Place · Central Europe
Worms
Ancient names: Borbetomagus
A Rhineland city with a rabbinic academy where Rashi studied and where Eleazar of Worms lived; its community was destroyed in 1096.
49.6304°N 8.3588°E · representative coordinate · Pleiades 108820 ↗
Statements linked to this place
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The towering figure was Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, Rashi (1040 to 1105), a native of Troyes in northern France. He studied at the rabbinic academies of Mainz and Worms and, at about age 25, went back to Troyes, where he founded his own school. The learning of Rashi, his sons and his pupils transformed the study of Bible and Talmud throughout the Jewish world.
Tradition or narrative
Mainz Anonymous tells of Meshullam ben Isaac of Worms, who called out to those around him and to his wife Zipporah, announced he would offer up their son Isaac, born in her old age, as Abraham did with his own, and, despite Zipporah's plea to be slain first, carried out the sacrifice; the Crusaders then killed the couple.
In spring 1096 crusader knights and the unruly crowds that followed them fell upon Jewish communities in the Rhineland and other parts of Central Europe, killing about a thousand Jews and forcing many more to accept baptism. At Speyer the local bishop shielded all the city's Jews but 11. At Regensburg the Jews were driven into the Danube and baptized. Many other communities, such as Mainz and Worms, were destroyed.
Community: Jews of Worms
The towering figure was Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, Rashi (1040 to 1105), a native of Troyes in northern France. He studied at the rabbinic academies of Mainz and Worms and, at about age 25, went back to Troyes, where he founded his own school. The learning of Rashi, his sons and his pupils transformed the study of Bible and Talmud throughout the Jewish world.
Tradition or narrative
Mainz Anonymous tells of Meshullam ben Isaac of Worms, who called out to those around him and to his wife Zipporah, announced he would offer up their son Isaac, born in her old age, as Abraham did with his own, and, despite Zipporah's plea to be slain first, carried out the sacrifice; the Crusaders then killed the couple.
In spring 1096 crusader knights and the unruly crowds that followed them fell upon Jewish communities in the Rhineland and other parts of Central Europe, killing about a thousand Jews and forcing many more to accept baptism. At Speyer the local bishop shielded all the city's Jews but 11. At Regensburg the Jews were driven into the Danube and baptized. Many other communities, such as Mainz and Worms, were destroyed.