For the jewish/judaism sources identifying Sarai with Yiskah, The source is here the Talmud in tractate Megilla page 14, side A. Megillah 14a sefaria.org/Megillah.14a.13?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en relevant part i.stack.imgur.com/l4rcS.png The idea is mentioned in Rashi's commentary. Supracommentary on Rashi mentions Rashi's sources. Which is Megillah 14a. when Rashi is commenting on Gen 11:29 chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8175/showrashi/true/jewish/‌​… relevant part here i.stack.imgur.com/DZ4yA.png

I don't think it's that good to write Yiskah at the top when it's from a source that isn't authoritative in Christianity.. Also, it is the Talmud that mentions it (contrary to your second sentence). Also if I wanted the judaism sources 4 it i'd ask on judaism.stackexchange.com I think it could be mentioned 'cos Jewish sources can be of some interest to christians, but more of a side note.. Not in big writing at the top of the posted answer! Also some other judaism/rabbinic sources for it mentioned here dafyomi.co.il/chumash/…

thanks for your correction re the Talmud etc. The description of this site says "We welcome Jewish, Christian, Atheist, and other viewpoints, as long as they take seriously the process of understanding Biblical texts." As I mentioned, the Bible itself does not tell us Sarah's mother's name. In looking for it I stumbled on an answer and shared it.

I'm not sure that rabbinic texts do necessarily take seriously the process of understanding biblical texts!! Sometimes they do. I have a pastor friend that has made use of The RAMBAN's commentary (RAMBAN=Nachmonides). I think the RAMBAN is very logical and careful. Or, Rabbi Shimshon Rephael Hirsch is another good one. But some rabbinical stuff is a bit, shall we say, imaginative, probably making stuff up. In some cases there's a tradition but that's not really interpretation of biblical text.

btw, doesn't Meg. 14a say that Sarah herself was called Iksa - not her mother?

I admit that the rabbis speculate. But my answer did not, I reported that the bible does not give us an answer and provided an answer from a respected modern Jewish commentator. I'll leave it at that. You are welcome to the last word.

Actually I do need to apologize. I mistakenly thought this was posted on the biblical hermeneutics site, which I quoted from in my defense. I accept your criticism that a rabbinical opinion might not be an appropriate authority here.

Rabbis don't always speculate. Some of them are very logical(like the ones I mentioned) often have very interesting and good arguments, that could be relevant to anybody of any religion or none. Sometimes what they are doing is quoting or using a tradition, and that then hasn't really got anything to do with the bible, but a text alongside it. e.g. they might pull something from Midrash Rabba which could be some tradition + some made up stuff or speculation.

As for the idea that the rabbi you mention is a commentator.. That normally means they wrote a commentary on the thing in question.. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Kanievsky He has written some commentaries on parts of the Talmud. His main role was giving out rulings in Jewish Law. His main areas of study wouldn't have been the bible. Any reverence for him would be for his knowledge in Jewish law.

I don't see any biblical commentary from him in that list (though it's possible I missed something)

eg wikipedia says "Kanievsky became a major authority on all matters of Jewish law, authoring several books about Jewish legal writings.[7][15] He was notable even among Jewish scholars for annually reading the entire text of many sources of Jewish law, including not only the Babylonian Talmud but also the less commonly studied Jerusalem Talmud.["

Examples of Rabbis that have focuccsed on the bible, and written commentaries on it, and moreso on the plain text of it.. Nachmonides and Rabbi Shimshon Rephael Hirsch. You could check them out. RSRH's is maybe a bit harder to get hold of.

Nachmonides's commentary has a translation from "Rabbi Dr Charles Chavel".

You write " doesn't Meg. 14a say that Sarah herself was called Iksa - not her mother?" <-- yeah I didn't claim anybody said anything about her mother.

I suppose if Sarah is Yiska then her parents would be Haran and Haran's wife.. But I guess we don't have the name of Haran's wife.

Commentator was not the right word to describe this rabbi, I admit. Thanks for holding my feet to the fire.