Meir of Rothenburg

Meir ben Baruch, also called Maharam ("Our Teacher, Rabbi Meir"), was born in Worms around 1215. Meir of Rothenburg became known as the most important Talmud scholar of the second half of the 13th century. He came from a family of famous talmud scholars and Jewish community members, and thus his path was marked from early childhood. His father, Rabbi Baruch, a member of the rabbinical college, strongly influenced him in his religious actions and educated him in the rich tradition of Judaism. His brother Abraham also followed this path and wrote Talmudic writings. In his works, Meir of Rothenburg always referred to his ancestors and teachers when he said, "I have seen many great authorities doing so."  and treated their works with the greatest reverence. In Würzburg, from the age of 11, he received his first Talmudic education from the famous Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Vienna. Among several other well-known rabbis, von Rothenburg continued his religious education in Paris. He is said to have already had critical discussions with his rabbis, thus consolidating his religious and secular knowledge. For himself and also for his work, the Talmud was always the guiding authority for all decisions. Thus von Rothenburg was highly esteemed for his later duties as a judge, his work as a teacher or as a commissioner in social offices.

Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg witnessed the terrible experience of the "Paris Talmud burning" in 1242 and wrote his famous song of mourning, which is still sung and spoken today on "Tisha beAv", the day of remembrance for the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. The burning of Jewish writings resulted in centers of Jewish scholarship in France increasingly "migrating" to Germany. Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg received his epithet in the small town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, where he settled for over 30 years. He lived in a large house with about 21 rooms and worked in his "yeshiva," a Jewish college for Torah and Talmud study, with his many students from all over Europe. It was during this time that von Rothenburg wrote most of his "Responsa," which reached students throughout the country from here. These more than 1500 received "Responsa" to inquiries of a legal nature to Jewish halakhic authorities, made Rabbi Meir von Rothenburg famous. The responsa of other Jewish scholars were already an essential part of his own collection during Rothenburg's lifetime. He used these for teaching with his students, but also for his own writings and referred to them in them.

After the tragic events in Paris, von Rothenburg settled in Rothenburg around 1245 and was at home there for over three decades. From here, von Rothenburg made professional trips to numerous cities. Rothenburg ob der Tauber had one of the oldest Jewish communities in Germany. The history of this community was always marked by expulsion, but also by resettlement of Jewish families. It was here that von Rothenburg first assumed a kind of judicial function, advising rabbis, Jewish communities and judges on secular, legal and religious matters. His "Respona", reached community members in Germany, Austria, Bohemia and even France. The many inquiries ranged from "Is a person who has suffered severe divine punishment permitted to serve as cantor?" to "What constitutes the merit of emigrating to the Holy Land?" And although it cannot be answered beyond doubt whether Rabbi von Rothenburg ever held an official position in Germany, the many inquiries testify to the fact that his opinions and wide-ranging knowledge of religious customs and observances were highly valued. His students, who later built up the Jewish communities in many German cities, established his rituals and recommendations there, based on his profound knowledge of the Talmud and the Torah. Only after the death of his father, von Rothenburg returned to Worms in 1276.

In 1284, King Rudolf I of Habsburg imposed high taxes on the Jewish communities as so-called sevi camerae (chamber servants) and made the lives of Jews unbridgeably difficult. In addition, ritual murder legends of the non-Jewish population culminated in numerous pogroms against Jews. In the course of this, there was a great wave of emigration to Palestine. Meir von Rothenburg also left everything behind and joined this movement with his family. Not yet having crossed the Lombard Alps, he was captured as an alleged instigator of emigration on June 19, 1286, after a betrayal by envoys of Rudolf of Habsburg, and taken to Wasserburg for a short time and to Ensisheim in Alsace for seven years. Jewish sources describe: "The bishop of Basel [...], rode through that town in company of an apostate named Knippe (or Kinpe) who recognized R. Meir and informed the bishop [...]. Count Meinhardt delievered R. Meir to King Rudolph who kept him in prison till the day of his death on the 19th of Iyyar 5053 (April, 27th 1293)." Von Rothenburg strictly refused the "bail" offered by the German Jews to have him ransomed. And so he spent the last seven years until his death on April 27, 1293 imprisoned in the dungeon in the Ensisheim "Königsburg." 

In a responsa, Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg formulated: "God's presence is primarily concentrated in the Holy Land. Therefore, a person's prayers there ascend directly to His throne." The happiness of living or at least being buried in the Holy Land was not granted to him. His body remained in the tower of Ensisheim for more than 14 years after his death. It was not until 1307 that the Frankfurt Jew Alexander ben Salomo Wimpfen was able to "buy" the bones of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg by raising his entire fortune. In accordance with his last wish, von Rothenburg found his final resting place 14 years after his death in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Worms - the "Holy Sand". Rabbi Meir von Rothenburg went down in history as a central figure in the Jewish world of the 13th century. His responsa were and are invaluable sources for the political, social, economic and cultural life of German Jews in the Middle Ages. At the same time, however, the Responsa also reflect the eventful life of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg himself and allow an insight into his world of thought and life.