Overview of Ashkenazi Judaism Before the First Crusade in the Context of Schum Jewish Community

Abstract

Mainz, Worms and Speyer, the three Jewish centers of the middle Rhine area, where Jews settled in Germany, have been known in the Jewish literature since the high middle age under the acronym SchUM. The SchUM community; Jewish scholars, academies and religious traditions that connect the communities of the three cities with Ashkenazi Judaism has revealed a unique community structure. The emergence of the SchUM community and its exemplary practices shed light on the emergence of Ashkenazi Judaism. Starting from the cathedral cities on the Rhine, the Ashkenazi Jews created a new, independent religious culture that gained its specific character through exchange and confrontation with the Christian culture of Europe. This communities, which has trained many scholars such as Gershom and Rashi and has many academies, has experienced a great tragedy during the first crusades, but it has managed to regain its strength and enlighten its surroundings. This study aims to examine the formation and development process of SchUM communities in terms of socio-economic and religious factors, their characteristics that differentiate them from other communities and their effects on Ashkenazi Judaism. German and English second hand sources were used in the examination. At the same time, time limit was taken into by considering the period before the first crusade.

Keywords

• SchUM,Ashkenas,Gershom ben Jehuda,Mainz,Worms,Speyer.

Schum Yahudi Topluluğu Bağlamında Birinci Haçlı Seferi Öncesi Aşkenaz Yahudiliği’ne Bakış

Abstract

Alman topraklarında Yahudilerin yerleştiği Orta Ren bölgesinde bulunan Mainz, Worms ve Speyer şehirleri, yüksek Orta Çağ’dan beri Yahudi literatüründe SchUM kısaltmasıyla bilinmektedir. SchUM cemaati;  Yahudi bilginleri, akademileri ve üç şehrin cemaatini birbirine bağlayan dini gelenekleriyle Aşkenaz Yahudiliği açısından eşsiz bir cemaat yapılanması ortaya koymuştur. SchUM cemaatinin ortaya çıkışı ve diğer cemaatlere örnek teşkil eden uygulamaları Aşkenaz Yahudiliği’nin ortaya çıkışına da ışık tutmaktadır. Aşkenaz Yahudileri, Ren'deki katedral şehirlerinden başlayarak, Avrupa Hristiyan kültürüyle etkileşime geçmiş ve sonuçta kendine özgü karakterini kazanmış, yeni ve bağımsız bir dini kültür yaratmıştır. Gerşom ve Raşi gibi birçok alim yetiştiren ve birçok akademiye sahip olan bu cemaat birinci haçlı seferleri sırasında büyük bir trajedi yaşamış olsa da tekrar gücünü toplamayı ve etrafını aydınlatmayı başarmıştır. Bu çalışma sosyo-ekonomik ve dini faktörler bağlamında SchUM cemaatinin oluşum ve gelişim sürecini, onu diğer cemaatlerden farklı kılan niteliklerini ve Aşkenaz Yahudiliği’ne etkilerini incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır.  Bunu yaparken Almanca ve İngilizce ikinci el kaynaklardan faydalanılmıştır. Aynı zamanda Birinci Haçlı Seferi öncesi dönem dikkate alınarak zaman sınırlamasına gidilmiştir

Keywords

• SchUM,Aşkenaz,Gerşom ben Yehuda,worms,mainz,speyer

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