Rada"k - Rabbi Dovid Kimchi 1157 – 1236

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R' Dovid Kimchi lived in Narbonne, Provence (in Southern France) where he was born and died. He was a major grammarian and the author of one of the most important Biblical commentaries. He was the son of another famous grammarian and rabbi, Rabbi Yosef Kimchi, who passed away while R' Dovid was still young. R' Dovid studied under his older brother, Rabbi Moshe, who also authored several volumes on grammar.

R' Dovid's first book was a work on grammar titled Michlol, the second section of this work is known as Sefer HaShoroshim - The Book of Roots - a dictionary of Biblical word roots. Later he began to write his famous commentary on Tana'ch, (the Jewish Scriptures) beginning with a commentary on Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles), which he wrote at the request of one of his father's students.

There is much discussion of R' Dovid's system and style of commentary, but most seem to agree that he emphasized p'shat - the basic meaning - with stress on clarity and readability.

Late in his life, R' Dovid became involved in the controversy surrounding the works of the Ramba'm (Maimonides) and the general issue of studying philosophy. R' Dovid defended the Ramba'm and wrote many letters opposing the Rambam's critics. He agreed, in principle, with the legitimacy of philosophical study, but only for knowledgeable and God-fearing Torah scholars.