Several weeks ago, I took a train from Paris into the Jewish past. I travelled about an hour’s ride from the French capital to Rouen to visit the remains of the city’s medieval Jewish community which had been discovered in recent years.
Many details about the medieval Jewish community of Rouen have long been known but it was only in the last decade that the importance and significance of this community has been recognized.
In 1976 Professor Norman Golb of the University of Chicago published a 250 page Hebrew volume entitled “History and Culture of the Jews of Rouen in the Middle Ages.” The painstakingly researched and well documented book shows that the medieval Rouen Jewish community was a great center of learning and was the home of a number of outstanding Jewish scholars.
Abraham Ibn Ezra, the wandering poet, grammarian, Bible commentator, mathematician and astronomer stayed for several years in the town. He composed there his commentaries on Daniel, the Minor Prophets and the Psalms and probably some other books. Seemingly he also had non-Jewish students whom he instructed in Astronomy. Rabbi Shmuel Ben Meir (Rashbam) grandson of Rashi and commentator of the Bible and the Talmud, lived according to Golb for a period in Rouen. There were , in addition to Rashbam, other Tosafists in the town. Berechia HaNakdan, author of Mishle Shualim and other works, who it seems also wrote commentaries on the Bible, was active in Rouen.
An appendix in Golb’s book is devoted a a description, based on old maps and other sources, of the ancient Jewish quarter and in particular of its principal synagogue.
In the spring of 1976, a short time after the publication of Golb’s book, a large building in Romanesque style, built in approximately 1100 was accidentally discovered beneath the courtyard of the Palace of Justice in Rouen. There was no doubt that the edifice of of Jewish origin. The Palace of Justice was built in the area which was formerly the Jewish quarter. Moreover, on some of the interior walls Hebrew graffiti were found.
At first it was believed that the building had been a synagogue, but Professor Golb identified it as the Yeshiva of the medieval community. Golb set forth his view in various publications. In an extensive study in French, printed in the Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research” (vol. 48, 1981) he described the building and deciphered and interpreted the Hebrew graffiti found on its walls.
Prof. Golb’s main arguments that the building had not been a synagogue, were the following:
“The building lacks a Hekhal, or apse in the eastern wall — a characteristic feature of all extant northwester European synagogues built in the Romanesque style.
“The main entrance of the building is in the middle of the southern wall, whereas the tradition followed in France in the Middle Ages was that the main entrance of the synagogue should be on the western wall, opposite the Hekhal.
“The four narrow slits serving as the only windows (located in the northern wall) are not in consonance with old Jewish traditions calling for the presence of large and high windows in synagogues.”
Early this summer, during the work on the construction of a subterranean parking area opposite the Palace of Justice an ancient building was discovered. When Prof. Golb arrived in Rouen he identified it, on the basis of archival material which he had published in his book, as the residence of Bonnevie, who lived in the second part of the twelfth century and was one of the richest Jews in Normandy.
The “Paris Normandie” newspaper of the previous day featured an illustrated article about the recent discover y of this Jewish residential building. The headline proclaimed: “This was no doubt, the home of the rich Jew Bonnevie- asserts Prof. Norman Golb.”
The article told of Prof. Golb’s pleas to the authorities to stop the construction of the parking area and to spare the remains of the Jew’s residence. “One should not destroy these walls, for few are the archeological remains of Jewish life in the Middle Ages,’ the paper quoted the professor. “And what for? to house a dozen cars?”
“Prof. Golb is moving heaven and earth to prevent the destruction of the ancient Jewish residence,” the paper continues. He has written to the President of the region and has sent a cable to the Minister of Justice.”
I met with Professor Norman Golb at the Tourist office in Rouen where we were joined by his wife Ruth. There in one of the rooms upstairs, Professor Golb told me at length about the recent archeological find. He drew a rough diagram of the ancient Jewish quarter with the sites of the principal synagogue and the newly discovered Yeshiva and residence of Bonnevie.
We then went to the Palace of Justice.
We were not allowed access to the area opposite the Palace of Justice where Bonnevie’s house had been discovered. We were told that the archeologists as well as the construction workers had been ordered by the municipality to stop working. The order was probably issued as a result of the conflicting demands of the contending parties: Prof Golb and his supporters who asked that the excavations be continued and those who wanted the construction of the subterranean parking area to be completed, even if it mean the destruction of the remains of the medieval Jewish building.
I caught a glimpse of the excavation site by peaking through the entrance door.
When we entered the yard of the Palace of Justice, Mrs. Golb pointed to the stone steps which lead up to the building. “These steps were removed during the excavations,” she said. The removal of the steps made it possible to uncover the eastern wall of the large building- identified as the Yeshiva – which was forced beneath the courtyard. The steps are now back in place and one cannot tell that they had ever been taken away.
We descended to the underground remains of the Yeshiva by way of a spiral staircase which is found behind the stone steps.
As we entered the subterranean area, I noticed remainders of an exhibit. There were stands displaying diagrams and descriptions of the discovery and of Prof. Golb’s hypotheses.
Mrs. Golb told me that when the exhibit was held a film about the excavations was shown.
Prof. Gol’s hypothesis that the underground building was once the Yeshiva of the medieval Jewish community is based no only on the negative arguments that it could not have served as a synagogue, but also on positive identification.
As a matter of fact, already in his book on Rouen Jewry == published before the discovery of the remains of a building beneath the courtyard of the Palace of Justice — Golb states that the Yeshiva must have been located in the area now occupied by the Palace of Justice. A nineteenth century Rouen scholar had written about the Yeshiva and its location citing a fifteenth century source. Basing himself on this information, Golb argued that the fact that the building of the Yeshiva was not mentioned after the fifteenth century seemed to lead to the conclusion that it was destroyed when the Palace of Justice was built.
Prof Golb showed us around the remains of the building explaining its features.
In his view the building had several stories. In the still existent ground floor the manuscripts were stored. On the floor above was the main lecture hall. The floor above that probably contained several rooms which were reserved for individual study.
The Yeshiva, seemingly was in existence until 1306, in which year the Jews were expelled from France.
Prof. Golb told me that the University of Rouen will put out an updated French edition of his work on the Jews of Rouen. Very soon another book of his, in a different field altogether, will be published by Cornell University Press. “Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century was written by Golb in cooperation with Omeljan Pritsak who is professor of Ukranian history at Harvard. The volume discusses the first known autograph manuscript of the Khazarian jews. This Khazarian document which was discovered by Golb in 1962 dispelled any doubts which have still existed with regard to the existence of a kingdom of Jews in Khazaria in the Middle Ages.
While writing this article, I was informed that Prof. Golb’s struggle for the preservation of the remains of Bonnevie’s house was only partially successful. The authorities decided to complete the destruction of the underground parking area. However, part of one of the walls of Bonnevie’s house will be spared. A plaque telling the story of the site will be affixed to it.
The Jewish Press, Fridays, Sept 10 and 17, 1982