For some time Mayence was the metropolis
of Judaism in the Rhine countries; and by its community the first
academies were established, the first Talmudic commentaries were
composed, and decisions were made which were accepted by all the
Jews of Christian Europe. Soon this intellectual activity
extended to Worms, to Speyer, and a little later to the western
part of Germany and the northern part of France.[7] A veritable
renaissance took place, parallel with the movement of ideas which
went on in the schools and convents of the eleventh and fourteenth
centuries;[8] for Jewish culture is often bound up with
the intellectual destinies of the neighboring peoples.
For some time the schools of Lorraine stood at the head of the
Talmudic movement, and it was to them that Rashi came a little
later to derive instruction.
One of the most celebrated offspring of the family of the
Kalonymides is Meshullam ben Kalonymos, who lived at Mayence in
the second half of the tenth century. He was a Talmudist held in
high regard and the composer of liturgic poetry. He devoted
himself to the regulation of the material and spiritual affairs
of his brethren. Although he stood in correspondence with the
Babylonian masters, he was in a position to pass judgment
independently of them. Communication with the East was frequent.
The communities of France and Germany sent disciples to the
Babylonians and submitted difficulties to them.
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