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
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Why Jews Were Invited to Germany and The Crusaders
Nadene Goldfoot
Mainz, Germany
My interest in Germany goes back to Worms, Germany because I have found that we have chromosome matches that lead to our origins connecting with Rabbi Wertheimer of Worms, and the Rabbi of Worms, which all leads to being connected to RASHI, and his oral history of coming from King David, which many rabbis have stated. Also, our surname, Goldfoot, was once Goldfus; a German Yiddish name.
The first Jewish settlement in Germany was in 321 in Cologne which is along the Rhine River. It is assumed that Jews lived in Speyer in Late Antiquity. The state and church administration in the Migration Period collapsed and the urban Roman lifestyle declined. It is assumed that Jewish communities also dispersed then. They resettled in the Rhine area coming from southern France where Roman life had more or less remained intact.
Jewish merchants traveled a lot and would have had their families living in Rhenish towns (towns along the Rhineland). 906 for Mainz, and 960 in Worms. Records of Jews in Speyer appeared in the 1070's. They were members of the famous Kalonymos family of Mainz that we Goldfoots are found to be connected . They had migrated 100 years earlier to Germany from Italy. Other Mainz Jews also probably moved to Speyer.
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Pogroms that started in 1084 caused Jews to flee from Mainz and Worms to Speyer. The pogroms were started by the crusades who took refuge with their relatives in Speyer. They may have gone there by the instigation of bishop Rudiger Huzmann (1073-1090) of Speyer, who invited more Jews to live in his town by the approval of emperor Henry IV. The settlement he offered was the first documented ghetto
Why did he ask Jews to come live in Speyer? Jews had an important role in the money and trade businesses, especially with distant regions. Money lenders were needed on a large scale for the construction of the cathedral they were building. The deliberate settlement of Jews was seen as a measure for business development. Jews were the pioneers of urban development in Germany.
When Germans turned against the Jews and their trade restricted, this led to economic disadvantages and loss of revenues for the cities which is why bishops, lords and kings usually tried to restrain the anti-Semitic fevor of the lower clergy and the public. They had induced Jews to come by granting them privileges and protection and at the same time were safeguarding their own revenues and protection fees.
The matters were made with Judah ben Kalonymus, David ben Meshullam, and Moses ben Ghutiel (Jekuthiel) and were extended to all the Jews of the empire.
2 charters of 1084 and 1090 started what was called THE GOLDEN ERA in Speyer.
The period of when Jews left Judah and got to Europe is what I have been interested in. At first, Germany seemed to offer the Jews their greatest opportunity. The local archbishop invited Jews to settle in Speyer "to increase the honor of the town a thousandfold." So, in 1084, the first Jewish community in Speyer was started. The emperor approved of this, and as late 1090 he granted the Jews a charter which guaranteed freedom of travel, the right to own property, permission to deal with lawsuits between Jews in their own courts, and protection against the forcible conversion of their children to Christianity.
.jpg%2B%2B3rd%2BCrusade.jpg)
Jews would not have had these rights under ordinary circumstances. The royal decree offered real safety for the present, and the hope of better conditions in the future. But after only 6 years, the hopes of all medieval Jews were destroyed. They became targets for attack and persecution which continued for centuries in the name of the CHURCH OF ROME. The sudden change came with the First Crusade.
.jpg%2BFirst%2BCrusade.jpg)
This was said to be a fight to move the Muslims out of the Holy Land from their control. Pope Urbana II thought it a chance to show his leadership over the Christians in Europe. To nobles, it was a time for adventure, booty and conquest. The merchants of Italy wanted to reopen trade routes in the Near East blocked by Muslims.
The 1st Crusaders left in 1096. They went through the Rhineland and came to communities of Jews and cried "Infidels!. They saw Jews as murderers of their Lord and they attacked the Jews in town after town. They went through Cologne, Speyer, Worms, Mainz...leaving behind charred ruins and bodies of some 5,000 massacred men, women and children.
.jpg%2B%2BShepherd's%2BCrusade.jpg)
Speyer Jews were among the first to be hit but got off lightly compared to the Jews in Worms and Mainz who were attacked a few days later. In May 1096 on the Sabbath, everyone attacked the Jews in Speyer. They killed 11 Jews, but bishop John came with his troops and saved them from their hands. The bishop had the rioters punished severely and the Jews stayed in his palace until the rage of the mob had subsided. The Jews wound up paying him for saving them, of course. Then the bishop of Speyer (Johann vom Kraichgau I 1090-1104 prevented massacres and expulsions that happened in other cities of the Rhineland so that he saved himself and the town their revenues. 800 Jews died in the pogroms of Worms and 1,000 died in Mainz.
They captured Jerusalem on July 15, 1099 and the soldiers then rampaged and destroyed the city, raped the women and slaughtered all in sight. All the Jews had been crowded into the main synagogue and the building was set on fire. They were all burned alive.
The Crusaders held Jerusalem for over 100 years and in 1187 it was recaptured by the Egyptian Sultan Saladin. Saladin was the sultan that Moses Maimonides, the physician lived with and worked for.
This called for other Crusades who were weaker and in 1291, the last Christian troops were expelled from the Holy Land.
However, back in England in 1144, the terrible "Blood Libel" was invented; a false charge that murder of Christians was part of Jewish law and ritual and that Christian blood was used in making Passover matzah.
The 2nd Crusade was in 1146 when laymen and members of the clergy took part with outbursts of violence against Jews. Minna was a Jewish victim of this pogrom whose ears and tongue were cut off because she refused to submit to baptism.
The 3rd Crusade started in February 1195 and all the Jews of Speyer were being persecuted during which 9 Jews were killed. On February 13th, the daughter of Rabbi Isaak ben Ascher Haleve the Younger (1130) was accused of ritual murder (blood libel), killed and hung up in the market square for 3 days. Haleve was killed when he tried to recover his daughter's body from the mob. Many Jews had gone to the high balcony of the synagogue for help until 2 Jews paid a ransom for them all. They fled and their homes were plundered and burned and the synagogue was destroyed. When the Emperor Henry VI returned, the guilty had to pay damages to him and to the Jews.
Riots happened in Speyer in 1282 when Herbord Ohm accused the Jews of murdering his grandson. Property was taken from the Jews and put in the royal treasury. This was it. The Jews had had enough so decided to return to Judah. Their property was confiscated. Rudolph issued another order for more taxes on June 24, 1291 and required the Jews of Speyer to maintain the newly established Fort and garrison of Landau.
Easter of 1343 was when the body of a Christian, Ludwig, was found and Jews were tortured and burned at the stake. Speyer confiscated the homes of Jews for the benefit of the city on March 11, 1344.
A great plague of 1348/49 wasn't bad enough to stop pogroms through France and Germany against Jews, especially in the Rhineland. On January 22, 1349, Speyer's Jews were totally wiped out. Many were burned in their homes like Rabbi Eliakim. Others converted or fled to Heidelberg or Sinzheim. Burned corpses were gathered up into empty winecasks and rolled into the Rhine River. Property and the cemetery were taken from the Jews.
. It must have rebuilt throughout the ages, for the community was totally wiped out in 1940 during the Holocaust of WWII.
"The anti-Jewish attitudes were taught by the Christian Church and helped to create a European society in which the Holocaust was possible." Some of the anti-Semitic laws of the Nazis came directly from the laws of the medieval Church.
Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Speyer
My People, Abba Eban's History of the Jews Volume I by David Bamberger pages 126-127
Mainz, Germany
My interest in Germany goes back to Worms, Germany because I have found that we have chromosome matches that lead to our origins connecting with Rabbi Wertheimer of Worms, and the Rabbi of Worms, which all leads to being connected to RASHI, and his oral history of coming from King David, which many rabbis have stated. Also, our surname, Goldfoot, was once Goldfus; a German Yiddish name.
Speyer, Germany: The Jewish community of Speyer
consisted of 300 to 400 people Their synagogue, including a mikveh, was finished and consecrated on September 21, 1104, 11 years after the pogrom of 1096. By the 16th century it was no longer used.
The first Jewish settlement in Germany was in 321 in Cologne which is along the Rhine River. It is assumed that Jews lived in Speyer in Late Antiquity. The state and church administration in the Migration Period collapsed and the urban Roman lifestyle declined. It is assumed that Jewish communities also dispersed then. They resettled in the Rhine area coming from southern France where Roman life had more or less remained intact.
Jewish merchants traveled a lot and would have had their families living in Rhenish towns (towns along the Rhineland). 906 for Mainz, and 960 in Worms. Records of Jews in Speyer appeared in the 1070's. They were members of the famous Kalonymos family of Mainz that we Goldfoots are found to be connected . They had migrated 100 years earlier to Germany from Italy. Other Mainz Jews also probably moved to Speyer.
Why did he ask Jews to come live in Speyer? Jews had an important role in the money and trade businesses, especially with distant regions. Money lenders were needed on a large scale for the construction of the cathedral they were building. The deliberate settlement of Jews was seen as a measure for business development. Jews were the pioneers of urban development in Germany.
When Germans turned against the Jews and their trade restricted, this led to economic disadvantages and loss of revenues for the cities which is why bishops, lords and kings usually tried to restrain the anti-Semitic fevor of the lower clergy and the public. They had induced Jews to come by granting them privileges and protection and at the same time were safeguarding their own revenues and protection fees.
The matters were made with Judah ben Kalonymus, David ben Meshullam, and Moses ben Ghutiel (Jekuthiel) and were extended to all the Jews of the empire.
2 charters of 1084 and 1090 started what was called THE GOLDEN ERA in Speyer.
The period of when Jews left Judah and got to Europe is what I have been interested in. At first, Germany seemed to offer the Jews their greatest opportunity. The local archbishop invited Jews to settle in Speyer "to increase the honor of the town a thousandfold." So, in 1084, the first Jewish community in Speyer was started. The emperor approved of this, and as late 1090 he granted the Jews a charter which guaranteed freedom of travel, the right to own property, permission to deal with lawsuits between Jews in their own courts, and protection against the forcible conversion of their children to Christianity.
The 1st Crusaders left in 1096. They went through the Rhineland and came to communities of Jews and cried "Infidels!. They saw Jews as murderers of their Lord and they attacked the Jews in town after town. They went through Cologne, Speyer, Worms, Mainz...leaving behind charred ruins and bodies of some 5,000 massacred men, women and children.
They captured Jerusalem on July 15, 1099 and the soldiers then rampaged and destroyed the city, raped the women and slaughtered all in sight. All the Jews had been crowded into the main synagogue and the building was set on fire. They were all burned alive.
The Crusaders held Jerusalem for over 100 years and in 1187 it was recaptured by the Egyptian Sultan Saladin. Saladin was the sultan that Moses Maimonides, the physician lived with and worked for.
This called for other Crusades who were weaker and in 1291, the last Christian troops were expelled from the Holy Land.
However, back in England in 1144, the terrible "Blood Libel" was invented; a false charge that murder of Christians was part of Jewish law and ritual and that Christian blood was used in making Passover matzah.
The 2nd Crusade was in 1146 when laymen and members of the clergy took part with outbursts of violence against Jews. Minna was a Jewish victim of this pogrom whose ears and tongue were cut off because she refused to submit to baptism.
The 3rd Crusade started in February 1195 and all the Jews of Speyer were being persecuted during which 9 Jews were killed. On February 13th, the daughter of Rabbi Isaak ben Ascher Haleve the Younger (1130) was accused of ritual murder (blood libel), killed and hung up in the market square for 3 days. Haleve was killed when he tried to recover his daughter's body from the mob. Many Jews had gone to the high balcony of the synagogue for help until 2 Jews paid a ransom for them all. They fled and their homes were plundered and burned and the synagogue was destroyed. When the Emperor Henry VI returned, the guilty had to pay damages to him and to the Jews.
Riots happened in Speyer in 1282 when Herbord Ohm accused the Jews of murdering his grandson. Property was taken from the Jews and put in the royal treasury. This was it. The Jews had had enough so decided to return to Judah. Their property was confiscated. Rudolph issued another order for more taxes on June 24, 1291 and required the Jews of Speyer to maintain the newly established Fort and garrison of Landau.
Easter of 1343 was when the body of a Christian, Ludwig, was found and Jews were tortured and burned at the stake. Speyer confiscated the homes of Jews for the benefit of the city on March 11, 1344.
A great plague of 1348/49 wasn't bad enough to stop pogroms through France and Germany against Jews, especially in the Rhineland. On January 22, 1349, Speyer's Jews were totally wiped out. Many were burned in their homes like Rabbi Eliakim. Others converted or fled to Heidelberg or Sinzheim. Burned corpses were gathered up into empty winecasks and rolled into the Rhine River. Property and the cemetery were taken from the Jews.
. It must have rebuilt throughout the ages, for the community was totally wiped out in 1940 during the Holocaust of WWII.
"The anti-Jewish attitudes were taught by the Christian Church and helped to create a European society in which the Holocaust was possible." Some of the anti-Semitic laws of the Nazis came directly from the laws of the medieval Church.
Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Speyer
My People, Abba Eban's History of the Jews Volume I by David Bamberger pages 126-127
Labels: Abraham's Children, Catholic laws, Cologne, Crusades, Germany, Jewish communities, Kalonymos family, Mainz, pogroms, Rhineland, Speyer, Worms
Monday, June 09, 2014
Autosomal Test Showing Italian Connection with Kalonymos Family
One of the latest bits of news about our Goldfus/Goldfoot autosomal DNA test is that it shows a connection to Italy and to the Kalonymus family who were a very famous Italian family who originated from Lucca, Italy and who established themselves in Mainz, Germany.
One of them was the author of a famous prayer for Rosh Hashasna and Yom Kippur. You can check it out at http://www.seder-olam.info/seder-olam-g40-middle-age.html.
Another famous Kalonymos was Ben Kalonymos, called maestro Calo and who lived from 1286 to after 1328. He was a French Hebrew author and translator. He lived in various 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.
Our connection shows that we left Jerusalem in 70 CE and went to Italy, then to Germany and France and on up to Lithuania by 1730. Our German connection was with Samson Wertheirmer or his brother, Moshe. They were related to the Rabbi of Worms, Germany who connected to Rashi. Rashi's connection is to King David. from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE.
From Andi: Rabbi Elhanan married a daughter Unknown whose father was Rabbi Yitzhak Hazaken Hehasid Kalonymus. He died during the first Crusade of 1096 CE.
The mother was a descendant of Rabbi Meshullem Hagadol Kalonymus of Lucca, Italy from 900-976 CE.
Resource: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~prohel/names/wolfbohm/wolfdes.html genealogy tree of Rabbi Samson Wertheimer who we are connected to in order to be on the Halpern & Branches on Family Tree DNA.
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-judean-family-became-one-of-first.html
One of them was the author of a famous prayer for Rosh Hashasna and Yom Kippur. You can check it out at http://www.seder-olam.info/seder-olam-g40-middle-age.html.
Another famous Kalonymos was Ben Kalonymos, called maestro Calo and who lived from 1286 to after 1328. He was a French Hebrew author and translator. He lived in various 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.
Our connection shows that we left Jerusalem in 70 CE and went to Italy, then to Germany and France and on up to Lithuania by 1730. Our German connection was with Samson Wertheirmer or his brother, Moshe. They were related to the Rabbi of Worms, Germany who connected to Rashi. Rashi's connection is to King David. from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE.
From Andi: Rabbi Elhanan married a daughter Unknown whose father was Rabbi Yitzhak Hazaken Hehasid Kalonymus. He died during the first Crusade of 1096 CE.
The mother was a descendant of Rabbi Meshullem Hagadol Kalonymus of Lucca, Italy from 900-976 CE.
Resource: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~prohel/names/wolfbohm/wolfdes.html genealogy tree of Rabbi Samson Wertheimer who we are connected to in order to be on the Halpern & Branches on Family Tree DNA.
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-judean-family-became-one-of-first.html
Labels: autosomal DNA, Germany, Italy, Kalonymos family, Lithuania., Mainz
