Ephraim of Bonn

Ephraim ben Jacob of Bonn was a halakhist, poet, and chronicler who lived in Germany. Trained as a talmudist, Ephraim wrote responsa, Tosafot (additions to the Talmud), commentaries to the prayer book, dozens of piyyutim (liturgical poems), and the Book of Remembrance (Sefer zekhirah), which recounts the suffering of the Jewish communities in Bonn, Cologne, and other cities during the Second Crusade and in later decades. Ephraim’s recording of the events of his day form part of a small but important corpus of Ashkenazic writings that aimed to memorialize and draw inspiration from Jewish reactions to persecution.