Josel of Rosheim יוסף איש רוסהיים

He was chosen intercessor by the communities of Alsace, and then of the whole empire. His work consisted of journeys, letters, standing in antechambers, and conversations with men who could expel thousands with a word.

What he achieved. Confirmation of the privileges by the emperor; the cancelling or postponing of expulsions in several lands; the refutation of blood libels, including some for which men had already been executed. He also wrote against books that called for attacks on Jews, and argued the matter openly.

What he failed to achieve. Much. He lived through expulsions he did not avert and saw communities he did not save. And—this matters—he understood clearly that everything rested on his own face and his own connections: the office had no successor, and after him intercession in the empire fell apart.

He wrote about himself. He left a book of notes on his affairs, year by year—a rare thing in those centuries, that of such a man we know not from other people's papers but from his own.