The aim of this work is to analyse and evaluate the Minýat Shai - the masoretic biblical commentary of Rabbi Yedidyah Shelomoh R. Wel Norzi of Mantua. Chapters four through nine offer a copiously annotated translation of Norzrs observations on pericope Bereshit and constitute the central feature of the thesis. The preceding chapters place Norzi's work in its historicai context and the final chapter offers a characterisation of Norzi and his magnum opus. Chapter one is a history of the reproduction of the biblical text from the earliest times, and deals with the existence of divergent texts in the Second Temple period, the ultimate acceptance by the rabbis of the text that would become known as the Masoretic Text, masoretic activity in Second Temple times and the first written masoretic records in the Classical Rabbinic Texts, the Masoretes - from c. 500 to c. 1000, the gradual dominance of the codex over the scroll for biblical texts and masoretic glosses the three masoretic schools, the dominance of Tiberias, the Tiberian sub-schools of Ben Asher and Ben Naftali, and the dominance of Ben Asher. I have also, here, surveyed the masoretic literature compiled independently of the biblical text, lost and extant biblical manuscripts and the post-Masoretes from c. 1000 to the mid-twentieth century. The chapter proceeds to a survey of the printed Hebrew Bible from the fifteenth to the mid-twentieth century with a final section on masoretic scholars, literature and Bible-editions from c. 1950 and into the twenty-first century. Chapter two presents a history of the Jewish community of Mantua prefixed by a historical sketch of the city itself Mostly devoted to the rabbinic scholars of Mantua, the chapter surveys briefly all the main aspects of Jewish communal life in the city. The period more fully covered is from from c. 1400 to c. 1800 though the earliest periods and the 19th and 20th centuries are touched on. Chapter three contains a biographical vignette of Norzi and discusses the historicalp erspectiveo f the Minot Shai. It surveys the manuscripts and printed editions 9 of the Minhat Shai and its addenda and illustrates the influence of this work of unsurpassed fame on contemporary and future generations. Chapters four through nine are a translation of Minhat Shai to pericope Bereshit (Genesis 1:1 -6:8 ) based on the Bodleian manuscript with references to the readings of the British Library manuscript MSS Kauft= A44 and A45 and the main editions. In the notes, I have attempted to elucidate technical terms and difficult passages, to supply exact sources for quotations, to identify all authors and works mentioned by Norzi and to supply basic biographical or bibliographical information on them. I have also tried to extricate the biblical and rabbinic allusions and the humorous asides embedded in his literary style. Chapter ten is a characterization of Norzi and the Minýat Shal describing the author and the completenesso f his commentary- dealing with every aspect of the Masoretic Text, Norzis sources, terminology and methodology, the embodiment of biblical and rabbinic phraseology in his language and his sense of humour