), also known as Ephraim ben Jacob, was a rabbi and writer, known for documenting the massacre of the Jews in the city of York in 1190.
For instance, his "Elohim tzivita li-yedidcha bechiracha" and "HaRachaman Hu Asher Hanan" are still recited in Germany on the occasion of a circumcision.
Ephraim was, perhaps, the last German rabbi to compose poems in Aramaic for the synagogue, his selihah "Ta Shema" being especially well known.
He also wrote a commentary on the earlier portions of the Machzor, which became the chief source for the similar work of a compiler at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and which is extant in manuscript in Hamburg.
It is in a great measure the record of his own experiences, which are related impartially, and is among the most valuable of the documents used by medieval chronographers in their history of the persecutions during the period of the Crusades.