The Captivity of the Maharam

Written By Shmuel Argaman Overview The Crusades are over, but the Jewish communities of Germany continue to be shaken by one convulsion after another. Blood libels, pogroms and barefaced extortion make life in Germany almost unbearable for its Jews, and a wave of emigration begins. As the Jews begin to leave, Rudolf of Hapsburg, Holy Roman Emperor and supreme ruler of Germany, is worried that the loss of the Jews will impoverish the German states and stop the flow of gold into the Imperial coffers. He decides that the only way to stop the Jews from leaving Germany is to prevent the Maharam of Rothenburg, one of the last Rishonim and the acknowledged leader of all German Jewry, from leaving Germany. But before the Emperor's order can reach Rothenburg, the Maharam has already set out in the dead of night on a desperate flight to freedom. "The Captivity of the Maharam" by Shmuel Argaman, is a dramatized account of the historical events leading up to the flight of the Maharam, the escape,