Rabbi Yosef Bechor Shor of Orléans רבי יוסף בכור שור מאורליינש
a Tosafist who read the Torah by its plain sense
Twelfth-century northern France produced two enterprises at once: the Tosafot, an argument about the Talmud, and peshat, the reading of Scripture by its plain sense. Usually different names are given for each; Rabbi Yosef Bechor Shor did both.
In the yeshiva he belonged to Rabbeinu Tam's circle, and his objections are cited in the Tosafot. But his commentary on the Torah reads differently from what came before: Bechor Shor looks for how a verse stands on its own, explains the commandments through their reasonable sense, and where Christian neighbours reinterpreted Scripture, answers them directly—calmly and from the text. This was not polemic for the sake of winning, but a defence of the plain reading.
His by-name comes from Moshe's blessing to Yosef: "bechor shoro", the firstling of his bull. It was the man who was called this; the book took its name from him.
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- The Torah commentary of Rabbi Yosef Bechor Shor — his manner of reading and his answers to reinterpretations
- The Tosafot, where his words are cited — his objections within Rabbeinu Tam's circle
Basis: documents and evidence.