Rabbi Yona ibn Janach

Although R. Yona ibn Janach (Ribag) did not author even one full volume dedicated to biblical commentary, his contributions to parshanut have proven momentous.  For Ribag, biblical exegesis represented both the most fundamental basis and the ultimate application of the study of Hebrew language and grammar. His grammatical innovations lay the foundation for biblical exegetes who came after him, thus he should be viewed as an important exegete who influenced parshanut both in his time and in the following generations. He wrote Sefer Harikma and Sefer Hashorashim.

Ribag had three distinct impetuses for writing Sefer Harikma:

• Basic understanding of the Hebrew language is an urgent concern.
• Understanding language is the basis of all knowledge.
• One cannot understand the Torah without understanding its language.

Some of the grammatical topics that Ribag discusses include:

• The Lamed of Substitution
• Derekh Ketzara – various abbreviations used in biblical Hebrew
• Synecdoche – a type of metonymy in which a general term is used in place of the specific one
• Syntactic Inversion
• Roots of Hebrew Words