The More They Crushed Us, the More We Learned: Rashi and the Crusades

Welcome to When One Heart Became Two Worlds: Lesson 6 — Rashi, the Tosafists and the Crusades Why did Ashkenazi Torah scholarship flourish most in the very centuries when Ashkenazi Jews were persecuted most? Like an olive, the more the Jewish people were crushed, the more oil they produced. This sixth class traces that paradox from Rabbeinu Gershom, “the Light of the Exile,” to Rashi, born in Troyes in 1040, whose commentaries on Chumash and Talmud are printed in nearly every edition of both. It follows Rashi’s grandsons, the Rashbam and Rabbeinu Tam, into the Tosafist movement, contrasts Rashi’s humble style with the Rambam’s bold codification, and then turns to the Crusades, the blood libels and the Black Death, and the communities who chose martyrdom over conversion. 🔎 In this video we explore: • The olive paradox: why persecution and scholarship rose together in Ashkenaz • Rashi and the Rambam: the giants of Ashkenaz and Sepharad, and their very different temperaments • Bilam’s “mountaintops”: why the simple meaning isn’t always the literal one • “Why did God give us two hands?” One finger in the Gemara, one in Rashi • Rabbeinu Tam vs. his grandfather: the order of the parchments in tefillin • 1096: the martyrs of Speyer, Worms and Mainz • Three reasons the blood libel collapses on its own terms • The closing lesson: why education without moral grounding is dangerous ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Welcome to Lesson 6 and next week’s class on customs 01:10 Elul: sounding the shofar 02:05 The olive paradox: the more Jews were crushed, the more they learned 03:53 Rabbeinu Gershom, the Light of the Exile 04:40 Rashi: Rabban shel Yisrael, the teacher of Israel 07:18 Rashi and the Rambam: the giants of Ashkenaz and Sepharad 08:33 Born in Troyes, 1040: “the sun rises, the sun sets” 09:30 From Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar to King David 10:17 Two stories of Rashi’s birth: the jewel and the wall 12:23 Worms, Mainz, and a towering scholar at 25 13:22 Rashi’s humility vs. the Rambam’s boldness 15:03 The myth that Rashi met the Rambam 16:03 Rashi on Chumash: pshat and the midrash that fits it 18:28 Bilam’s “mountaintops”: when the simple meaning isn’t literal 20:26 The Rashbam critiques his grandfather 21:22 Q&A: How did Rashi spread before printing? What languages did he speak? 23:52 No Chumash without Rashi: shnayim mikra and the “wine of Torah” 25:53 Rashi script: the myth explained 26:48 Rabbeinu Tam: “I could match his Talmud, not his Torah” 27:37 Rashi on the Talmud: maximum clarity, minimum words 29:53 “Why two hands?” One finger in the Gemara, one in Rashi 30:47 Simple and deep at the same time 31:37 Rashi’s daughters and the birth of Tosafos 33:23 Reading a page of Talmud: Rashi vs. Tosafos 36:23 Rabbeinu Tam and the tefillin dispute 39:06 Rabbeinu Tam on Rashi’s lap, Ibn Ezra, and Ramerupt 40:53 The Ri, Rabbi Moshe of Coucy, and Sephardi-Ashkenazi unity 42:53 Maharam of Rothenburg refuses ransom; the Rosh goes to Spain 44:24 The Crusades: what really drove them 47:11 1096: the massacres of Speyer, Worms and Mainz 48:05 Ashkenazi martyrdom vs. Sephardi conversos 50:34 Q&A: Why not just fake a conversion? 51:55 Jerusalem burned, and the Shepherds’ Crusades 52:35 The blood libel: three strikes against a lie 54:41 Norwich, Blois, Paris and York 55:53 “A thousand Akeidos in one day”: an elegy for 1096 57:00 Eastward migration and the Black Death 58:32 Normalized violence, unbroken faith 59:52 The lesson of Germany: education without morality 1:02:08 Q&A: Why do some Jews turn against their own? 1:05:07 Next week’s class, and Ashkenaz in the Talmud 1:06:12 Q&A: Rashi the commentator vs. the Rambam the posek 1:09:11 Closing questions 🙏 If this class deepened your appreciation for Rashi and the generations who kept learning through the Crusades, hit like, subscribe, and tell us in the comments: which Rashi has stayed with you the most? 📚 Sources discussed: Rashi’s commentaries on Chumash and Talmud; Rabbeinu Gershom; the Rashbam; Rabbeinu Tam; Tosafos; the Ri (Rabbi Yitzchak of Dampierre); Rabbi Moshe of Coucy; the Maharam of Rothenburg; the Rosh (Rabbeinu Asher); the Rambam (Mishneh Torah and Commentary on the Mishnah); Ibn Ezra; the Ramban; Targum Onkelos; Shemos 1:12; Koheles 1:5; Bamidbar 23:7–9 (Bilam’s parable); Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar; a medieval elegy on the 1096 massacres