950 - C. 1015 SIMEON BAR ISAAC "THE GREAT" OF MAYENCE (Germany)
Community leader, rabbi and paytan (liturgical composer). Simeon was a colleague of Rabbenu Gershom and an expert on customs and prayers. Of his many compositions, his Hashem Melech (The Lord is King) is still recited in the morning prayers of Rosh Hashanah. Some of his prayers contain the name Elhanan (his son), who according to tradition was forcibly baptized, became a priest and eventually (according to one version) the Pope. Years later, upon meeting his father who had come to plead against a harsh decree, he returned to Judaism.
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