Popularization through Preaching and Poems: Considerations of Form in Biblical Commentaries

The late 13th century in Spain was a time of significant innovation in terms of the style of Jewish Biblical exegetical works. While earlier commentaries, for the most part, had consisted primarily of shorter interpretations/explanations of specific words and phrases in given verses, often focusing on peshat or citing midrash, many late 13th (and early 14th) century commentaries included longer expositions on broader exegetical questions and issues of Jewish thought. The most prominent examples of this are the commentaries of Nahmanides and R. Bahya b. Asher. Many scholars have written about these commentaries and the respective methodologies employed by their authors through exploring the mystical ideal of multivalence, commonly characterized as PaRDeS, found therein. This approach, however, while certainly useful, fails to consider the more popularizing, or pedagogical, elements of these commentaries. Nahmanides, Bahya, and other writers from this time period (including the unknown author of the Sefer HaChinukh) describe their commentaries as intended for students to study on a weekly basis, indicating that these authors recognized and indeed sought to highlight the popular nature of their works. This paper will demonstrate how the form of these Biblical commentaries shifted from that which preceded them in order to become more accessible. It will focus particularly on examining how the commentary of R. Bahya b. Asher blended the genres of commentary and sermon, particularly through the use of proems introducing each Torah portion, to spread various ideas of Biblical interpretation, Jewish thought, Kabbalah, and philosophy to a wider audience.