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Especially in the three cities of Worms and Speyer and Mainz, these cities on the Rhine River were ancient cities that existed at the time of the Romans. In fact, there were Jews there from the time of the Romans, and there was a small settlement of Jews, probably no more than 500 Jews. From these Jews came the basic components of Ashkenazic Jewry, of European Jewry.
The leader of this group in the 10th century was a great man by the name of Rabbi Gershom. Rabbi Gershom enunciated a number of decrees which set the tone for Jewish family life and the social fabric for a thousand years. He decreed that polygamous marriages were to be banned. Women could not be divorced without their consent. No one had the right to open anyone else's mail. Taxes were to be collected fairly. These were called the takkanot, the decrees of Rabbi Gershom, and have remained in force until today.
Rabbi Gershom conducted a yeshiva in the city of Mainz, and it became the center of Jewish learning for Ashkenazic Jewry for that generation and for a few generations thereafter. He had a number of great disciples. Rabbi Yehuda was one of them, and one of the great men in Jewish history. Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, who is known as Rashi, attended this yeshiva in Mainz and was himself a student of Rabbi Yehuda.
Rashi is an unbelievable figure. He wrote a commentary to the entire Bible. He wrote a commentary to the entire Talmud. Without Rashi, the Talmud would be a sealed book. I've often said that Rashi is to the Jewish people like a mother holding the hand of a five-year-old child crossing a very busy street during rush hour. You'd never be able to get across the street if it weren't for your mother's hand. We'd never be able to get across the street of the Talmud, so to speak, if it were not for Rashi's hand that is holding us. Rashi was aventner, Rashi was a father, Rashi was a rabbi, Rashi was a judge. An unbelievable personality.
Rashi's two daughters, Yocheved and Miriam, received a man's education, so to speak, for they were also Torah scholars, and they helped their father in transcribing his commentaries onto parchment and into books that spread throughout the entire Jewish world. It is impossible to imagine the study of the Bible in Jewish circles without referring to the commentary of Rashi, without having to deal with it.
Thank you for watching. My friends, my name is Baruch Wein. For more on Jewish history, go to jewishhistorydotorg.