The Jewish Community of Mainz
Mainz
Yiddish: Magenca; French: Mayence; Hebrew: מגנצא
A city on the river Rhine. Mainz is the capital of Rheinland Pfalz, Germany.
21st Century
There is a rapidly growing Jewish community in Mainz. A new synagogue was constructed by the architect Manuel Herz in 2010 on the site of the one destroyed by the Nazis on the Progrom Night (Nov. 9, 1938).
The Jewish population in Mainz is about 2,000 persons. Just over half are community members, and the rest unaffiliated.
History
Mainz is one of the oldest Jewish communities in Germany. It is presumed that Jews came to the town as merchants in the roman era and may even have founded a settlement there. It is asserted that the renowned Kalonymus family moved from Lucca in Italy to Mainz at the request of Charlemagne in the 9th Century. Another assertion places their move to Mainz in 917. None of the above claims can be reliably corroborated.
In support of the claim that an organized Jewish community probably existed in Mainz in the tenth century, a report that a church council in Mainz declared in 906 that a man who killed a Jew out of malice must be made accountable like any other murderer. Archbishop Friedrich, the Catholic Archbishop of Mainz, (937-954) threatened the Jews with forcible conversion or expulsion, and limited their trade activities.
In 1012, after a priest had converted to Judaism, the Jews of Mainz were ordered by Emperor Heinrich II to convert to Christianity or be expelled from the city. The expelled were later allowed to return and continued to play an active part in the trade of the town, which was a commercial center on the Rhine. In 1080, many Jews fled Mainz in after being accused of starting a fire, in which their quarter was also damaged. They settled in Speyer and established the Jewish community there.
The Crusades
At the beginning of the First Crusade (1096), the Mainz community leader, Kalonymus ben Meshullam, secured an order from Emperor Heinrich IV protecting the Jews, in exchange for a considerable sum of money. About 1300 Jews gathered in the palace of Archbishop Ruthard, but the promise of protection was not kept. In May 28 1096, after a 2 day standoff, the gates were opened by the palace guards and the Crusaders entered the place. The Jews, who were armed, fought back as best they could, but were eventually overcome by the Crusaders. Over 1,000 died, some at the hands of the Crusaders and many by suicide as an act of martyrdom (“Kiddush ha-Shem”). Some of the Jews decided to accept conversion to Christianity to avoid certain death. Kalonymus ben Meshullam, in exchange for a hefty ransom, managed to escape with a group of about 60 of the community’s wealthy people to Rudesheim, but the group was captured the next morning by the mob, led by Count Emicho of Flonheim, and murdered. Kalonymus committed suicide. The synagogue (first mentioned in 1093) and most of the Jewish quarter were burned down.
12th Century Jews immortalized the Mainz martyrdom as an example of supreme sacrifice (“Akedah”). The chronicle of Solomon ben Simon recounts the martyrdom (“Kiddush ha-Shem”) of 1096, and claims that Mainz is the most ancient and famous Jewish community on the Rhine.
The community slowly recovered in the following years, after Emperor Heinrich IV permitted those forcibly converted to return to Judaism, decreeing that the Jews were also to enjoy the "King's Peace", first announced in Mainz, which regulated jurisdictions for the peaceful settlement of disputes.
During the Second Crusade (1147), the Mainz Jewish community also suffered several casualties. During the Third Crusade (1189-92), the Jews of Mainz were unharmed thanks to the resolute protection of Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa, who proclaimed the “Great Imperial Peace”, which extended the original “King’s Peace” and applied it to the whole Empire.
Persecution
The Mainz Jews were ordered to wear the special identifying badges in 1259. In 1281 and 1283 numerous Jews were victims of blood libels. The synagogue was also burnt in those years.
In 1286, because of these repeated persecutions, some Jews of Mainz, along with those of other German cities, wished to emigrate to the Land of Israel under the leadership of Meir ben Baruch of Rothenberg.
During the Black Death persecution, (1349) the whole community almost perished. Some died in a battle against the mob who blamed them for this epidemic, but the majority (around 3,000 souls) perished in the flames of their burning synagogue and the Jewish quarter, set on fire by their own hands in an act of martyrdom (“Kiddush ha-Shem”). In 1356, Jews began to resettle in Mainz. However, the community did not attain its former standing.
The Jewry taxes, granted to the town in 1295 and renewed in 1366, became increasingly more burdensome. In 1385 they presented the council with 3,000 gulden "out of gratitude" for its protection during the anti-Jewish disturbances which had broken out in various places.
A series of pogroms and expulsions occurred in 1438 (Destruction of the synagogue and cemetery), 1462 (expulsion) and 1473, when the synagogue was converted into a chapel, and the cemetery tombstones were taken and used for building.
Economy
Until the second half of the 12th century, the Jews conducted lively mercantile activities and from a very early date attended the Cologne fairs. From this period onward, money lending became increasingly important in Mainz, as in all German communities. Records of the 12th, and especially of the 13th century, often reveal that churches and monasteries owed money to Jews.
From 1286 until the end of the 14th century, the Jewish community was led by a so-called Judenbishop (nominated by the Archbishop) and by not less than four elders (Vorsteher) who together constituted the Judenrat ("Jews' council").
In 1390 Mainz Jewry suffered a great financial setback when the King of Bohemia, Emperor Wenceslaus IV, annulled debts owed to Jews.
Jewish Scholarship
A yeshiva was founded in the tenth century by the Kalonymides. It had become prominent under Rabbi Gershom ben Judah, known as Rabbenu Gershom Me’or Hagolah (“The light of the Diaspora”), and his pupils and contemporaries, Judah ha-Kohen, Jacob ben Yakar, Isaac ha-Levi, and Isaac ben Judah.
The regulations (“Takkanot”) established by Rabbenu Gershom, which were applicable to the three Rhenish cities (Mainz, Worm and Speyer), were acknowledged by all the other German Jewish communities and even by other European ones, thereby achieving the force of law, a fact which enhanced the reputation of Mainz. In Germany, Synodal Assemblies were held in Mainz (1150, 1223, 1245, 1307 and 1381), in which primarily representatives of the three leading communities (Mainz, Speyer and Worms) took part. Their rulings and resolutions, the “Takkanot Shum”, were acknowledged by the rest of the communities of Germany and beyond.
The Mainz Rabbi, Jacob ben Moses Moellin (1356- 1427), known as the Maharil, promulgated regulations (“Takkanot”), chiefly concerned with ritual matters, aimed at the German and primarily the Rheinish Jewish communities. His collection of practices (“Minhagim”), compiled by his pupil Zalman of St. Goar, which rely mainly on the Mainz traditions, are connected with all German and some non- German communities, and were used to a large extent in the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayyim, the Code of Jewish Law.
Outstanding among the many notable scholars and personalities in medieval Mainz are, in addition to those already mentioned, Rabbi Nathan ben Machir ben Judah (c. 1100), Rabbi Eliezer ben Nathan (c. 1150), Rabbi Meshullam ben Kalonymus (c. 1150), Rabbi Judah ben Kalonymus ben Moses (c. 1175), Rabbi Baruch ben Samuel (1200), and Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg (1220-1293).
A number of scholars originated from Mainz in modern times too, notably Michael Creizenach, Issac Bernays, Joseph Derenburg, and Ludwig Bamberger. Bamberger was a leader of the 1848 revolution, and one of the main leaders of the German liberals (1823-1899). In 1933, Solomon Levi and Moses Bamberger were Rabbis of the mainstream and Orthodox communities, respectively.
The Modern Era
In the early modern era only a few isolated Jews lived in Mainz. These few were expelled in 1579, but a new community was reestablished in 1583, reinforced by emigration from Frankfurt, (1614), Worms (1615), and Hanau. A Rabbi was subsequently engaged in 1630 by endorsement of the government, and a synagogue built in 1639. Another synagogue was built in 1673, enlarged and renovated in 1717, and again in 1773. It was later converted to a community center.
During the French occupation (1644-1648), the Jews were subjected to ever-harsher restrictions.
Influenced by the Toleranzpatent (“Edict of Toleration”, extending religious freedom to non-Catholic Christians living in the crown lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, issued by Emperor Joseph II (1781), the Archbishop-Elector improved the legal position of the Jews, and allowed them to open their own schools and attend general ones.
After the French Republic occupation of Mainz (1792), the Leibzoll ("body tax", a special toll which Jews had to pay in most of the European states in the Middle Ages and up to the beginning of the nineteenth century) was abolished.
On September 12 , 1798 the gates of the ghetto were torn down, and Jews began to acquire residences among the local population. Mainz Jews sent delegations to Napoleon’s Sanhedrin convention in 1806. In 1820 they were granted citizenship and in 1841 full equality as citizens of the French Republic.
In the mid-19th century, the community split when Rabbi Joseph Aub introduced ritual reforms, such as the use of an organ, in a newly built synagogue (1856). Marcus Lehmann founded a Jewish school (a high school with instruction in foreign languages) in 1859. Until the Prussian law of 1876 regulating secession from religious communities, the orthodox remained within the community and seceded only later.
Orthodox Jews, who objected to the Reform practices, founded a meeting place for their own congregation on the corner of Flachsmarkt and Margarethenstrasse. Renovated in 1879, this synagogue was enlarged to accommodate 300 worshipers. Eastern European Jews conducted services in a prayer hall at 13 Margarethenstrasse (established in the 1880s). Then the mainstream community inaugurated a new synagogue on Hindenburgstrasse in 1913, with 580 seats for men and 482 for women. Finally, in 1929, the Orthodox congregation opened another new synagogue.
In the 19th Century the Jewish population of Mainz increased, and in the 20th Century it declined. In the 20th Century its percentage of the general population also declined:
2,665 (5.8%) in 1861
2,998 (5.8%) in 1871
3,104 (3.7%) in 1900
2,738 (2.5%) in 1925
2,730 (1.8%) in 1933
The Holocaust
On November 9, 1938 (the “Kristallnacht” pogroms) the mainstream community’s synagogue (including the museum and library) was looted and burned down. The interior of the Orthodox synagogue was destroyed, but the ensuing fire was extinguished. The Eastern Europeans’ prayer hall was destroyed and looted. 1 local Jew was killed, two committed suicide and 60 Jewish men were deported to Buchenwald. On May 17’ 1939 only 1,452 Jews remained.The Orthodox synagogue was demolished in 1939/40, after which services took place in the community center (2, Forsterstrasse), until the deportations. The steady flow of emigrants was partly balanced by an influx of refugees from the countryside.
In March and September of 1942, the majority of the community was deported to Poland and Theresienstadt concentration camp, and on February 10, 1943 the remaining Jews suffered the same fate. Between 1,300 and 1,400 Mainz Jews perished in the Holocaust.
Postwar
The Mainz Jewish community was reestablished by survivors in October 1945, and a synagogue was opened in 1947. In 1952 that synagogue was moved to the Forsterstrasse building, which had been returned to the community. The synagogue was renovated and enlarged in 1966, and a government office was built on the site of the mainstream community’s destroyed house of worship. In 1988, several of its original pillars were converted into a memorial.The Jewish community of Mainz grew from 80 persons in 1948 to 122 in 1970.
Baruch Ben Samuel of Mainz
(Personality)Baruch Ben Samuel of Mainz (1150-1221), scholar and poet, born in Mainz, Germany, he studied with Moses Ben Solomon ha-Kohen, whom he later succeeded as member of the bet din of Mainz. Baruch also studied with Judah Ben Kalonymus Ben Meir of Speyer.
He is the author of Sefer Hahokhma ("Book of Wisdom"), a comprehensive halakhic work. Some of his 33 preserved piyyutim are of great historical value, since they deal with the persecutions of Jews in Blois (1171), Speyer and Boppard (1196) and Wuerzburg (before 1221). One of his poems is devoted to a certain Talmudic discussion, a rare phenomenon among piyyutim. These poems integrate the biblical language with the language of rabbinical and early mystical literature. Baruch’s selichot became very popular among congregants. He died in Mainz, Germany.
Shimon Bar Yitzhak
(Personality)Shimon Bar Yitzhak (10th century), poet, born in Mainz, Germany, as grandson of Abun, who came from Le Mans, France. He lived before 950. Simeon bar Isaac was considered a great expert on prayers and piyyutim and on customs in general. Simeon wrote yotserot, kerovot, selihot, hymns and Rashuyot le-Hatanim. His piyyutim are included in machzorim of the French and German Jewish rites.
Yaakov Ben Moshe Moelln
(Personality)Yaakov Ben Moshe Moelln (?-1427) Rabbinic authority. Born into a prestigious rabbinic family in Mainz, he studied first with his father, then with noted rabbis in Vienna where he was ordained, with the additional scholarly title of distinction Morenu. He succeeded his father as rabbi of Mainz in 1387 and established there a talmudic academy, many of whose students became the leading rabbis of Central Europe. As an outstanding scholar, he was sought by Jews throughout Europe with their queries in religious law. His responsa reflected the religious and social life of his time and showed a respect for existing custom. Moelln was a poet of liturgical verse (piyyutim) and a renowned cantor whose melodies were to be heard in communal worship in Mainz until modern times.
David Ben Meshullam of Speyer
(Personality)David Ben Meshullam of Speyer (12th-13th centuries), poet, born in Mainz, Germany, he was probably the son of Rabbi Meshullam, a scholar who lived in Mainz in 1034. On February 19, 1090, David Ben Meshullam, together with Judah Ben Kalonymus and Moshe Ben Jekuthiel, was received by Emperor Henry IV as representative of the Jewish community.
He composed a selihah for the eve of the Day of Atonement which begins with Elohim al Domi le-Dami (God! Be Not Silent on My Blood). The work is still used in German and Polish rituals, yet the original text, which described the horrors of the First Crusade, was changed by censorship. He died in Speyer, Germany.
Amnon of Mainz
(Personality)Amnon of Mainz (10th=11th century) Poet. Born in Mainz, Germany, he became a legendary figure through a report by Isaac Ben Moses of Vienna. The legend is that when after the bishop’s attempts to convert him he asked for three days to think the matter over. Brought before the bishop, he announced that he refused to convert and asked that his tongue be cut out because he had not refused conversion immediately. In return the bishop ordered to cut off his legs and arms. However, Amnon survived long enough to attend the Rosh Hashanah service at the synagogue where he recited the hymn U-Netaneh Tokef Kedushat ha-Yom (Let us tell the mighty holiness of this day) after which he died. He later appeared in a dream to Kalonymus Ben Meshullam and taught him the entire prayer. The martyrdom of Amnon of Mainz inspired many during the Crusades to follow him. He died in Mainz, Germany.
MAINZER
(Family Name)Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
The family name Mainzer is derived from Mainz on the Rhine, western Germany, one of the most ancient sites of Jewish settlement in Ashkenaz (Franco-Germany). Jews were settled there since the year 900 CE. Numerous Jewish family names derive from this source, ranging from Minz(t), Mints, Minc, to Muenz and Muenzer (literally "minter" in German). The suffix "-er" in the name Mainzeris the German for "from" Mainz. It is possible that some of these variants indicate origin from one of two towns called Minsk, one the capital city of White Russia, today Belarus, where Jews lived since the 15th century, the other a town in east-central Poland (Minsk Mazowieckie) where Jews lived since at least the 18th century.
LANGGASSER
(Family Name)LANGGASSER
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birthplace, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
This name is derived from Langgasse, a central street in the city of Mainz, Germany. First Jewish presence in Mainz is documented in the 10th century, one of the oldest in the German-speaking world. Places, regions and countries of origin or residence are some of the sources of Jewish family names. But, unless the family has reliable records, names based on toponymics cannot prove the exact origin of the family.
Langgässer is documented as a Jewish family name with Heinrich Langgässer (1813-1886) of Mainz, Germany.