Justice...

 ...is not something you'll find in this post. In recent months I've discovered a few commentators that I wasn't aware of or was aware of but not really familiar with, and I thought I'd write a little bit about my impressions of them here. This certainly does not do justice to their character or commentaries.

Philo of Alexandria - Everyone's probably heard of Philo. Though not everyone really knows who he was. Many of Philo's views on Judaism are still shrouded in mystery, but here's a short summary of what we know: He was a religious, observant, Jewish philosopher living in Alexandria in Egypt in the decades prior to the destruction of the Second Temple. His birth-name probably was Philon (Philo in Latin languages) which means "friend". Rabbi Azaryah de Rossi translated his name into the Hebrew "Yedidyah", but there were even tannaim at the time who had non-Jewish names, such as Antignos of Socho, so more likely that Philon really was his name and not a Greek translation. Philo had Hellenistic views of Judaism, but nonetheless, he kept mitzvot. He strived to explain the Torah per philosophical arguments; as such, his Judaic books are very philosophical. Most believe that Chazal either didn't know Philo or simply ignored him (as they did with Josephus and (probably) the Essenes), but there's a theory that he's mentioned in one particular midrash. Fascinating ideas on Torah can be gleaned from all of Philo's works (he's got a lot) but the most commentary-like of his works are Midrashei Philon (Midrash of Philo), the translation of which is currently a WIP started by Rabbi Shmuel Belkin zt"l. Some of it is available on Sefaria (for more info see this comment and onward).

Rabbi Nissim of Marseilles - Rabbi Nissim was a not-very-well-known 14th-century Rishon from Provence. What makes him particular is that he put forth a very rationalistic view of the Torah, something not very common at the time (which even led the Rashba to wage war against). Rabbi Nissim has a few books. One, Ma'aseh Nissim, is available in the site of the NLI here. The first part of the book is dedicated to explaining his view. The second part is dedicated to his Pentateuch-wide commentary. For us less-rationalistic folks, it's a fascinating read. For example, he wrote that the people of the earlier generations didn't really live centuries, but that they left behind legacies that were the equivalent of living centuries. They "died" when their legacies were forgotten.

R' Moshe Yitzchak Ashkenazi - A student of Shadal in Italy. Melamed by day, Torah commentator by night; R' Ashkenazi wrote commentaries on many of the books of the Tanach, under the name of Ho'il Moshe. All can be found on Hebrewbooks (note: within the book on the last chapters of Yirmiyahu, there's also his commentary on Daniel, Ezra and Nechamyah). In style, he's quite similar to Shadal: Short and to the point with fascinating and creative insights. Probably the most of obviously Shadal-like characteristic of his commentary, though, is his usage of the Persian language in understanding word-roots. I was particularly enchanted by his suggestion that the name Mordechai - contrary to the common belief that it's Aramaic or Akkadian in origin (Mari Dachia or Marduk respectively) - comes from the Persian "Mard" which means "red", suggesting that perhaps he was a red-head or had a yellow complexion (sort of like the gemara about Ester being a "yerakroket" (of yellow complexion). He also suggests that perhaps Mordechai was the Persian officer Mardonius. This actually ties in well with the midrash that says that Mordechai and Haman were officers in the Persian army.