Regarding Elie Wiesel’s new biography Rashi, on the great medieval French commentator on the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, and the Talmud, I mentioned that he’s important not just for Jews but for Christians. His name is an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo son of Yitzhak. Writes Wiesel about Nicholas of Lyra (13th century):

He cited Rashi so frequently that a certain Jean Mercier, at the College Royal of Paris, nicknamed him Simius Solomonis, Solomon’s (Shlomo’s) monkey.

Through Nicholas of Lyra, Rashi had a powerful influence on Martin Luther whose German translation of the Bible owes much to him.