Ashkenaz

“Ashkenaz” is the term applied to the Jewish world of northern and eastern Europe. Originally located in the Rhineland of northern France and western Germany, the center of Ashkenaz later moved east, when western Europe became intolerant of Jews and eastern Europe more welcoming. Among the early luminaries of Ashkenaz was Rashi, who spent his adult life in Troyes (today a suburb of Paris), where he wrote the most important Talmud and Torah commentaries ever composed. And his followers, the Tosafot (= “additions”) took the methods of the “new textuality” of the 12^th century and applied them to the critical study of Talmud.

From the early years of modernity until the Second World War, Ashkenaz was one of the most populous, most creative Jews homes of all time. It was the home of great yeshivot, the birthplace of Hasidism, the birthplace of modern Judaism, and even the birthplace of Zionism. In Ashkenaz, Jews lived with a kind of autonomy, self-governing both locally and regionally. In their Yiddish tongue, Ashkenazi Jews wrote literature, theatre, politics, and more. It is impossible to overestimate the richness of Ashkenaz for Jews during these centuries.