Gershom ben Judah

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Gershom ben Judah best known as Rabbeinu Gershom (Hebrew: רבנו גרשום, "Our teacher Gershom") (c. 960 -1040? or 1028?) and is also commonly known by the longer title Rabbeinu Gershom Me'Or Hagolah (Our teacher Gershom the light of the exile) to scholars of Judaism. He was a famous Talmudist and Halakhist.

Rabbeinu Gershom was the head of a yeshiva in Mainz. He was the spiritual guide of the fledgling Ashkenazic Jewish communities and was very influential in molding them at a time when their population was dwindling. During his lifetime, some claim it was due to his greatness as a Talmudic scholar, Mainz became a center of Torah and Jewish scholarship for many Jewish communities in Europe that had formerly been connected with the Babylonian yeshivas. Students came from all over Europe to enroll in his yeshiva. His many students later dispersed among various communities in Germany and beyond which helped spread Jewish learning. Rashi of Troyes (d. 1105) said less than a century after his death "all members of the Ashkenazi diaspora are students of his (i.e. Rabbeinu Gershom's) students".

Some have speculated that if Rabbeinu Gershom had never lived then there may not have been something known as "Ashkenazic Judaism" as it is known today. As early as the 14th century Asher ben Jehiel wrote that Rabbeinu Gershom's writings were "such permanent fixtures that they may well have been handed down on Mount Sinai".

He is famous for his religious bans within Judaism, which include:

The prohibition of polygamy for 1,000 years, which although it expired around 2004, it was again renewed.
The prohibition of divorcing a woman against her will.
The prohibition of reading private mail.

His bans are considered binding on all of Ashkenazic Jewry until the present day.

[edit] 1906 JE article

French rabbi; born at Metz in 960; died at Mayence in 1040. He was the founder of Talmudic studies in France and Germany. As he himself says in a responsum reported by R. Meir of Rothenburg, he owed most of his knowledge to his teacher, Judah ben Meir ha-Kohen (Sir Léontin), who was one of the greatest authorities of his time. Having lost his first wife, Gershom married a widow named Bonna and settled at Mayence, where he devoted himself to teaching the Talmud. He had many pupils from different countries, among whom should be mentioned Eleazar ben Isaac (ha-Gadol ="the Great"), nephew of Simeon ha-Gadol; and Jacob ben Yakar, teacher of Rashi. The fame of his learning eclipsed even that of the heads of the academies of Sura and Pumbedita. Questions of religious casuistry were addressed to him from all countries, and measures which he authorized had legal force among all the Jews of Europe. About 1000 CE he called a synod which decided the following particulars: (1) prohibition of polygamy; (2) necessity of obtaining the consent of both parties to a divorce; (3) modification of the rules concerning those who became apostates under compulsion; (4) prohibition against opening correspondence addressed to another.

Gershom's literary activity was not less fruitful. He is celebrated for his works in the field of Biblical exegesis, the Masorah, and lexicography. He revised the text of the Mishnah and Talmud, and wrote commentaries on several treatises of the latter which were very popular and gave an impulse to the production of other works of the kind. His selichot were inspired by the bloody persecutions of his time. Gershom also left a large number of rabbinical responsa, which are scattered throughout various collections.

His life conformed to his teachings. He had a son, who forsook his religion at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from Mayence in 1012. When he died a Christian, Gershom nonetheless grieved for him, observing all the forms of Jewish mourning, and his example became a rule for others in similar cases. His tolerance also extended to those who had submitted to baptism to escape persecution, and who afterward returned to the Jewish fold. He strictly prohibited reproaching them with infidelity, and even gave those among them who had been slandered an opportunity to publicly pronounce the benediction in the synagogues.

Bibliography: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, vol. ix., Leipzig, 1879; Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim; Bloch and Lévy, Histoire de la Littérature Juive, p. 310; Histoire Littéraire de la France, xiii. 2 et seq.; Grätz, Gesch. v. 405-407; Zunz, Literaturgesch. pp. 238-239; Carmoly, La France Israélite, pp. 13-21; Gross, Gallia Judaica, pp. 299 et seq. With regard to the so-called Ordinances of Rabbi Gershom see especially Rosenthal, in Jubelschrift zum Siebzigsten Geburtstag des Dr. Israel Hildesheimer, pp. 37 et seq., Berlin, 1890.