The Book of Rossina

For each weekly Torah reading, the Book of Rossina (Sefer Rossina) offers a brief peshat (simple meaning) exegesis followed by a lengthy collection of midrashic comments. It has been suggested that the author, Samuel of Rossano, sought to compile a sourcebook rather than compose a commentary. The Book of Rossina was named after Rossano, a city in southern Italy. Perhaps the only work of Italian rabbinic scholarship of the twelfth century, Sefer Rossina contains many Byzantine Greek words and some Latin words, indicating a primarily Greek-speaking audience. The text’s organizational structure is also very similar to the twelfth-century Byzantine biblical commentary Lekaḥ tov by Tuviah ben Eliezer.