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

Year 2019, Issue: 1, 43 - 71, 31.12.2019

Seda Özmen

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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