Eliezer ben Nathan () of
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
(1090–1170), or Ra'avan (), was a
halakist and liturgical poet. As an early
Rishon, he was a contemporary of the
Rashbam
Samuel ben Meir (Troyes, c. 1085 – c. 1158), after his death known as "Rashbam", a Hebrew acronym for RAbbi SHmuel Ben Meir, was a leading French Tosafist and grandson of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi".
Biography
He was born in the vicinity of Tro ...
and
Rabbeinu Tam
Jacob ben Meir (1100 – 9 June 1171 (4 Tammuz)), best known as Rabbeinu Tam ( he, רבינו תם), was one of the most renowned Ashkenazi Jewish rabbis and leading French Tosafists, a leading ''halakhic'' authority in his generation, and a gr ...
, and one of the earliest of the
Tosafists
Tosafists were rabbis of France and Germany, who lived from the 12th to the mid-15th centuries, in the period of Rishonim. The Tosafists composed critical and explanatory glosses (questions, notes, interpretations, rulings and sources) on the Ta ...
. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi
Eliakim b. Joseph of Mainz, a fellow student of
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...
. Through his four daughters Eliezer became the ancestor of several learned families which exerted a great influence upon religious life in the subsequent centuries. One of his great-grandsons was
Asher b. Jehiel (ROSH), father of R. Jacob, author of the ''
Ṭurim''.
In or around 1160, a
synod was held in
Troyes as part of the ''
Takkanot Shum
The ( he, תקנות שו"ם), or Enactments of SHU"M were a set of decrees formulated and agreed upon over a period of decades by the leaders of three of the central cities of Medieval Rhineland Jewry: Speyer, Worms, and Mainz. The initials of th ...
''. This synod was led by
Rabbeinu Tam
Jacob ben Meir (1100 – 9 June 1171 (4 Tammuz)), best known as Rabbeinu Tam ( he, רבינו תם), was one of the most renowned Ashkenazi Jewish rabbis and leading French Tosafists, a leading ''halakhic'' authority in his generation, and a gr ...
, his brother, the
Rashbam
Samuel ben Meir (Troyes, c. 1085 – c. 1158), after his death known as "Rashbam", a Hebrew acronym for RAbbi SHmuel Ben Meir, was a leading French Tosafist and grandson of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi".
Biography
He was born in the vicinity of Tro ...
, and the Ra'avan. Over 250
rabbis
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
from communities all over
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
attended as well. A number of communal decrees were enacted at the synod covering both Jewish-
Gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...
relations as well as matters relating internally to the Jewish community.
''Even haEzer''
Eliezer proves himself conscientious and careful in his decisions, and in his reverence for tradition he is inclined to accept extremely rigid interpretations of the Law. He interprets the Biblical injunction "Forsake not the teaching of thy mother," as meaning, "What the older rabbis have prohibited we must not permit" (No. 10). The chapters on civil law contain many an interesting document, and also a statement of commercial relations occasioned by various trials. They contain precise statements of the prices of goods and accurate information concerning commercial usages in the
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
and in distant
Slavic countries; e.g., concerning the golden trade routes in
Strasburg and
Speyer
Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...
(fol. 145b); the coinage of the time; and the export trade with
Galicia and southern
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
(No. 5). Slavicion customs and character are also discussed in connection with ritual matters. Among the decisions are some containing interpretations of
Biblical and
Talmudic
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
sayings; one of them (No. 119) even presenting a connected commentary on
Proverbs
A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbia ...
30:1-6, in which
Saadia Gaon
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon ( ar, سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي ''Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi''; he, סַעֲדְיָה בֶּן יוֹסֵף אַלְפַיּוּמִי גָּאוֹן ''Saʿăḏyāh ben Yōsēf al-Fayyūmī Gāʾōn''; ...
's view is cited—namely, that Isthiel and Ucal were the names of two men who addressed philosophical questions to
Agur ben Jakeh.
The work mentions the year 1152, and must therefore have been completed after that date. The year 1247, which occurs on two copies, may be credited to later transcribers. In the subsequent centuries Eliezer came to be regarded as a great authority, but his work was little known. Not until its importance had been specially urged by the most influential rabbis of Poland—
Mordecai Jafe,
Samuel Eliezer Edels (Maharsha),
Solomon Ephraim Luntschitz, among others, in a formal appeal issued from
Posen in 1609—was its publication undertaken.
As liturgical poet
Eliezer wrote numerous
yoẓerot,
seliḥot, and other
piyyuṭim; very few of them, however, have been incorporated in the German and Polish liturgy. The ''Akapperah Pene Melek'' in the seliḥot to the musaf of the
Day of Atonement
Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's o ...
is an example. His poetical productions are valuable only as an index to his devout nature and to his estimate of the importance of the liturgy. They are distinguished for neither originality, elevation of thought, nor elegance of diction. With their allusions to
haggadic
Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, ...
interpretations, their employment of payyeṭan phraseology, acrostics, rimes, and similar mechanical devices, they differ little from many other liturgical productions. Some of these poems he seems to have written on special occasions. Thus, one piyyuṭ composed for a circumcision occurring on the
Sabbath bears at the close the cipher "ABN," and the words "Long live my child Eliakim." Altogether twenty-five piyyuṭim of his are known. One of his seliḥot depicts the persecutions of the
First Crusade
The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...
(1096); another, those of 1146.
As commentator
To Eliezer is attributed the commentary on the
Maḥzor published in
Ostroh
Ostroh ( uk, Остро́г; pl, Ostróg) is a historic city located in Rivne Oblast (province) of western Ukraine, on the Horyn River. Ostroh is the administrative center of the Ostroh Raion (district). Administratively, Ostroh is incorporated ...
in 1830. Some of Eliezer's expositions are mentioned in a commentary on the festal prayers called ''Ḳorban Aharon.'' Mention is also made of a commentary on
Abot
Pirkei Avot ( he, פִּרְקֵי אָבוֹת; also transliterated as ''Pirqei Avoth'' or ''Pirkei Avos'' or ''Pirke Aboth''), which translates to English as Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims from ...
, from which
Jehiel Morawtschik, in his ''Minḥah Ḥadashah,'' written in 1576 after a manuscript of the year 1145, makes quotations.
As chronicler: persecution of 1096
Eliezer is also supposed to be the author of a history of the terrible events of 1096, the year of the
Rhineland massacres
The Rhineland massacres, also known as the German Crusade of 1096 or ''Gzerot Tatnó'' ( he, גזרות תתנ"ו, "Edicts of 4856"), were a series of mass murders of Jews perpetrated by mobs of French and German Christians of the People's Cr ...
, part of the
People's Crusade
The People's Crusade was the beginning phase of the First Crusade whose objective was to retake the Holy Land, and Jerusalem in particular, from Islamic rule. After in 1095 the head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Urban II started to urge faith ...
. It expressed great antipathy towards the Christian crusaders, and wrestled with the matter of why
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
would allow so many
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
s to be massacred. The persecutions of the Jewish communities in the towns along the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
, the horrible butcheries that were perpetrated, are faithfully depicted here in chronological order.
In this work various acrostic verses contain the name "Eliezer b. Nathan." In deference to a passage in
Joseph ha-Kohen
Joseph ben Joshua ben Meïr ha-Kohen (also Joseph HaKohen, Joseph Hakohen or Joseph Hacohen) (20 December 1496 in Avignon, France – 1575 or shortly thereafter, Genoa, Italy) was a historian and physician of the 16th century.
Life
Joseph's p ...
's ''Emek haBacha,'' p. 31, which makes a certain Eleazar ha-Levi the author, some writers (as
Landshuth and
H. Grätz) have denied Eliezer's authorship of this chronicle. This view, however, was refuted around 1900. The chronicle was first edited by
Adolph Jellinek
Adolf Jellinek ( he, אהרן ילינק ''Aharon Jelinek''; 26 June 1821 in Drslavice, Moravia – 28 December 1893 in Vienna) was an Austrian rabbi and scholar. After filling clerical posts in Leipzig (1845–1856), he became a preacher at t ...
; and was republished as ''Hebräische Berichte über die Judenverfolgungen Während der Kreuzzüge,'' by
A. Neubauer and Stern, together with a German translation.
[In the ''Quellen zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland,'' ii., Berlin, 1892]
See also
*''
Mainz Anonymous'' and ''
Solomon bar Simson Chronicle''
Sources
It has the following bibliography:
*
Leser Landshuth
Leser Landshuth (15 January 1817 – 23 March 1887) was a German Jewish liturgiologist.
He went to Berlin as a youth to study Jewish theology, and there he became acquainted with Leopold Zunz and Abraham Geiger, the latter of whom was then stayin ...
, 'Ammude ha-'Abodah, pp. 20–22;
*
Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, pp. 211–215;
*
Moritz Güdemann
Moritz Güdemann ( he, משה גידמן; 19 February 1835 – 5 August 1918) was an Austrian rabbi and historian. He served as chief rabbi of Vienna.
Biography
Moritz (Moshe) Güdemann attended the Jewish school in Hildesheim, and thereafter we ...
, Gesch. des Erziehunqswesen und der Cultur, i., passim;
*
Zunz, Literaturgesch. pp. 259–262;
*Gross, in Monatsschrift, 1885, p. 310;
*H. Bresslau, in Neubauer and Stern, Quellen, ii., xv.-xvii.L
External links
Jewish Encyclopedia article for Eliezer ben Nathan by
Louis Ginzberg and A. Kaminka.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Eliezer Ben
1090 births
1170 deaths
Crusade literature
Rabbis from Mainz
12th-century German rabbis
Writers from Mainz