The long-standing mystery surrounding the burial place of Rashi has been solved following the discovery of an ancient manuscript in the UK’s Oxford Library, along with additional manuscripts and historical maps uncovered this year, Yated Ne’eman reported.

Rabbeinu Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) was born in the year 4800 (1040 CE) in the city of Troyes, in northeastern France. At the age of 20, he traveled to Ashkenaz to learn Torah, and ten years later, returned to France, where he founded and authored his monumental commentaries on the Torah and Talmud until his petirah on the 29th of Tammuz, 4865 (1105 CE).

Toward the end of the era of the Rishonim, the Jews were expelled from France, and the matzeivos in the Jewish cemetery of Troyes were destroyed. For several centuries, no Jews lived in the city. Although French Jewish communities preserved the mesorah that Rashi was buried in Troyes, rumors later emerged claiming that he had been buried in Prague, Czechoslovakia or in Worms, Germany.

Although these rumors lacked credibility and reliable sources—especially since both cities maintained continuous Jewish communities that had no mesorah of Rashi being buried there—they nevertheless created uncertainty. Over time, researchers became accustomed to writing that the location of Rashi’s burial place is unknown.

This year, during extensive research ahead of a trip by talmidim of the Beis Yisrael Vizhnitz London Yeshivah to kivrei Rishonim in France, an ancient manuscript was discovered in the Oxford Library that, for the first time, provides an early and explicit source confirming that Rashi was indeed buried in Troyes.

The manuscript is Seder HaYichus, a genealogical record of the Chachmei France during the era of the Rishonim, written in France at the end of the 12th century. Parts of it were previously published by the Maharshal in his Shailos U’Tshuvos (Shailos U’Tshuvos Maharshal, Siman 29), but this is the first time the complete manuscript has been found. The handwriting is difficult to decipher, and even researchers who examined it several years ago did not notice the remarkable statement it contains.

The manuscript states regarding Rashi, “In the year 4865, the Ner Yisrael was extinguished, the crown of glory fell, and he lay with his fathers in Troyes.”

This corresponds with the wording of Rabbeinu Tam, Rashi’s grandson, who referred to Troyes in his Sefer HaYashar (Teshuvos, Siman 16) as “the city of my ancestors’ graves.” While that expression alone does not explicitly identify Rashi, the Seder HaYachas manuscript—written in France only a few generations after Rashi’s lifetime, when the Jewish kehilla and beis kevaros still existed—states explicitly that Rashi was buried alongside his forefathers in Troyes.

Additional evidence has also emerged. Historians of Troyes — working under a joint initiative of the French government, regional authorities, and the municipality — located further historical sources from the period, including documents written by contemporaries, ancient maps marking the Jewish cemetery, and archival material identifying its location at the foot of the old city wall near the Corda stream. In 2021, ancient graves were discovered at the site, confirming the location of the historic cemetery. Researchers are expected to publish their official conclusions in October.

Last week, on Rashi’s yahrzeit — the 29th of Tammuz — the talmidim of the Vizhnitz London Yeshivah arrived in Troyes after first davening at the ohel of the Baalei HaTosafots in Ramerupt, where the Rashbam, the Rivam, and Rabbeinu Tam are buried. In Troyes, they davened at the beis kevaros where, according to the research, Rashi is buried, and held a siyum on Masechtas Bava Basra. In doing so, they fulfilled Rashi’s own words (Yevamos 122a), that on the day of a great person’s petirah, talmidei chachamim gather at his kever and establish a yeshiva there.

HaRav Yisrael Meir Gabbai, chairman of the Ohalei Tzaddikim organization, who participated in the trip, met with local attorneys, representatives of the Jewish kehilla, and local French government officials in Troyes to begin the necessary legal and administrative steps toward erecting a proper matzeivah for Rashi Hakodesh at the correct location so that Jews from around the world will be able to visit his kever.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)