Sunday, December 11, 2016
Rabbeinu Gershom and His Teacher, Rabbi Yehudah Leontin From Mainz; our Ancestors, and RASHI and Eleazar of Worms.
Nadene Goldfoot
In our DNA connection to RASHI, I just found out we are also connected to one of his connections, Rabbi Gershom ben Judah (960- c1040) in Metz, Rhineland (Germany), also known as Rabbeinu Gershom Me'Or HaGolah ("Our teacher Gershom, the light of the exile.") He was a famous Talmudist and Halakhist. We connect through DNA to this rabbi due to our RASHI connection.
Rabbi Gershom ben Judah considered Rabbi Yehudah ben Meir an authority in religious decisions. Rabbi Judah was have been one of the founders of the scientific study of the Talmud in France. He and Rabbi Eliezer ben Judah addressed a group (teshubah) to the Jewish community of Troyes about the validity of certain statutes.
Metz was a town of Lorraine. with a Jewish community that flourished in the 10th century (900s) that suffered severely in the Crusading Period. They were expelled in 1306. Metz was a leading European community with 480 families and the home of famous rabbis.
RASHI was born in Troyes, France in 1040 and died there in 1105, but he studied and worked in Worms, Germany where he had his school, so R. Gershom came before him. "Rashi of Troyes (d. 1105) said less than a century after Gershom's death, "all members of the Ashkenazi diaspora are students of his." Troyes also had a Jewish community from the 10th century, and its prosperity was founded on the local fairs and the winegrowing, which is what Rashi did. The Jews were protected by the counts of Champagne. It was a major center of Jewish learning in Rashi's day. 13 Jews were put to death here in 1288 on a Ritual Murder charge, non-Jews favorite accusation. After their expulsion in 1306, they never regained what they once were.
R. Gershom's teacher was a German rabbi and Tamudic scholar from Mainz, Germany. His name was Rabbi Yehuda ben Meir, AKA Yehudah Leontin. He was an outstanding teacher addressed as Sire Leon and referred to as "The Grand" and "The Gaon." He was one of the greatest authorities of his day.
Rabbi Gershom ben Judah is the earliest notable western European Jewish scholar, born in Metz but lived in Mainz as he had his academy here. He was one of the first commentators on the Talmud. His legal decisions and regulations were accepted as binding by European Jewry. They included bans on polygamy, divorcing a woman without her consent, reading letters for others, cutting pages out of books and mocking converts who had returned to Judaism. Mainz had Jews living here in the Roman Period, but most information comes from the 10th century, too. It was the principal community of northern Europe and the main center for rabbinic learning. Then Jews were epelled in 1012. They soon were able to return. They got protection from the arch-bishop in case they needed protection from Crusaders in 1096. It didn't help much since hundereds were murdered anyway. By 1209 the emperor conceded his rights over the Jews to the archbishop. Then more massacres of Jews took place at the time of the Black Death in 1349 when the people were eager to blame the Jews. In the 10th to 11th century, Jews were prominent in trading, but from the 12th moneylending took place of their main occupation as that was all they were left to be allowed to do. So the Jews of Mdainz finally united for many reasons with the neighbors in Spire and Worms. They remained the center of learning until 1473 when they were again expulsed.
His life story contains much tragedy. Gershom lost his 1st wife so decided to marry a widow named Bonna and settled in Mainz (Mayence), and devote himself to teaching the Talmud. During his lifetime, Mainz was the center of Torah and Jewish scholarship for many Jewish communities in Europe. Before this period, they had been connected with the Babylonian yeshivas. Gershom was the spiritual guide of the fledgling Ashkenazic Jewish communities and was very influential in molding them when their population was dwindling.
He had students come from all over Europe and enrolled in his yeshiva. Then they would move to the many different communities in Germany and beyond which spread Jewish learning. Pupils were Eleazar ben Isaac (HaGadol-the Great, nephew of Simeon HaGadol); and Jacob ben Yakar, teacher of Rashi. His fame reached the ears of rabbis in Sura City and Pumbedita.
Then the worst happened. His son and his wife converted to become a Christian rabbi at the time when the Jews from Mainz were expulsed in 1012. Gershom grieved and mourned as if he were dead to him for 7 days , and he mourned again for 7 days when he died. He turned out to be understanding of others who had allowed themselves to be baptized to escape persecution as they returned to the Jewish life afterwards. He was against reproaching the with infidelity and those who had been slandered were given the opportunity to publicly pronounce the benediction in the synagogues.
He also had a grandson who was a rabbi following in his footsteps; Rabbi Yehuda ben Meir of Mainz. He was known for writing Sefer ha-Dinim, an account of his travels and those of other Jews in Eastern Europe. In this, he mentions Przemysl (Przemyśl, Poland
49°47' N 22°47' E 301 km SSE of Warszawa) and Kiev, ( Kyiv, Ukraine-50°26' N 30°31' E
0 km N of Kyyiv) Kiev, part of Soviet Union.
50°26' N 30°31' E 0 km N of Kyyiv as trading sites along the Radhanite trade network. This book should be a big help for geneticists who study population genetics.
Other rabbis we are related to:
Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gershom_ben_Judah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rabbis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wikiFranks
 |
| RASHI |
Rabbi Gershom ben Judah considered Rabbi Yehudah ben Meir an authority in religious decisions. Rabbi Judah was have been one of the founders of the scientific study of the Talmud in France. He and Rabbi Eliezer ben Judah addressed a group (teshubah) to the Jewish community of Troyes about the validity of certain statutes.
Metz was a town of Lorraine. with a Jewish community that flourished in the 10th century (900s) that suffered severely in the Crusading Period. They were expelled in 1306. Metz was a leading European community with 480 families and the home of famous rabbis.
RASHI was born in Troyes, France in 1040 and died there in 1105, but he studied and worked in Worms, Germany where he had his school, so R. Gershom came before him. "Rashi of Troyes (d. 1105) said less than a century after Gershom's death, "all members of the Ashkenazi diaspora are students of his." Troyes also had a Jewish community from the 10th century, and its prosperity was founded on the local fairs and the winegrowing, which is what Rashi did. The Jews were protected by the counts of Champagne. It was a major center of Jewish learning in Rashi's day. 13 Jews were put to death here in 1288 on a Ritual Murder charge, non-Jews favorite accusation. After their expulsion in 1306, they never regained what they once were.
R. Gershom's teacher was a German rabbi and Tamudic scholar from Mainz, Germany. His name was Rabbi Yehuda ben Meir, AKA Yehudah Leontin. He was an outstanding teacher addressed as Sire Leon and referred to as "The Grand" and "The Gaon." He was one of the greatest authorities of his day.
Rabbi Gershom ben Judah is the earliest notable western European Jewish scholar, born in Metz but lived in Mainz as he had his academy here. He was one of the first commentators on the Talmud. His legal decisions and regulations were accepted as binding by European Jewry. They included bans on polygamy, divorcing a woman without her consent, reading letters for others, cutting pages out of books and mocking converts who had returned to Judaism. Mainz had Jews living here in the Roman Period, but most information comes from the 10th century, too. It was the principal community of northern Europe and the main center for rabbinic learning. Then Jews were epelled in 1012. They soon were able to return. They got protection from the arch-bishop in case they needed protection from Crusaders in 1096. It didn't help much since hundereds were murdered anyway. By 1209 the emperor conceded his rights over the Jews to the archbishop. Then more massacres of Jews took place at the time of the Black Death in 1349 when the people were eager to blame the Jews. In the 10th to 11th century, Jews were prominent in trading, but from the 12th moneylending took place of their main occupation as that was all they were left to be allowed to do. So the Jews of Mdainz finally united for many reasons with the neighbors in Spire and Worms. They remained the center of learning until 1473 when they were again expulsed.
His life story contains much tragedy. Gershom lost his 1st wife so decided to marry a widow named Bonna and settled in Mainz (Mayence), and devote himself to teaching the Talmud. During his lifetime, Mainz was the center of Torah and Jewish scholarship for many Jewish communities in Europe. Before this period, they had been connected with the Babylonian yeshivas. Gershom was the spiritual guide of the fledgling Ashkenazic Jewish communities and was very influential in molding them when their population was dwindling.
He had students come from all over Europe and enrolled in his yeshiva. Then they would move to the many different communities in Germany and beyond which spread Jewish learning. Pupils were Eleazar ben Isaac (HaGadol-the Great, nephew of Simeon HaGadol); and Jacob ben Yakar, teacher of Rashi. His fame reached the ears of rabbis in Sura City and Pumbedita.
Then the worst happened. His son and his wife converted to become a Christian rabbi at the time when the Jews from Mainz were expulsed in 1012. Gershom grieved and mourned as if he were dead to him for 7 days , and he mourned again for 7 days when he died. He turned out to be understanding of others who had allowed themselves to be baptized to escape persecution as they returned to the Jewish life afterwards. He was against reproaching the with infidelity and those who had been slandered were given the opportunity to publicly pronounce the benediction in the synagogues.
He also had a grandson who was a rabbi following in his footsteps; Rabbi Yehuda ben Meir of Mainz. He was known for writing Sefer ha-Dinim, an account of his travels and those of other Jews in Eastern Europe. In this, he mentions Przemysl (Przemyśl, Poland
49°47' N 22°47' E 301 km SSE of Warszawa) and Kiev, ( Kyiv, Ukraine-50°26' N 30°31' E
0 km N of Kyyiv) Kiev, part of Soviet Union.
50°26' N 30°31' E 0 km N of Kyyiv as trading sites along the Radhanite trade network. This book should be a big help for geneticists who study population genetics.
Other rabbis we are related to:
 |
| Rabbi Eleazar of WormsEleazar of Worms, (Sefer HaRokeach), (1176–1238) 12th-century German rabbinic scholar |
He was also born in Mainz and was a codifier, Kabbalist and poet. It was he whose wife and 2 daughters were slaughtered by Crusaders before his very eyes in 1196. From 1201 on, he was the rabbi in Worms, Germany. He stressed the doctrine of repentance, the Ashkenazi theory of practical Kabbalah. Because of the book he wrote, THE BOOK OF THE SPICE-DEALER, he is known as Eleazar Rokeah,
Jerusalem In Judah fell to the Romans in 70 CE. France and Germany that was part of the west bank of the Rhine River and the Po Valley of today's Italy were part of Gaul, a name given to a large territory by the Romans where Celtic Gaul lived.
As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control. Then the Franks, also a member of Germanic-speaking people, invaded the western Roman Empire in the 5th century (400s). They dominated France, Belgium and western Germany and established the most powerful Christian kingdom of early medieval western Europe. The Franks had started merging with the Gallo-Roman population earlier, being they were Germanic tribes living between the Lower and Middle Rhine in the 3rd century (200s). The French have them as their ancestors. Some Franks raided Roman territory while others joined the Roman troops of Gaul. Wherever Roman soldiers had forts, there were Jewish slaves doing their dirty work, so where the Roman army went, so did some of our Jewish ancestors, either as the army's capacity as slaves or some other form.
Early on, Julius Caesar had conquered the Celtic tribes on the left bank, and Augustus had many fortified posts on the Rhine. Eventually Roman power waned as by the end of the 5th century in the 400s, the Franks had conquered all the lands formerly under Roman influence by the end of the 400s. By the 8th century, Franks dominion was established in western Germania and northern Gaul.
When the emperor was Otto I, crowned emperor of the Romans, who died in 973, both banks of the Rhine was part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 959 the Rhenish territory Germany was divided and eventually split up into little territories. With all this going on, our ancestors came into what is today's France and Germany, thinking they had found a haven. In came those into Worms in the 900s. this empire, made up of many lands, " was the largest territory of the empire after 962 which was the Kingdom of Germany, though it also came to include the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Kingdom of Italy, and numerous other territories. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Update: We do connect on our tree to the Kalonymos family of Rome from the 8th century (700s) They were also found in the 10th century Germany. There is a family tree and 12 biographies in Jewish Encyclopedia. LBI also hass a family tree, finding they were connected to Ullstein. JE has articles on David ben Jacob Meir, David ben Kalonymus, David Kalonymus of Naples, Mayence (Mainz) and EJ has one on eleazar ben Judah of Worms. They are connected to Saltman, Darshan and Jaffe as well.
Judah Ben Kalonymos was a Talmudist. from the 11th century (1000s) He lived in Spire where he wrote Yibuse Tannaim va-Amoraim (Genealogies of the Tannaim and Amoraim), which was a mammoth work, just partly published, giving the biographies and views of tamudic rabbis.
The was also Kalonymos ben Kalonymos, called Maestro Calo, b: 1286-after 1328. He was a French Hebrew author and translator who lived in many French centers and in Rome. He translated many philosophical and scientific works from Arabic into Hebrew and Latin for King Robert of Naples. His original works include Even Bohan, a moral work in rhymed prose, and Masekher Purim, a satiric parody of a talmudic tractate.
Jerusalem In Judah fell to the Romans in 70 CE. France and Germany that was part of the west bank of the Rhine River and the Po Valley of today's Italy were part of Gaul, a name given to a large territory by the Romans where Celtic Gaul lived.
As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control. Then the Franks, also a member of Germanic-speaking people, invaded the western Roman Empire in the 5th century (400s). They dominated France, Belgium and western Germany and established the most powerful Christian kingdom of early medieval western Europe. The Franks had started merging with the Gallo-Roman population earlier, being they were Germanic tribes living between the Lower and Middle Rhine in the 3rd century (200s). The French have them as their ancestors. Some Franks raided Roman territory while others joined the Roman troops of Gaul. Wherever Roman soldiers had forts, there were Jewish slaves doing their dirty work, so where the Roman army went, so did some of our Jewish ancestors, either as the army's capacity as slaves or some other form.
Early on, Julius Caesar had conquered the Celtic tribes on the left bank, and Augustus had many fortified posts on the Rhine. Eventually Roman power waned as by the end of the 5th century in the 400s, the Franks had conquered all the lands formerly under Roman influence by the end of the 400s. By the 8th century, Franks dominion was established in western Germania and northern Gaul.
When the emperor was Otto I, crowned emperor of the Romans, who died in 973, both banks of the Rhine was part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 959 the Rhenish territory Germany was divided and eventually split up into little territories. With all this going on, our ancestors came into what is today's France and Germany, thinking they had found a haven. In came those into Worms in the 900s. this empire, made up of many lands, " was the largest territory of the empire after 962 which was the Kingdom of Germany, though it also came to include the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Kingdom of Italy, and numerous other territories. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Update: We do connect on our tree to the Kalonymos family of Rome from the 8th century (700s) They were also found in the 10th century Germany. There is a family tree and 12 biographies in Jewish Encyclopedia. LBI also hass a family tree, finding they were connected to Ullstein. JE has articles on David ben Jacob Meir, David ben Kalonymus, David Kalonymus of Naples, Mayence (Mainz) and EJ has one on eleazar ben Judah of Worms. They are connected to Saltman, Darshan and Jaffe as well.
Judah Ben Kalonymos was a Talmudist. from the 11th century (1000s) He lived in Spire where he wrote Yibuse Tannaim va-Amoraim (Genealogies of the Tannaim and Amoraim), which was a mammoth work, just partly published, giving the biographies and views of tamudic rabbis.
The was also Kalonymos ben Kalonymos, called Maestro Calo, b: 1286-after 1328. He was a French Hebrew author and translator who lived in many French centers and in Rome. He translated many philosophical and scientific works from Arabic into Hebrew and Latin for King Robert of Naples. His original works include Even Bohan, a moral work in rhymed prose, and Masekher Purim, a satiric parody of a talmudic tractate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gershom_ben_Judah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rabbis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wikiFranks
Labels: entering Europe, Franks, Gaul, Holy Roman Empire, Kalonymos family, Rabbi Eleazar of Worms, Rabbi Gershom ben Judah, Rabbi Yehuda ben Meir, Rashi, Roman soldiers
