Ashkenazi

Ashkenazi Migrations throughout the High and Late Middle Ages

Historical records show evidence of Jewish communities http://homepage.mac.com/harpend/.Public/AshkenaziIQ.jbiosocsci.pdf in the Alps and Pyrenees as early as the 8th and 9th Century. By the early 900s, Jewish populations were well-established in Northern Europe, and later followed the Norman Conquest into England in 1066, also settling in the Rhineland. With the onset of the Crusades, and the expulsions from England (1290), France (1394), and parts of Germany (1400s), Jewish migration pushed eastward into Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. Over this period of several hundred years, some have suggested, Jewish economic activity was focused on trade, business management, and financial services, due to Christian European prohibitions restricting certain activities by Jews, and preventing certain financial activities (such as "usurious" loans) between Christians. (Ben-Sasson, H. (1976) A History of the Jewish People. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.)

Related Topics:
Alps - Pyrenees - 8th - 9th Century - 900s - Northern Europe - Norman Conquest - England - 1066 - Rhineland - Crusades - 1290 - 1394 - Germany - 1400s - Poland - Lithuania - Russia - Christian - Usurious

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the 1400s, the Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Poland were the largest Jewish communities of the Diaspora http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Ashkenazim.html. It would remain that way until the Holocaust.

Related Topics:
1400s - Poland - Diaspora - Holocaust

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Usage of the name

In reference to the Jewish peoples of Northern Europe and particularly the Rhineland, the word Ashkenazi is often found in medieval rabbinic literature. References to Ashkenaz in Yosippon and Hasdai's letter to the king of the Khazars would date the term as far back as the tenth century, as would also Saadia Gaon's commentary on Daniel 7:8.

Related Topics:
Rabbinic literature - Yosippon - Khazars - Saadia Gaon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The word "Ashkenaz" first appears in the genealogy in the Tanakh (Genesis 10) as a son of Gomer and grandson of Japheth. It is thought that the name originally applied to the Scythians (Ishkuz), who were called Ashkuza in Assyrian inscriptions, and lake Ascanius and the region Ascania in Anatolia derive their names from this group. The "Ashkuza" have also been linked to the Oghuz branch of Turks including nearly all Turkic peoples today from Turkey to Turkmenistan.

Related Topics:
Tanakh - Gomer - Japheth - Scythians - Ascanius - Ascania - Anatolia - Oghuz

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ashkenaz in later Hebrew tradition became identified with the peoples of Germany, and in particular to the area along the Rhine where the Alamanni tribe once lived (compare the French and Spanish words Allemagne and Alemania, respectively, for Germany).

Related Topics:
Hebrew - Alamanni

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Medieval references

In the first half of the eleventh century, Hai Gaon refers to questions that had been addressed to him from "Ashkenaz", by which he undoubtedly means Germany. Rashi in the latter half of the eleventh century refers to both the language of Ashkenaz (Commentary on Deuteronomy 3:9; idem on Talmud tractate Sukkah 17a) and the country of Ashkenaz (Talmud, Hullin 93a). During the twelfth century the word appears quite frequently. In the Mahzor Vitry, the kingdom of Ashkenaz is referred to chiefly in regard to the ritual of the synagogue there, but occasionally also with regard to certain other observances (ib. p. 129).

Related Topics:
Hai Gaon - Germany - Rashi - Talmud

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the literature of the thirteenth century references to the land and the language of Ashkenaz often occur. See especially Solomon ben Aderet's Responsa (vol. i., No. 395); the Responsa of Asher ben Jehiel (pp. 4, 6); his Halakot (Berakot i. 12, ed. Wilna, p. 10); the work of his son Jacob ben Asher, Tur Orach Chayim (chapter 59); the Responsa of Isaac ben Sheshet (numbers 193, 268, 270).

Related Topics:
Solomon ben Aderet - Asher ben Jehiel - Jacob ben Asher

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the Midrash compilation Genesis Rabbah, Rabbi Berechiah mentions "Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah" as German tribes or as German lands. It may correspond to a Greek word that may have existed in the Greek dialect of the Palestinian Jews, or the text is corrupted from "Germanica." This view of Berechiah is based on the Talmud (Yoma 10a; Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 71b), where Gomer, the father of Ashkenaz, is translated by Germamia, which evidently stands for Germany, and which was suggested by the similarity of the sound.

Related Topics:
Midrash - German - Greek

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In later times the word Ashkenaz is used to designate southern and western Germany, the ritual of which sections differs somewhat from that of eastern Germany and Poland. Thus the prayer-book of Isaiah Horowitz, and many others, give the piyyutim according to the Minhag of Ashkenaz and Poland.

Related Topics:
Poland - Isaiah Horowitz - Piyyutim - Minhag

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~