Painting of a rabbi
Judengasse (Jews’ Alley)
Prayer book
Plan of the Jewish quarter around 1760
Model of a Jewish wedding
Exterior view of the Rashi House
Exhibits in the Jewish Museum Worms
Exterior view of the Jewish Museum in the Rashi House
A warm welcome …
to the Jewish Museum Worms!
In the Middle Ages, the Jewish community in Worms enjoyed a high reputation throughout western Europe as “Little Jerusalem on the Rhine”. Still today, there are unique records and reminders of Jewish life to be seen and visited in Worms, among them the Jewish Museum in the Rashi House. Come inside and learn all about the long history of this building and about the wide range of exhibits on religious and everyday life in the Jewish community from the Middle Ages up into the 20th century.
Special Exhibition!
The exhibition “SchUM on the Rhine - From the Middle Ages to Modernity” takes you on a journey through time to the heyday of the Jewish communities in the ShUM cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz.
Did you know?
- For an uninterrupted period of more than 900 years (from around the year 1000 until 1942, during the period of Nazi rule), the Jewish community in Worms enriched the cultural life and society of the city. Together with Speyer and Mainz, Worms was from medieval times on one of the most important Jewish settlements in what was then central Europe.
- The Jewish school (yeshiva) was very famous in medieval times and attracted scholars and students from throughout Europe. The most important of these scholars was Rashi from Troyes, in France (around 1060). Rashi is held in high esteem in Jewish circles still today. He was a rabbi, a scholar and the writer of a commentary on the Talmud. The Rashi House in Worms is named after him.
- The probable site of the school is where the Rashi House stands today. Parts of the ground floor and the cellar vaults date back to medieval times, and our museum is housed here in the Rashi House. The upper floors contain the City Archives, the city’s archive of photographs, and its historic monuments authority.
- Just a few steps away from the museum is the synagogue with it medieval mikvah (ritual bath). Also worth seeing are the surrounding narrow streets of the old city centre, the city wall with the Rashi Gate, and the Judengasse (Jews’ Alley) with its almost unchanged architectural structure.
- There is probably no other city in Europe with so many important architectural reminders of its Jewish history and tradition going back 10 centuries as Warmaisa – Jewish Worms. One very special jewel is “Holy Sands”(“Heiliger Sand”) – the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in Europe.
- The three cities of Speyer, Mainz und Worms have adopted the motto "ShUM Cities on the Rhine – A Jewish Heritage for the World", and together with their Jewish communities and the State of Rhineland-Palatinate are seeking recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Contact
Jewish Museum Worms
Hintere Judengasse 6
67547 Worms
Germany
Telephone number: +49 (0) 62 41) 8 53 - 47 01 / 47 07
Email: stdtrchvwrmsd
