Rabbi Yozef Shemesh, in his youth, studied in the yeshiva of the Gaon Rabbi Pinchas, legal judge, when he was head of the rabbinical court in the holy community of Fulda. This was in the year 5380. He said in the name of his teacher, the Gaon Rabbi Valk, author of the Sema, that the reason decrees are more frequent in the holy community of Worms than in other communities and provinces is that when the First Temple was destroyed, some came and settled in the holy community of Worms.

After the seventy years of the Babylonian exile ended, the exiles returned to Jerusalem. But those who were in Worms did not return to the Land of Israel. The inhabitants of Jerusalem wrote to the people of the holy community of Worms that they too should come to dwell in the Land of Israel so that they could ascend on the three pilgrim festivals to Jerusalem, which is very far away. They did not heed this and wrote back that you are in the great Jerusalem and we dwell here in the small Jerusalem.

For at that time there were important people in the eyes of the nobles and rulers who were very wealthy. Because of this, decrees were renewed upon them more than upon other communities and provinces. The Gaon Rabbi Pinchas mentioned above, at the end of his days, returned to Prague and was a wondrous great gaon who was expert in the entire Talmud and the Ashri by heart, the like of whom was not heard.

His resting place is honored in the holy community of Prague, and they eulogized him for thirty days like our teacher Moshe. [Sefer Ma'aseh Nissim, section 37, siman 7].