The Early History of the Ashkenazim

I introduced the students yesterday to the Ashkenazim. Most of us living in the United States today are descended from this Jewish community, which origins are shrouded in mystery to this day. Obviously, I had to simplify a good deal of what we think we know about Ashkenazi origins for the students. My presentation was taken entirely from the "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" program. In order to help the students understand the atmosphere in which Ashkenazim had to live in Europe outside of Spain as the only non-Christians, I began my presentation with segments from the program describing Jewish life in Judea under Roman occupation and the continual growth of Diaspora communities at that time (minutes 0.45-6:28). We then watched a segment describing the birth of Christianity in Judea (minutes 9:18-13:42) and the eventual rift which grew between Christianity and traditional Judaism during the first century C.E. (minutes 17:26-19:47).

Once the students understood the background antagonisms between Christianity and traditional Judaism, I jumped ahead and shared with them a video segment describing the growth of animosity toward the Ashkenazi Jewish population in Europe beginning about a thousand years ago (minutes 18:38-24:46). Following the destruction wreaked upon the Jews during the First Crusade, Jewish communities recovered, but the hatred of uneducated peasants that grew out of their belief that their Messiah had been murdered by Jews, coupled with the economic tensions growing between Christians of all classes and Ashkenazim, led to a cycle of Jewish expulsions (especially when kings owed the Jewish moneylenders more money than they could possibly pay back) and invitations to return (when kings needed more money!) in western Europe. This cycle continued until the mid-14th century when one third of western Europe's population succumbed to the Black Death. It was at this time that most Ashkenazim, blamed for poisoning the wells and thus causing the plague, were forced to leave western Europe and seek refuge in eastern Europe at the invitation of Polish princes and kings. It was in Eastern Europe that the vibrant Yiddish culture of the Ashkenazim blossomed.