La Maison Sublime de Rouen

Les tossafistes de Rouen

Jean-Marie Torque — 2022-06-10T14:02:20Z

Professors and sudents of a medieval rabbinic school.
In the Jewish Academies of the West the main subjects of study were Jewish Law, codified in the two Talmuds of Babylonia and Palestine, and the Biblical Scriptures. The glosses -tossafoth- of the Talmud of Babylonia (the primary source of Jewish usages and rituals) and of the Bible were many, especially between 1150 and 1270. They were written by several hundred masters from the north of France, England and western Germany. These (…)

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What proofs demonstrate that the building discovered in 1976 was a yeshibah

Jean-Marie Torque — 2022-06-10T13:46:21Z

There had to be one yeshibah in every major city
1. According to the Ancient Laws for the Study of Torah, the Jews had to build a school (yeshibah or midrash) in every major city of every kingdom. In the Middle Ages such rabbinic schools are referred to in the main French cities of the time ; for example, as early as the twelfth century, the famous traveler Benjamin of Tudela describes such schools in Narbonne, Montpellier, Marseilles, and other places. This obligation was particularly (…)

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THE SCHOOL OF ROUEN : its Book and its books

Jean-Marie Torque — 2022-06-10T13:25:08Z

The Hebrew Bible of the Jewish people corresponds, to the Old Testament of Christianity. It contains three main divisions : The Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings (or Hagiographa).
The Torah, habitually translated by the term Law, but which basically signifies Teaching or Instruction, includes five main divisions (thus in Greek : Pentateuch) that are anciently attributed to Moses, namely : Genesis (=Creation of the World) ; Exodus (=Departure from Egypt) ; Leviticus (=Laws relating to (…)

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Why can the monument discovered beneath the courtyard of the Palace of Justice not be the Synagogue

Jean-Marie Torque — 2022-06-10T08:42:32Z

Description of the monumental synagogue
1. There was, until the XIXth century, near the south east corner of rue Massacre and rue aux Juifs, a building known as the synagogue of Rouen. In a talk to the Commission of Antiquities, historian Charles de Beaurepaire described the vestiges as follows : Some years ago, when the house at no.55 rue aux Juifs was pulled down, it was possible to see, for a few days, an underground construction built with solid material, receiving light from the south (…)

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THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE JEWISH MONUMENT OF ROUEN

Jean-Marie Torque — 2022-06-10T07:55:52Z

As soon as it was discovered, the Jewish Monument of Rouen was the subject of a fierce controversy concerning its identity. This controversy did not, of course, facilitate the patrimonial enhancement of this treasure of our medieval heritage. Three hypotheses were put forward at the time :
The synagogue This thesis was developed at length by Bernhard Blumenkranz, research director at CNRS, and by some archeologists in charge of the excavation, in Jewish Art and Archeology in Medieval (…)

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The expulsion of 1306

Jean-Marie Torque — 2022-06-10T07:38:18Z

In the final years of the thirteenth century, the Jewish district of Rouen had seen its population increase because of the arrival of many refugees either from England, where the expulsion of 1290 had affected as many as 15,000 people, or from villages in Normandy in accordance with Philip III's policy of gathering the Jews in cities. All those in France now had to wear the yellow badge, except for a few notables who, in exchange for large sums of money, could sometimes be spared that (…)

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The last decades of Medieval Judaism in Rouen

Jean-Marie Torque — 2022-06-10T07:32:45Z

The reign of Saint-Louis, which had witnessed the increase of the persecutions against the Jews, ended with a forced disputation that took place in Paris (circa 1270) and opposed a Dominican, Paul Chrétien, a convert with whom the pious king had become infatuated, to Abraham ben Samuel, who was then head of the School of Rouen. This former student of Menahem Vardimas had been chosen, as a chronicle states, to represent the wise people of our generation by virtue of his being considered the (…)

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The Jews of Rouen relatively spared by increasing persecutions

Jean-Marie Torque — 2022-06-09T20:13:39Z

The re-incorporation of Normandy into France in 1204 did not at first change the situation of the Jews of Rouen. Anxious to preserve the autonomy of his Kingdom, Philip-Augustus lent a deaf ear to the exhortations of Pope Innocent III, who wanted him to denounce the “guilt” of the Jews. In accordance with his wish to have local traditions respected (see the 1207 act confirming the existing privileges of the inhabitants of Rouen), he endeavored to guarantee that the Jews of Rouen would have (…)

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From the reign of Henry II Plantagenet to the conquest of Normandy by Philip-Augustus

Jean-Marie Torque — 2022-06-09T19:49:16Z

The charters granted by Henry II to the Jews of England and Normandy gave them the same privileges as those which the Establishments of Rouen had extended to the bourgeois of Rouen around 1150. They were free to travel, enjoyed exemption from customs duties when trading with England, could own land and property, and were allowed to lend and borrow money. They had the protection of the king's officers, and any complaint lodged against them by Christians had to be judged by peers of the Jews. (…)

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The disciples of the masters : the scholars of Rouen during the reign of Henry II Plantagenêt

Jean-Marie Torque — 2022-06-09T19:33:44Z

As is the rule with Andalusian poets, on arriving in Rouen Ibn Ezra had composed a poem glorifying Rashbam, his host, the Master of the rabbinic Academy whose commentary on the Torah means enlightenment to all those who find the Holy Writ obscure and whose eyes contemplate the Secrets of the Lord. But after the enthusiasm of the first meetings had evaporated, a gulf soon divided the two men whose cultures and religious conceptions were miles apart. The criticism made by Ibn Ezra of the (…)

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