like Christians, should have free access to all markets in the realm. In 1510, he was made by the Jewish communities of Lower Alsace their parnas u-manhig (sworn guide and leader), a title that he originally shared with Rabbi Zadoc Parnas. As such he had "to keep his eyes open in special care of the community," and possessed the right to issue enactments for the Jews of his district and to put under the ban (cherem, the equivalent of excommunication) refractory members. On the other hand, he had to defend individuals and communities against oppression, and, if necessary, to appeal to the government and to the emperor. During the first years of his public activity Josel lived in the town of Mittelbergheim. In 1514 he, with other Jews of this place, was accused of having profaned the consecrated host, and was put in prison for several months, until his innocence was established. Soon afterward Josel moved to Rosheim, Alsace, in which place he remained until his death. In 1515–16, he aided his oppressed brethren in Oberehnheim by bringing their complaints personally before the emperor Maximilian I and obtaining a special imperial safe-conduct for them. Advocate of the German Jews Becoming steadily better known, even beyond the borders of Alsace, as a defender of Jewish communities in religious and legal matters, Josel gradually acquired a status as advocate, and even leader ("Befehlshaber") of all the Jews in the German empire. His status was not absolute: on one occasion he was fined for styling himself "Regierer der gemeinen Jüdischkeit", "ruler of the Jewry". Soon after Charles V ascended the throne at Aachen in 1520, Josel procured a charter or letter of protection from him for the whole German Jewry, confirmed ten years later by in the Edict of Innsbruck, May 18, 1530. Several times he interceded successfully with King Ferdinand, brother of the emperor, in favor of the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia. During the German Peasants' War, in 1525, the peasants of Alsace had decided to storm the city of Rosheim. With the peasants drawn up at the city gates, Protestant reformers Wolfgang Capito and Martin Bucer (or Butzer) failed to dissuade them from their plans, but after lengthy discussions Josel convinced them to leave the city and its Jews in peace. This stood in stark contrast to Sundgau, where the peasants had all of the Jews driven from the city.