Rabbi * Yitzchak Ben Shlomo Tzarfati, RASHI's father

Family tree (in Hebrew): http://jewage.org/wiki/he/Special:GTreeViewer/P0117410998

Rashi's father, Yitzchak was a great scholar, but very poor. He made a meager living from the sale of wine.

Legend has it that he once found a rare diamond and thought to sell it to the local jeweler. The jeweler hadn't enough money to pay for such a large diamond and suggested to the bishop to buy it. Now the Bishop had been looking for just such a rare jewel and offered a huge amount of money for it.

However, Yitzchak refused to sell the jewel to be used as a decoration for the Madonna, he preferred to throw it away rather than see it become a part of idolaterous worship. As a reward, he was granted a son of the calibre of Rashi, who became a living spiritual jewel.

One day when Rashi's mother was pregnant with him, she was almost run down by a crusader, but a niche opened up miraculously in a nearby wall and she was able to shelter there. This wall later become a well-known landmark.

Masters of the Word: Traditional Jewish Bible Commentary from the Eleventh (Rashi) ‬ By Yonatan Kolatch

From Troys France