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{{Short description|Rabbi}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gershom ben Judah
| native_name = רבינו גרשום
| other_names = Rabbeinu Gershom, Gershom Me'Or Hagolah
| birth_date = 960
| birth_place = Metz
| death_date = 1040
| death_place =
| children =
| father =
}}
'''Gershom ben Judah''', (c. 960–1040) best known as '''Rabbeinu Gershom''' ({{langx|he|רבנו גרשום}}, "Our teacher Gershom") and also commonly known to scholars of [[Rabbinic Judaism]] by the title ''Rabbeinu Gershom Me'Or Hagolah'' ("Our teacher Gershom the light of [[Jewish diaspora|the exile]]"), was a famous [[Talmud]]ist and [[Halakha|Halakhist]].

Less than a century after Gershom's death [[Rashi]] said of him,<ref>Responsa 70</ref> "all members of the [[Ashkenazi]] diaspora are students of his." As early as the 14th century, [[Asher ben Jehiel]] wrote that Rabbeinu Gershom's writings were "such permanent fixtures that they may well have been handed down on [[Mount Sinai]]."<ref>Responsa 43:8</ref>

He is most famous for the [[synod]] he called around 1000 CE, in which he instituted various laws and bans, including prohibiting [[polygamy]], requiring the consent of both parties to a divorce, modifying the rules concerning those who became [[apostate]]s under compulsion, and prohibiting the opening of correspondence addressed to someone else.

== Biography ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2025}}
Gershom was born in [[Metz]] in 960. After his first wife died he married a widow named Bonna and settled at [[Mainz]], where he taught the [[Talmud]]. During his lifetime Mainz became a center of [[Torah]] and Jewish scholarship for many Jewish communities in Europe that had formerly been connected with the [[Talmudic academies in Babylonia]].

== Works ==
Questions of religious law were addressed to him from all countries, and measures which he authorized had legal force among all the Jews of Europe.

Gershom's literary activity was similarly fruitful. He is celebrated for his works in the field of [[Biblical exegesis]], the ''[[Masoretic Text|Masorah]]'', and [[lexicography]]. His school composed glosses on the text of the ''Talmud'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Gershom |url=https://www.ou.org/judaism-101/bios/leaders-in-the-diaspora/rabbeinu-gershom/ |website=www.ou.org}}</ref> and wrote commentaries on several treatises of the latter which were very popular and gave an impulse to the production of other works of the kind. His {{Transliteration|he|selichot}} were inspired by the bloody persecutions of his time. Gershom also left a large number of rabbinical ''responsa,'' which are scattered throughout various collections.

He is the author of [[Selichot|Seliha]] 42 – ''Zechor Berit Avraham'' ("Remember the Covenant of Abraham"), a liturgical poem recited by Ashkenazic Jews during the [[High Holidays|season of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur]], which includes the following stanza:

{{Poem quote|The [[Jerusalem|Holy City]] and its regions
are turned to shame and to spoils
and all its desirable things are buried and hidden
and nothing is left except this [[Torah]].}}

== Synod and bans (Herem of Rabbenu Gershom) ==

He is famous for his religious [[ban (law)|ban]]s within [[Judaism]], which include:
* The prohibition of [[polygamy]];
* The prohibition of [[divorce|divorcing]] a woman against her will;
* The modification of the rules concerning those who became apostates under compulsion;
* The prohibition of reading another person's private mail.<ref>''Shevet HaKehusi'' 1:315:1, quoted in Lebovits, Rabbi Moishe Dovid, "Reading Another Person's Mail", [[Hamodia]] Features, 6 January 2010, p. C3.</ref>

The influence of his ban can be seen in mail from the Middle Ages. A letter would contain the seal "B'chadrag" which meant that it was forbidden to open except by the recipient under the ban of Rabbeinu Gershom.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gershom |url=https://www.ou.org/judaism-101/bios/leaders-in-the-diaspora/rabbeinu-gershom/ |website=www.ou.org}}</ref> His religious bans are still in force for Ashkenazi religious Jews and are used for establishment of law in modern Israel.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Radzyner |first1=Amihai |title=Halakhah, Law, and Worldview |url=https://law.tau.ac.il/sites/law.tau.ac.il/files/media_server/law_heb/dine_israel/published/published_LB/P%D6%B9_EN/10Radzyner.pdf |website=www.law.tau.ac.il}}</ref>

== See also ==
* {{Transliteration|he|[[Heter meah rabbanim]]}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{Jewish Encyclopedia|title=Gershom ben Judah|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6615-gershom-ben-judah |author=[[Solomon Schechter|Schechter, Solomon]] |author2=[[Isaac Bloch|Bloch, Isaac]]}}

With regard to the so-called ''Ordinances of Rabbi Gershom'' see especially
* Rosenthal, in ''Jubelschrift zum Siebzigsten Geburtstag des Dr. Israel Hildesheimer''. Berlin, 1890; pp. 37 et seq.

== External links ==
*[http://jewishhistorylectures.org/2013/12/19/rabenu-gershom-meor-ha-golah-jewish-biography-as-history/ Video Lecture on Rabenu Gershom] by [[Henry Abramson|Dr. Henry Abramson]]
* [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0976654652 Rashi by Maurice Liber] Biography of Rashi who carried Rabbenu Gershom's teachings into the medieval world. Discusses influence.
{{Rishonim}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gershom Ben Judah}}
[[Category:960s births]]
[[Category:11th-century deaths]]
[[Category:10th-century French rabbis]]
[[Category:11th-century French rabbis]]
[[Category:Rabbis from Metz]]
[[Category:Authors of books on Jewish law]]

Gershom ben Judah - Revision history

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