Hebrew University
An Intellectual Biography of Meir of Rothenburg
Moshe D. Chechik holds a BA and MA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he is currently completing his PhD in the Department of Talmud and Halakha in the Jack, Joseph & Morton Mandel School for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. His work examines the cultural history of rabbinical literature in medieval Ashkenaz. Chechik’s MA thesis, “The Struggle over Ashkenazi Legacy in Poland: The Printing of Shulhan Aruch in Poland and the Reactions to It,” was awarded the Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Innovation. His doctoral research focuses on the cultural history of halakhic literature in medieval Ashkenaz, with a particular emphasis on Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg. Analyzing Rabbi Meir’s extensive halakhic responsa, he demonstrates how his innovative method contributed to the development of a more ‘global’ halakhic identity while also provoking conflict within Rhineland Jewish communities. He has also published on early modern halakhic responses to plagues and their broader social and legal implications.
An Intellectual Biography of Meir of Rothenburg
The persona of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (Maharam) is etched in the collective Jewish memory primarily due to his tragic end, his death in prison, which in a sense heralded the beginning of the end for the center of Torah study in medieval Ashkenaz. In the history of Jewish law, Maharam is known as one of the most prolific authors, mainly thanks to the thousands of his responsa that have been preserved. This dissertation outlines the intellectual stature of Maharam, defining his character as a jurist and exegete. A close examination of selected legal issues, with a focus on Maharam’s presentation of the material and his choice of arguments, rather than solely on his conclusions, against a backdrop of precedents and accepted rulings, resulted in identifying and defining Maharam’s unique method of Halakhic ruling. Maharam’s persona as a Halakhic authority emerges with several characteristics that fold into a single principle: a deep and exclusive commitment to the Talmudic text as the basis for ruling, in fact as an exclusive anchor. Unlike other scholars of his generation, who often adopted an essentialist approach, examining the values and ideas behind the Talmud’s statements, Maharam preferred to stick to the flow of the discussion, its internal logic, and the principles emerging from it. This “Halakhic formalism,” should be seen not as formal automatism but rather as substantive conservatism: an approach that limits the jurist’s room for manoeuvre, as it consistently confines his ruling within the boundaries of the text.