Adding To The Mystique of Judaism, L'chaim! Part III

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

For 1,000 years, we have been saying, "To Life !"  We, the people of the book, believe in LIFE for everyone, we do not dwell in death. 

"Each Shabbat morning in our synagogue, before we say the Kiddush, the prayer over wine, it is traditional for the leader to say 'savri meranan,' or 'savri haverei,’ which basically means, “Your attention please!”.  This is traditionally followed by everyone saying, with great enthusiasm, “L’chaim!"  If you know Hebrew, or if you ever saw Fiddler on the Roof, you know that L’chaim! means "To Life!"  Then we say the blessing over wine.

You may have wondered where this peculiar Jewish toast comes from.  In fact, it is almost a thousand years old.  The Midrash Tanhuma, a collection of ancient midrashim, describes this practice, in a way that has a lot to teach us about wine, about community, and about each other." 

Judaism is a religion that has evolved along with everything else.  It has never remained stagnant, but like a proper business, is always improving, adding, building.  Thus, meet some rabbis and men who made a difference for us.  

You will see the word, code, or codes.  The Talmud has been accepted as the code Book for the regulation of Jewish life.  It is a list of long discussions and many opinions and readers may even not find  the decision. The most comprehensive codification is the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides which includes all talmudic law---even that applicable only during Temple times in Palestine.   

                                 

The Rabbi of Worms was Eleazar Ben Judah (1160-1238), a native of Mainz, Germany and from 1201, he was rabbi at Worms, Germany.  His wife and 2 daughters were slaughtered by Crusaders before his eyes in 1196.  

His works made the Ashkenazi theory of practical kabbalah popular which stressed the doctrine of repentance.  His ethical teachings were embodied in his code, Sepher ha-Rokeah (The Book of the Spice Dealer).  Then he was known as Eleazar Rokeah. The  rabbi was a codifier, a kabbalist and liturgical poet.  From 1201, he was rabbi at Worms.  His works, popularized the Ashkenazi theory of "pracatical" Kabbalah which stressed the doctrine of repentance.               

 Kalonymos ben Kalonymos (Maestro Calo) (1286-after 1328)  The family line started off in Italy but he was born in France and was a French Hebrew author and translator. The father of Kalonymus and Kalonymus themselves each bore the title "Nasi" (prince). Nasi is a Talmudic term for the president of the Sanhedrin who then would also be the spiritual head and later, political representative of the Jewish people.  It's a very important title to bear.  

He lived in various French centers and in Rome. Kalonymos even was able to translate works from Arabic into Hebrew and Latin for King Robert of Naples. Translations were done of many philosophical and scientific works.  He wrote as well, ie; Even Bohan, a moral work in rhymed prose, and Masekher Purim, a satiric parody of a Talmudic tractate. 

 What he is known to me is Kalonymus being the origin of many Jewish families, including mine. Kalonymus was a prominent family from the 8th century Italy and then 10th century Germany. There was David ben Kalonymus of Naples and Mainz.                    

• Yosef Caro/Karo (Mechaber, 1488–1575), 16th-century Spanish and Land of Israel legal codifier of the Shulchan Aruch, who lived in Tzfat, Israel.  
• He and his parents were in the expulsion from Spain in 1492 and after much wandering, they settled in Constantinople by 1498.  then he moved to Adrianople in 1518, and in 1525, went to Palestine, and founded a Yeshiva in Safed (Tzfat). Here he wrote his code, "Bet Yoseph" (House of Joseph).  He wrote a lot more codes, but his codes were greeted with sharp opposition, especially by Asshkeenazi scholars who claimed that they were based on the codification of Spanish rabbis, ignoring the French and German traditions.  Very critical was Moses Isserles. Nevertheless, the Shulhan Arukh, printed together with Isserles' strictures, became the authoritative code  and is still recognized by Orthodox Jews throughout the world.  He was also interested in Kabbalah and claimed that religious secrets were divulged to him by a supernatural messenger (maggid).  

                                                

Rabbi Samson Wertheimer born in 1658 who was born in Worms, Germany in 1658-d:1724.  He was a financier, loaning money to kings of various countries.  He went to Vienna in 1684 to join the bank of his uncle, Samuel Oppenheimer, and soon became a court banker.  He leased royal revenues, and was one of the chief purveyors to the imperial forces,.  Together with his son, Wolf, lent large sums  to the emperor.  

In 1719, Carl VI appointed him chief rabbi of Hungary with judicial authority.  He used his connections to assist Jewish communities and obtained an order from the Emperor Leopold prohibiting the publication of Eisenmenger's anti-Jewish work, Endecktes Judentum. 

 Wertheimer established a fund to assist paupers in Palestine which existed until 1914.  some of his Sabbath homilies have been preserved.  

Resource:

Book:  Finding Our Fathers by Dan Rottenberg

https://goldfoot_genealogy.blogspot.com/2019/09/alpertziegelman-goldfoot-genealogy-from.html

https://goldfoot_genealogy.blogspot.com/2020/04/dna-connection-to-rabbi-samson.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalonymus_ben_Kalonymus

https://rabbischeinberg.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-yom-kippur-thought-on-origin-of.html