Magenza/Mainz

Mother Community of ShUM

Mainz – a new home on the Rhine

Why is it that Mainz, of all places, is the cradle of Ashkenazi Judaism? The conditions here are favourable for the establishment of a Jewish community. Many people of the Jewish faith from France and Italy find a new home in Mainz. Among them is the Kalonymos family of scholars from Lucca.

912–1024

The era of the Ottonian kings and emperors

Archbishop Willigis maintains close ties with the Ottonian imperial family. Both guarantee the Jewish community protection and freedom of trade. Under these conditions, the Jewish community is able to develop economically at a rapid pace in this trading city on the Rhine.

Stadtansicht von 1565, "Warhafftige Contrafactur der Löblichen Churfürstlichen Stadt Meyntz", StA MZ, BPSP / 14.3 B

Around 1000

Archbishop Willigis commissions the construction of the new Mainz Cathedral. At this time, Mainz is the ecclesiastical and political centre of the Empire.

A legend from SchUM

982: The Emperor’s rescue during the battle against the Saracens 

Emperor Otto II suffers a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Saracens in southern Italy. According to legend, in this desperate situation, an Italian Jew named Kalonymos gave the Emperor his own horse. In gratitude for this life-saving gesture, Otto II promised the Kalonymos family the right to reside in ‘Golden Mainz’.  

Around 1000

Centre of Learning

Economic and cultural prosperity in Magenza

Around the turn of the millennium, Rabbi Leontin established an intensive programme of Talmud study in Mainz. A Talmud college, a yeshiva, was opened. Students and scholars came from all over Europe. A few even travelled from Jerusalem to the Rhine. Magenza became a centre of learning. The Jewish community of Magenza experienced its greatest economic and intellectual flourishing during this period. At the yeshiva, new liturgical poems and legal opinions were produced which continue to shape Ashkenazi Judaism to this day. 

lupe

Gershom ben Yehuda – A Beacon of the Exile

lupe

Rashi of Troyes

What is the Talmud?

The Talmud (‘study, teaching’) is, after the Torah, the most important work in Judaism. This extensive collection of oral teachings contains interpretations and legal rulings by Jewish scholars spanning many centuries. The Talmud serves as a kind of ‘guide’ to Jewish religious law (Halakha). It explains how legal provisions, the laws of the Torah and rabbinical rulings are to be understood and applied in everyday life. There are two versions: the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud.

Ashkenazi Judaism

Ashkenaz is an ancient Hebrew term for Germany. During the Middle Ages, religious and cultural traditions developed along the Rhine in the SchUM towns, which later spread as far as Eastern Europe through migration. Yiddish forms part of their cultural identity.
The traditions of Ashkenazi Judaism differ from those of the Sephardim (Iberian Peninsula / North Africa) and the Mizrahim (the Near East). Today, Ashkenazim make up around two-thirds of the Jewish community worldwide.

What exactly is SchUM?

In the 11th century, people of the Jewish faith found a home in the Diaspora within the three communities on the Rhine, where they remained for several hundred years. Just how much they felt at home here is underlined by the name the SchUM communities chose for themselves: ‘Jerusalem on the Rhine’. 

SchUM is the unique federation of the three Jewish communities in Speyer, Worms and Mainz, which continues to shape the Jewish world to this day.

The term ‘SchUM’ is an acronym formed from the first letters of the names of three medieval Hebrew cities: 

Speyer Schpira ש Shin [Sch]

Worms Warmaisa I Waw [U]

Mainz Magenza מ Mem [M]

Views of humanity

An anti-Semitic depiction shows a Jew from the SchUM towns in traditional dress, wearing a Jewish cap and a yellow ring.

The clove of garlic in his right hand alludes to the double meaning of the term ‘SchUM’, which also means ‘garlic’ in Hebrew. The money bag also draws on a common stereotype.

Darstellung eines Juden aus dem 16. Jahrhundert der einen dunklen Umhang trägt auf dem ein gelber Ring aufgenäht ist. In der Hand hält er Knoblauchknollen und einen Geldbeutel
Wormser Jude in typischer Tracht des 16. Jahrhunderts, "Thesaurus Picturarum" von Marcus zum Lamm, Ende 16. Jahrhundert

after 1120

Jewish scholars from Mainz, Worms and Speyer are ruling jointly on a legal case for the first time.

Takkanot provide guidance

Jewish communities established themselves in the cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz, each in the shadow of its cathedral. Their scholars formed a network and regularly exchanged views on religious customs and legal matters. They reached joint decisions for all three communities – an unusual practice in Jewish tradition. In this way, they eventually developed into an authority on legal matters throughout Central Europe. In 1220, at a gathering in Mainz, they set down all the regulations in writing as the so-called Takkanot SchUM. 

The former Kaufhaus am Brand in Mainz, dating from the early 14th century, bears witness to the city’s economic importance and the bustling trade along the Rhine corridor.

On the one hand, the regulations clarify the relationship between Jews and non-Jews. This concerns, amongst other things, the consumption of food and drink prepared by non-Jews, as well as the lending of money between non-Jews and Jews. The Takkanot of the SchUM also contain a set of rules governing internal Jewish matters such as clothing, hairstyles and beards. Regulations from the 13th century on the privacy of correspondence, monogamy and the status of women in divorce proceedings confirm the pioneering Takkanot of the great Mainz scholar Gershom ben Judah from the turn of the millennium.

Eine Buchmalerei zeigt eine Frau, die ein Tauchbad in einer Mikwe nimmt

1084–1190

Expulsions and pogroms

Anti-Semitic tendencies and repeated expulsions

Even during the heyday of the SchUM congregations, when Christian-Jewish relations were generally good and long-lasting, there were outbreaks of anti-Semitism and persecution.

1084–1086, Unrest in Mainz ends with a major fire

The community in Mainz suffered its first setbacks following the devastating fire of 1084. Many fled to Speyer and established a new Jewish community under the protection of the Bishop of Speyer.

1096: The Crusaders’ Siege of Antioch – a late medieval miniature from 1490

1096 – The Great Catastrophe

The First Crusade, called by Pope Urban II, took place from 1095 to 1099. As the Mother Community of ShUM, Magenza is only recovering very slowly from the brutal attacks by the Crusader armies in May 1096. Hundreds of Jewish men and women were brutally murdered in this massacre. It was an event that has been deeply etched into the collective memory of the Jewish people.

The crusade led by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1187 to 1190) was also a defining moment.

1084

The first Jewish community in Speyer

Eine handgeschriebene Urkunde aus dem frühen Mittelalter mit einer großen roten Initiale
Mit dieser Urkunde aus dem Jahr 1084 stellte Bischof Rüdiger Huzmann die Juden in Speyer unter Schutz und gewährte ihnen weitreichende Privilegien.

The Bishop of Speyer, Rüdiger Huozman, hopes that a Jewish community will enhance his city. He grants them a comprehensive charter of privileges, which fundamentally improves their status in Speyer. A decade later, the charter was extended to include the protection of the imperial house and far-reaching trading privileges for Jewish merchants.

1348–1350

The plague is raging across Europe

1349 – Destruction of the community

As the plague raged across Europe in 1348/1349, conspiracy theories ran rampant. Everywhere, Jewish communities were blamed for the mass deaths as so-called ‘well-poisoners’. As a result, the Mainz community was wiped out, and later their homes were looted. 

Rabbi Maharil, a figure of great importance for his legal rulings and sermons, recalled the vibrant community life of Magenza from stories he had heard and had his pupil record the ‘customs’ (minhagim) in writing. Thanks to this masterpiece, the customs of the SchUM communities have been preserved for posterity.  

From 1356 onwards, the community began to rebuild itself.

Der Holzschnitt zeigt eine Gruppe Juden, die in einer Grube qualvoll verbrannt werden. Ein Mann außerhalb bringt neues Feuerholz zur Grube
The Burning of the Jews, Schedel’s World Chronicle, 1493

14th century

The end of SchUM’s heyday in Mainz

The gravestones at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Mainz bear witness to Jewish life in Mainz from the 10th century right through to the 19th century. The epitaphs clearly illustrate the break between the 15th and 17th centuries.

The Old Jewish Cemetery, sketched by an electoral surveyor in the 18th century

As a result of the expulsion and persecution, gravestones were forcibly torn from the cemetery and misused as building materials at various locations throughout the town. Displaced stones were repeatedly found during construction work in the town. They were collected and erected in 1926 at the so-called Memorial Cemetery.

Am 3. Oktober 1926 wird der Denkmalfriedhof mit seinen 188 Grabsteinen im Beisein von Stadthonoratioren offiziell eingeweiht.

SchUM today

UNESCO World Heritage Site

In 2021, the SchUM sites in Speyer, Worms and Mainz were designated as Germany’s first Jewish UNESCO World Heritage sites.  The permanent exhibition at the UNESCO Visitor Centre, the Sali-Levi-Haus, vividly illustrates the significance of the SchUM site, the Old Jewish Cemetery at Judensand, and the role of Magenza as the parent congregation.

Außenasicht des Besuchszentrum Sali-Levi-Haus mit einer Fassade aus Holz und matt spiegelndem Metall
Außenansicht Sali-Levi-Haus

UNESCO Visitor Centre: Sali-Levi House

You can find further information by visiting the exhibition at the UNESCO Visitor Centre, Sali-Levi-Haus. 

UNESCO Visitor Centre Sali-Levi-Haus
(entrance on Paul-Denis-Straße)
Dr.-Siegmund-Salfeld-Platz 1
55122 Mainz

Old Jewish Cemetery at Judensand
Mombacher Straße 63
55122 Mainz