19 Iyar · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg - the Maharam of Rothenburg
Rabbi Meir ben Baruch of Rothenburg (1215 - 1293) was one of the leading authors of the Tosafot on Rashi's commentary to the Talmud.
Yahrzeit - 19 Iyar
Resting place - Worms, Jewish cemetery
He is also known as the Maharam of Rothenburg. Rabbi Menachem Meiri called him "the greatest Jewish leader of Tzarfat."
Rabbi Meir was born in the free city of Worms. He came from a dynasty of rabbis. His first teacher was his father. He continued his studies in Würzburg under Isaac ben Moses of Vienna and in France, where he remained until 1242. His teachers were Yechiel of Paris, Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise, and Samuel of Evreux, who witnessed the burning of the Talmud on June 17, 1242, in Paris.
He then settled in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, opening a yeshiva in his home. After his father's death in 1281, he settled in Worms. In 1286, Rudolf I, King of the Romans, established a new political status for the Jewish community, declaring them servi camerae regis - "serfs of the treasury" - which allowed for direct royal taxation of the Jewish community.
Since Rudolf did not forbid the local nobility from also taxing the Jews, the burden on the communities could be devastating.
Together with many others, Rav Meir left Germany with his family and followers, but was captured in the mountains of Lombardy, where he was recognized by an apostate Jew named Kneppe, and was imprisoned in a fortress near Ensisheim in Alsace. Tradition holds that Asher ben Yechiel (the Rosh) raised a large ransom of 23,000 marks of silver for him, but Rabbi Meir refused it, fearing it would encourage the imprisonment of other rabbis. He ruled on his own kidnapping in light of Talmudic law.
Rabbi Meir died in prison 6 years later. 14 years after his death, a ransom for his body was paid by Alexander Zuskind Wimpfen, who was subsequently buried beside him in the Jewish cemetery of Worms.
According to Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai's "Shem HaGedolim", Rabbi Meir's student, named Meir HaKohen, wrote the famous commentary on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah called "Hagahot Maimoniyot."
Rabbi Meir did not write any major work, but wrote numerous notes, commentaries, expositions, and poems, as well as 1,500 responsa. His student the Rosh (Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel) codified much of his teaching.
His responsa are of great importance to students of the Talmud, as well as to those studying Jewish life and customs of that era, especially because of the picture they give of the situation of German Jews and their suffering from the whims of princes and from heavy taxes.
Rabbi Meir is well known as a Tosafist and, in particular, is the author of the Tosafot commentary on the Talmudic tractate Yoma; he is cited in the Tosafot on various other tractates.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
https://dailyzohar.com/tzadikim/1175-Rabbi-Meir-of-Rothenburg