Amram of Mainz

Amram of Mainz also Amram de Mayence or Mentz is a legendary Rabbi Amram of Mainz, said to have lived in the 10th century.

Legends

After he had been head of a yeshiva in Magenza, the Jewish Mainz, he went to Cologne to found a new school. When his end drew near, he said to his disciples against the desire to be buried with his ancestors at the Mainz Jewish cemetery. However, because students feared trouble, they were reluctant to comply with this request. Then he ordered a boat to suspend his coffin on the Rhine and left to its fate.

The surprise was great when, amazingly, the boat with the pious man not down the Rhine, but without control and rudder Help Rhine to Mainz and swam, landed there. All residents ran up to participate in this miracle, and wondered amazed at the power of this miracle could have brought, and who was in the coffin. After the Jewish community of Mainz found out that it was the dead Rabbi Amram of Mainz, Cologne, they brought the boat ashore to worship the corpse in the synagogue. The Archbishop of Mainz rejected the claim, Amram be regarded as saints of the Church, and to bury him Christian. This was followed by another miracle. The body was so heavy that no one could move it from the spot. Then the bishop immediately ordered that a church on the place where Amram was, was to be built. Even guards were now being used to prevent the Jews should bring the corpse of the Rabbi returned to their violence. His former students in Cologne Amram appeared as a vision and instructed them to his body at midnight when the guards were asleep, replace it with another body, which they did.

This legend has been told as a factual report nor the early 19th century. At a house near the shore near the gates of Mainz is a pictorial representation of the legend could be admired. The church is to be the Church of St. Emmeran.

Parallel legend

Abraham Tendlau relates in his book of legends Jewish antiquity in a note (page 354) to Shalshelet ha - Qabbalah on " The Amram 's Church " (pages 9-15), and other sources wonder how the same story from a Rabbi Amram of Regensburg can appear independently (books of legends ) in one of Ma'ase books. He certainly had no knowledge of that in relation to the Church of St. Emmeram in Regensburg the same legend was told in the Christian tradition, which means that St. Emmeram died of Regensburg in Munich, and his body without skipper with wonderful rapidity of the Isar and Danube came to Regensburg, where in honor of the saint, a chapel was built. It is surprising that in particular the Jews this miracle of Emmeram were required to profess. In all likelihood, the Jewish legend was borrowed from the Christian legend and transformed Emmeram to Amram.

On the other hand would be remembered, however, that the Jewish name Amram is source- language, the name Emmeram but knows no Christian names precursor. This logic leads rather to the conclusion that the Jewish legend of the Christian preceded it. In any case, this parallelism refers to the fact that the Judeo -Christian references in the early Middle Ages have not been thoroughly satisfactory. More from Rabbi Amram is not known, neither in Mainz, still in Cologne and Regensburg. Moses Sofer sees in him Amram Gaon, and reported that he saw his grave in Mainz.

Legend research

Regarding the origin of the legend, see:

Emmeram of Regensburg Georg Heinrich Pertz
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