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SPEYER
(FR. SPIRE; ENG. SOMETIMES SPIRES), A TOWN IN RHEINLAND PFALZ, GERMANY.
ALTHOUGH LOCAL TRADITIONS, MAINLY
LEGENDARY, SPEAK OF JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN SPEYER IN ROMAN TIMES, JEWS PROBABLY FIRST CAME TO THE TOWN IN THE EARLY 11TH CENTURY. DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE FOR A JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN THE TOWN DATES ONLY FROM 1084. AT THAT
TIME JEWS FLED FROM MAINZ FOR FEAR OF PERSECUTION BECAUSE OF A FIRE THEY WERE ACCUSED OF HAVING CAUSED. THE BISHOP ALLOTTED THEM A SPECIAL RESIDENTIAL QUARTER AND GAVE THEM A PLOT FROM CHURCH LANDS TO BE USED AS A
CEMETERY. THEY WERE ALSO ALLOWED TO BUILD A PROTECTIVE WALL AROUND THEIR QUARTER. BISHOP RUEDIGER GRANTED THEM UNRESTRICTED FREEDOM OF TRADE AND CONSIDERABLE AUTONOMY. THE JEWS WERE ALSO EXPRESSLY ALLOWED TO SELL TO
CHRISTIANS MEAT WHICH WAS RITUALLY UNCLEAN FOR JEWS, AND THEY DID NOT HAVE TO PAY ANY DUTIES OR TOLLS WHEN ENTERING OR LEAVING THE TOWN. BY 1096 A SYNAGOGUE HAD BEEN BUILT. THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF SPEYER WAS ONE OF
THE FIRST RHINE COMMUNITIES TO SUFFER DURING THE FIRST CRUSADE. ON A SABBATH, THE EIGHTH OF IYYAR (MAY 3, 1096) A MOB OF CRUSADERS SURROUNDED THE SYNAGOGUE INTENT UPON ATTACKING THE COMMUNITY WHILE ALL WERE GATHERED
IN ONE SPOT. FOREWARNED, THE JEWS HAD CONCLUDED THEIR SERVICE EARLY AND FLED TO THEIR HOMES. NEVERTHELESS, TEN JEWS WERE CAUGHT OUTSIDE THEIR HOMES AND KILLED. WHEN BISHOP JOHN HEARD OF WHAT OCCURRED, HE CAME TO THE
DEFENSE OF THE JEWS WITH HIS MILITIA, PREVENTED FURTHER BLOODSHED, AND PUNISHED SOME OF THE MURDERERS.
THE COMMUNITY GREW AND PROSPERED DURING THE 12TH CENTURY; ITS ECONOMIC POSITION WAS EXCELLENT, AND IT
ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS A CENTER OF TORAH. AMONG THE SCHOLARS OF SPEYER IN THIS PERIOD WERE ELIAKIM B. MESHULLAM HA-LEVI, A STUDENT OF ISAAC B. JUDAH OF MAINZ; KALONYMUS B. ISAAC, KNOWN AS A MYSTIC AS WELL AS A
TALMUDIST; ISAAC B. ASHER HA-LEVI; JACOB B. ISAAC HA-LEVI, A GERMAN TOSAFIST AND AUTHOR OF A DIRGE ON THE CRUSADE PERIOD; SAMUEL B. KALONYMUS HE-CHASID; SHEMARIAH B. MORDECAI, A CORRESPONDENT OF R. JACOB TAM AND A
GREAT TALMUDIC AUTHORITY; MEIR B. KALONYMUS, THE AUTHOR OF A COMMENTARY TO THE SIFRA, SIFREI, AND MEKHILTA; AND JUDAH B. KALONYMUS B. MEIR, THE AUTHOR OF A TALMUDIC LEXICON, YICHUSEI TANNA'IM VE-AMORA'IM. IN 1195,
AFTER SEVERE PERSECUTIONS FOLLOWING A BLOOD LIBEL, EMPEROR HENRY VI DEMANDED THAT THE JEWS BE COMPENSATED FOR DAMAGES AND THAT THE BURNED SYNAGOGUE AND RUINED HOUSES BE REBUILT.
IN 1282 A BLOOD LIBEL
BROUGHT SUFFERING UPON THE COMMUNITY AGAIN. IN 1286 MANY JEWS OF SPEYER AND THE NEIGHBORING COMMUNITIES OF WORMS, MAINZ, AND OPPENHEIM WERE INVOLVED IN THE ILL-FATED ATTEMPT AT IMMIGRATION TO ERETZ ISRAEL LED BY
MEIR B. BARUCH OF ROTHENBURG. THE COMMUNITY HAD A HIGH DEGREE OF AUTONOMY, ADMINISTERED BY A JUDENBISCHOF TOGETHER WITH A JEWISH MUNICIPAL COUNCIL. IN THJS PERIOD THE COMMUNITY MAINTAINED NOT ONLY A SYNAGOGUE AND A
CEMETERY, BUT ALSO A COMMUNAL WEDDING HALL, A HOSPITAL FOR THE INDIGENT POOR (HEKDESH), AND A MATZOT BAKERY. THE COMMUNITY SUFFERED SOMEWHAT DURING A BLOOD LIBEL IN 1342; IT WAS, HOWEVER, TO MEET ITS DESTRUCTION
DURING THE BLACK DEATH PERSECUTIONS IN 1349 WITH MUCH DIFFICULTY THE COMMUNITY WAS REBUILT, BUT WITHOUT ANY OF ITS PRIOR STANDING AS A CENTER OF LEARNING. IN 1405 THE JEWS WERE EXPELLED FROM THE TOWN AND ALLOWED TO
RETURN ONLY IN 1421. IN 1430 THEY WERE AGAIN EXPELLED, RETURNING AGAIN IN 1434, ONLY TO BE DRIVEN OUT ONCE MORE A YEAR LATER. AFTER AN INTERVAL OF 30 YEARS THEY RESIDED AGAIN IN SPEYER. IN 1467 THE TOWN GRANTED THE
JEWS THEIR PROTECTJON FOR A PERIOD OF TEN YEARS. YET IN 1468 AND 1472 BISHOP MATTHIAS VON RAMMUNG ISSUED ANTI-JEWJSH DECREES, INCLUDING A BAN ON CHARGING INTEREST AND PRACTICING USURY; FORBIDDING JEWS TO APPEAR
PUBLICLY ON CHRISTIAN FEAST DAYS; FORCING JEWS TO WEAR DISTINCTIVE CLOTHING; FORBIDDING THE BUILDING OF A SCHOOL OR SYNAGOGUE WITHOUT THE BISHOPS PERMISSION; AND AN EDICT CONFINING SPEYER JEWS TO A GHETTO. BY THAT
TIME, HOWEVER, THE NUMBER OF JEWS IN SPEYER WAS VERY SMALL.
IN FACT, FROM THE 16TH TO THE 18TH CENTURIES ONLY INDIVIDUAL JEWS LIVED IN THE TOWN. THOSE WHO FLED FROM SPEYER SETTLED IN NEIGHBORING PLACES, SUCH AS
BRUCHSAL, BERGHAUSEN, HARTHAUSEN, DUDENHOFEN, OTTERSTADT AND LANDAU. IN THE 1 9TH CENTURY THE COMMUNITY WAS RENEWED; BY 1828 IT WAS FLOURISHING ONCE MORE. A NEW TALMUD TORAH WAS OPENED AND THE SYNAGOGUE WAS ENLARGED
IN 1866. A NEW JEWISH CEMETERY WAS CONSECRATED IN 1888. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY DR. ADOLF WOLF SALVENDI AND DR. STECKELMACHER WERE RABBIS OF SPEYER.
IN 1933 THERE WERE 264 JEWS IN SPEYER. THAT
SAME YEAR ALL THE COMMUNITY'S CULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS AS WELL AS THE JEWISH YOUTH SOCIETIES WERE BANNED. IN MAY 1934 THE COMMUNITY INITIATED COURSES FOR THE STUDY OF HEBREW. IN 1939 THERE WERE STILL 77 JEWS THERE; OF
THESE 51 WERE DEPORTED ON OCT. 22, 1940 TO THE GURS CONCENTRATION CAMP IN FRANCE AND ALMOST ALL THE REST TO CAMPS IN EASTERN EUROPE.
JEWISH RITUAL OBJECTS FROM THE 12TH AND 15TH CENTURIES WERE PRESERVED IN A
MUSEUM IN SPEYER.
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