peninsula of India, and the African (M. ratel), which ranges over the whole of the African continent -although by some authors the West African race is considered to represent a third distinct species, which has

The following account of the Indian ratel is extracted from Dr Judson's Mammals of India :-"The Indian badger is found throughout the whole of India, from the extreme south to the foot of the Himalayas, chiefly in hilly districts, where it has greater facilities for constructing the holes and dens in which it lives; but also in the north of India in alluvial plains, where the banks of large rivers afford equally suitable localities wherein to make its lair. It is stated to live usually in pairs, and to eat rats, birds, frogs, white ants, and various insects, and in the north of India it is accused of digging out dead bodies, and is popularly known as the grave-digger. It doubtless also, like its Cape congener, occaand I have known of several having been trapped and killed whilst Circars. committing such depredations in Central India and in the northern In confinement the Indian badger is quiet and will par(0. T.) take of vegetable food, fruits, rice, &c." RATHENOW, a small town of Prussia in the province of Brandenburg, lies on the right bank of the Havel, 44 miles to the west of Berlin. It is known for its "Rathenow stones," i.e., bricks made of the clay of the Havel, and for its spectacles and optical instruments, which are exported to various parts of the world. It contains no buildings of note. The population in 1880 was 11,394, including 174 Roman Catholics and 68 Jews.

Rathenow has enjoyed the privileges of a town since 1217. In 1394 it was taken and partly destroyed by the archbishop of Magdeburg. During the Thirty Years' War it was repeatedly occupied by the opposing troops, and in 1675 it was cleverly snatched from the Swedish garrison by the Great Elector.

RATIBOR (Polish Raciborz), a town of Prussian Silesia in the department of Oppeln, is pleasantly situated on the left bank of the Oder at the point where the river becomes navigable, about 12 miles from the Austrian frontier. The most prominent buildings are the handsome courthouse by Schinkel and the Modern Gothic church; on the right bank of the Oder is the old château of the dukes of Ratibor. The town is the seat of a diversified industry, the chief products of which are machinery and railway gear, iron wares, tobacco and cigars, paper, sugar, furni ture, and glass. Trade is carried on in these articles and in agricultural produce, and hemp and vegetables are largely grown in the environs. The population in 1880 was 18,373, or, including the immediately adjacent villages, 27,100, five-sixths of whom are Roman Catholics. In the town itself, where there are only about 2500 Poles, German is chiefly spoken, but Polish and Czechish dialects are predominant in the neighbourhood.

Ratibor, which received municipal privileges at the close of the 13th century, was formerly the capital of an independent duchy,