Chizkuni חזקוני

Of Chizkuni neither the year of birth nor the year of death nor the town is known. Even the country—France—is inferred from the sources he leans on, not from any record of him. His father's name, Manoach, is known, and that the commentary was written in his father's memory; he chose the book's title so that his own name would be heard in it.

He says himself that he gathered "up to twenty" commentaries—and named almost none of them, so as not, he explains, to exalt some at the expense of others. Only a handful of citations carry names. The base is Rashi: Chizkuni analyses and clarifies him, and this is one of the first works of that kind, a structure built over Rashi rather than a retelling. Rashbam, Ibn Ezra and Bekhor Shor are visible alongside. It was first printed in Venice in 5284.