ר׳ שמואל בן מאיר

ר׳ שמואל בן מאיר (c.1085–c.1174), the Rashbam, was a northern French biblical commentator and Tosafist. Born at Ramerupt to ר׳ מאיר בן שמואל and Yocheved, daughter of רש״י, he learned first from his parents and then closely from רש״י in Troyes. His Torah commentary is celebrated for sustained attention to peshat—the contextual and grammatical sense of Scripture—even when it differs from familiar midrashic interpretation. Rashbam nevertheless affirmed rabbinic interpretation and halakhah; his method distinguished the textual question being asked from the legal authority of tradition. He wrote commentaries on much of the Bible, although only portions survive, and important Talmudic commentaries. His commentary completes the standard printed commentary on Bava Batra where רש״י’s ends and survives on parts of Pesachim and other tractates. Some scholarship places him at Rouen and as head of its academy from about 1135, while his family base and burial tradition remain tied to Ramerupt. His exact death year is disputed. No authenticated lifetime portrait is known, so the former generic image has been removed.