Gezeira of Rabbeinu Gershom History

Question

Has the original text of the Gazeira of Rabbeinu Gershom been lost. If so when? Who are the earliest sources stating such?

related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/4901/gezeira-of-rabbeinu-gershom-text — Menachem, Jul 26 '12 at 23:39

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 14 '17 at 20:36

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The late professor Louis Finkelstein writes extensively on this topic in his work Jewish self-government in the middle ages (pdf), see especially starting on page 111.

His answer is that it is unclear if all the takkanot which are attributed to him originated with R' Gershom to begin with and that the original text has certainly been lost. He attempts to reconstruct the language from various sources he lists ad loc.

answered Sep 14 '17 at 20:36

rikitikitembo

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I would humbly add that his book is the authoritative source for study of R. Gershom's enactments and others of the Middle Ages. – Oliver Sep 14 '17 at 20:55

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 26 '12 at 23:37

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The answer here in the Footnotes of Halachically Speaking, Volume 5 Issue 17, "Reading Another Person's Letter"

edited Jul 26 '12 at 23:37

Menachem

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answered Dec 27 '10 at 22:49

SimchasTorah

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Which footnote are you referring to? – Yosef Dec 28 '10 at 03:10
all of the first paragraph footnotes brings down who talks about it – SimchasTorah Dec 28 '10 at 04:59

Gershon Gold · Answer 3 · 2010-12-28T00:35:30.123

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http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=20241&st=&pgnum=21

http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=20241&st=&pgnum=22

(וכן העיד הרא"ש:"ותקנותיו וגזרותיו קבועות ותקועות כאילו נתנו מסיני" (שו"ת הרא"ש כלל מ"ג סימן ח'

edited Dec 28 '10 at 00:35

answered Dec 28 '10 at 00:30

Gershon Gold

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That addresses the issue of their acceptance, but what about the text issue? – Yosef Dec 28 '10 at 03:11
@Yosef - the link gives you the earliest sources that mention the Cherem. – Gershon Gold Dec 28 '10 at 17:46

Gezeira of Rabbeinu Gershom History

3 Answers3