Gershom ben Jehudah

GERSHOM BEN JEHUDAH. - Rabbinic authority, called "light of the diaspora," of the late 10th and early 11th century, d. at Mainz. Many young men from the most varied countries flocked to the Talmudic school he directed. He was lenient in judging certain Jews of Mainz, among them his own son, who converted to Christianity merely to escape the city's ban, imposed by the emperor Henry II. He transcribed with his own hand, in order to prevent various unreliable variants, the text of the Gēmāra' (v.) and of the Bible, and he composed a commentary on the Talmud (v.) in the style of the gē'ōnīm (v.). He was also a great decider (v. DECISORS).

Among the "institutions of G." (some are later, but were transmitted under his name) are to be counted: the prohibition of polygamy (in G.'s mind this prohibition was temporary, but Western Hebraism declared it lasting), the prohibition of divorcing against the woman's will, the obligation of support by the community for women abandoned by their husbands, the prohibition of seizing deposits (not constituting a true and proper pledge) following unpaid debts, of resorting (except in cases of great importance) to non-Jewish courts, and the obligation of observing epistolary secrecy. G. is the author of many liturgical compositions.

Eugenio Zolli