The wise men from Speyer

A group of the ten most famous scholars of the Talmud school of the Jewish community Speyer , which was co-founded in 1084 in the year the community was settled by the Speyer bishop Rüdiger Huzmann , is called the wise men of Speyer .

composition

The Elders of Speyer include people from the 11th to the 13th centuries . In addition to the interpretation and oral teaching of the Talmud, members of the group wrote commentaries on the Talmud , Tossafot (commentaries on Talmud tracts), religious textbooks, poems , prayers , songs , hymns , texts on Kabbalah , a Talmud dictionary and religious legal opinions . Some were members of the Jewish court in Speyer , others were politically active as representatives of their people, some also as business people. The scholars considered themselves disciples and heirs of the prophets of ancient Israel . The group includes:

• David ben Meschullam
• Eliakim ben Meshullam ha-Levi
• Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi, the elder
• Samuel ben Qalonymus he-Chasid
• Schemeria ben Mordechai
• Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi, the younger
• Abraham ben Samuel ben Kalonymos
• Jehuda ben Kalonymos ben Meir
• Meir ben Kalonymos
• Simcha ben Samuel

Works

Although much has been lost, significant works by the scholars still exist, e.g. For example, the list of teachers and explainers , an 800-page Talmudic lexicon by Jehuda ben Kalonymos ben Meir or four lamentations and seven penitential songs by Abraham ben Samuel ben Kalonymos about the horrors of the persecution of the Jews during the 1st and 2nd Crusades .

See also

• Calonymids

literature

• Johannes Bruno : The Wise Men of Speyer or Jewish Scholars of the Middle Ages , series of publications by the city of Speyer, Volume 14, 2004, ISSN  0175-7954
• Johannes Bruno: The wise men from Speyer. Jewish scholars of the Middle Ages at the local Talmud school . Brochure, published by the Speyer Tourist Office, Speyer March 2003
• M. Wiener: Monthly for the history and science of Judaism . Ed .: Z. Frankel. No. 12 . Schletter, Breslau 1863, History of the Jews in the City and Diocese of Speyer, p. 161 ff . ( full text in google book search).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerd Mentgen : The Jews in the "SCHUM" communities Speyer, Worms and Mainz. Praised and praised before all the churches of the empire . In: Back then , accessed June 16, 2012