In this week’s parasha, the Torah devotes an entire chapter (Leviticus 17) to the prohibition of consuming blood. God first forbids idolatrous and improper sacrifices before declaring that “if anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers who reside among them partakes of any blood, I will set My face against the person who partakes of the blood; I will cut that person off from among kin.” (17:10) The Torah goes on to say that any land animal or bird that is slaughtered for food must have its blood entirely drained and buried under earth, before emphasizing again that “the soul of all flesh—its blood contains its soul. Therefore, I say to the Children of Israel: you shall not partake of the blood of any flesh, for the soul of all flesh is in its blood. Anyone who partakes of it shall be cut off.” (17:14)
Because of this, Jews throughout history have been exceedingly careful not to consume any blood whatsoever, even a tiny speck in a chicken egg. It is therefore tragically ironic that one of the most grotesque antisemitic accusations leveled against Jews for centuries is the “blood libel”—that Jews consume the blood of gentiles or use gentile blood to prepare matzot, or engage in some form of ritual murder. Where did this disgusting accusation come from, how did it evolve over the centuries, and how did it shape Jewish history?
Much has already been written about the origins of the blood libels (see, for instance, Albert Ehrman’s 1976 paper titled ‘The Origins of the Ritual Murder Accusation and Blood Libel’). It goes all the way back to Roman times, and already in the 1st Century CE we find Josephus write a defense of the Jews in his Against Apion. The accusation back then was that once a year (or once in seven years), Jews capture and sacrifice a Greek. In the 2nd Century CE, the early church father Tertullian wrote that Christians were being accused by Romans of “sacramental baby-killing” and “baby-eating”. Once the Roman Empire itself became Christian, the blood libel accusations practically disappeared, only to resurface in 12th century England.
In 1144 in Norwich, the body of a lost Christian boy was discovered dead and mutilated. The perpetrator was not found, and the boy’s family immediately blamed the local Jews. Authorities found no wrongdoing by any Jews, and the case was closed. It was later in 1150 when a visiting Benedictine monk revived the false rumours and again blamed the Jews. He claimed that another monk named Theobold, who had converted from Judaism, exposed the “secret” to him. He published his account, and the story spread across England, resulting in new blood libels and violence against Jewish communities. It then spread to Europe, and began to morph along the way.
It was in 13th century France when the detail of drinking the blood was added. At this point it was also suggested by some that Jewish men menstruate (!) and need to replenish their lost blood, or some other variation of this absurd nonsense. Tragically, many Jews across Europe were executed as a result, and it is estimated that there have been over 150 cases of blood libels resulting in Jewish deaths in history. In 1171 in Blois, all forty Jews were condemned to execution, with eight agreeing to convert to Christianity to avoid death, and the remaining 32 (including 17 women) choosing martyrdom. In response, Rabbeinu Tam declared the 20th of Sivan a fast day for Ashkenazi Jews, and King Louis VII later passed new laws to protect Jews. It should be noted that numerous kings and popes throughout history tried to quash the blood libels and defend their Jewish communities, to no avail.
It seems that a blood libel conveniently surfaced when a certain zealous priest or monk wanted an excuse to forcibly convert Jews to Christianity, or when a Christian murderer or pervert needed to cover up his own crimes, or when a bankrupt Christian king needed a reason to expel Jews and confiscate their money. (There have even been cases of poor Christians hiding their children to extort money from Jews.) The blood libels in England were one of the reasons King Edward I cited for expelling all Jews in 1290—and, of course, redirecting all debts owed to Jews to be owed to himself. A blood libel in Spain in 1490 was similarly used as one excuse to justify the 1492 Spanish Expulsion. There is a silver lining though in that, as discussed in the past, the Spanish Expulsion resulted in large numbers of Jews returning to the Holy Land, and the revival of Jewish communities in places like Tzfat. Don Joseph Nasi, a former converso, even got a permit from the Ottomans to establish a semi-autonomous Jewish state centered around Tiberias, and was officially given the title “Lord of Tiberias”. This trend was accelerated dramatically by yet another blood libel in 1840.
The Damascus Affair
In February of 1840, an Italian monk in Damascus disappeared with his young Muslim servant. In collusion with the local French consul, Christian merchants looking to cut out their Jewish competition accused a group of Jews of murdering the two for their blood. Thirteen Jews were arrested, of which four died from intense torture during interrogation. Meanwhile, a local synagogue was destroyed and 63 Jewish children were abducted as hostages until the Jews revealed the locations of the bodies. Not surprisingly, seven Jews “confessed” under duress. Jewish communities around the world were up in arms, and it is said that the Damascus Affair was the first time American Jews organized themselves and protested for their fellows in another part of the world. Sir Moses Montefiore and Adolphe Crémieux worked with their governments to help the Jews in Damascus. Finally, in November of 1840 the Jews were found innocent and the case was put to an end by the Ottoman authorities (who had restored their rule after Syria briefly fell to the Egyptian Arabs).
Rabbi Yehuda Alkali (1798-1878)
The Damascus Affair is what convinced Rabbi Yehuda Alkali that Jews were not safe anywhere—not in Christians lands and not in Muslim lands. (There was a similar blood libel at the same time in 1840 in Rhodes, Greece.) In response, Rabbi Alkali founded the Society for the Settlement of Eretz Yisrael. He started working on a treatise, first published in 1857 under the title Goral l’Adonai, to outline how Jews can reclaim their Promised Land bit by bit, establish agricultural colonies, revive the Hebrew language, and work towards independence. As explored previously here, Rabbi Alkali saw 1840 (or the Jewish year 5600) as especially auspicious since the Zohar prophesied it would be a monumental time when the “floodwaters” would once again fill the world as it did in the time of Noah, but this time spiritually. Rabbi Alkali amazingly suggested it would take a century—and it turned out he was right! (A copy of Goral l’Adonai was owned by a congregant in Rabbi Alkali’s synagogue in Semlin, Serbia by the name of Simon Loeb Herzl, grandfather of Theodor Herzl, who was born three years after the book was published.)
Meanwhile, Sir Moses Montefiore redoubled his efforts to invest in the Holy Land, paying for the establishment of new farms, factories, printing presses, and villages—including Mishkenot Sha’ananim just outside the Old City walls of Jerusalem, where the Montefiore Windmill still stands. Thus, one might argue that something positive did ultimately come out of the Damascus Affair, and possibly led to the modern Zionist movement, and the re-establishment of an independent Jewish state in Israel. This was further accelerated by one more blood libel, the infamous Beilis Affair.
The Montefiore Quarter of Mishkenot Sha’ananim in 1948, and today. The founding of the town was financed by Sir Moses Montefiore and the estate of Judah Touro.
The Beilis Affair
Menachem Mendel Beilis (1874-1934)
In Kiev in 1911, a thirteen-year-old boy was discovered dead and mutilated. A Jewish father of five and veteran of the Russian Army named Menachem Mendel Beilis was arrested and falsely accused of the murder. In fact, the abduction of the boy took place on a Saturday, when Beilis was actually at work as he did not keep Shabbat. Coworkers and work slips confirmed he was at the factory the whole time and could not have been where and when the boy went missing. Nonetheless, Beilis spent two years in prison awaiting trial. His innocence was well-known throughout this time, and many Russian writers wrote in his defense.
The trial finally began in 1913, with news outlets around the world covering the event. A Catholic priest was brought in by the prosecution as an expert on Talmud and Jewish rituals, but his ignorance of both was soon exposed. The carefully-selected all-Christian jury found Beilis innocent. Pressure from the world’s Jewish communities and their respective governments ensured Beilis was freed. The real perpetrators were discovered, but only brought to justice years later during the Russian Civil War when the case was reopened. By then, Beilis himself made aliyah. Although life in Israel at the time was hard, and Beilis was offered prosperity in America, he refused to leave for a long time, saying “Before, in Russia, when the word ‘Palestine’ conjured up a waste and barren land, even then I chose to come here in preference to other countries. How much more, then, would I insist on staying here, after I have come to love the land!”
Many Russian Jews took his example and made aliyah as well. Many others wished to leave because the Beilis Affair was the final straw and they were fed up with the rampant antisemitism. This wave of Russian Jews made up the last part of the “Second Aliyah” before World War I, instrumental for setting the stage for the later founding of the State of Israel. In 1914, it is estimated that 40,000 Jews living in the Holy Land had Russian citizenship! (As for Beilis himself, tough times ultimately forced him to leave in 1921, and he settled in New York. His funeral was attended by 4000 people.)
Aside from the impact on the future founding of Israel, the Beilis Affair had a unifying effect on the Jewish people. Jewish communities around the world—across the social and religious spectrum—protested on his behalf, and instituted special prayers for his release. Many petitioned their governments, sent financial contributions, letters of support, and the like. Great rabbis from around the globe offered to advise and help Moscow’s chief rabbi Yaakov Mazeh, who was called as an expert witness in the trial. One of the better-known was Rabbi Meir Shapiro, who later became famous for instituting the Daf Yomi cycle of daily Talmud learning. He wrote to Mazeh with a piece of advice on how to explain one of the accusations leveled at the trial.
Much of the trial was not about the blood libel issue itself, but an attack on all of Judaism and the Talmudic tradition. In many ways, it was the Talmud that was on trial. One accusation brought up was that the Talmud (Yevamot 61a) suggests gentiles are not called adam—seemingly not “human”—and that only Jews are. The truth is, the same Talmud passage brings verses to refute the suggestion, and in any case the Talmud is referring specifically to idolaters, who denied God as Creator, denied the basic understanding of being made in His image, and being held to a moral standard, and who engaged in various animalistic practices. Moreover, the same tractate of Talmud says that any unrefined person or spiritually incomplete person (Jewish or not) is said to not be a full adam, including anyone who is not married (Yevamot 63a), since the person is missing their other half. The reality is that it actually has nothing to do with being Jewish or not Jewish, and the Talmud (Pesachim 49b) uses even harsher language to refer to Jews who are amei ha’aretz, meaning ignorant and distant from God. (This was discussed in depth in the class ‘Is the Talmud Racist?’) But Rabbi Shapiro offered a more profound answer. Why is that Jews are called adam, “human” (in the singular), but gentiles are seemingly not?
Just look at the Beilis Affair itself!
The controversy awakened Jews all over the world to vocally and passionately take up the cause of just one of their fellows far away, whom they didn’t even know personally. Even one Jew oceans away is precious to his fellow Jew. We are seeing the very same today with the unfortunate and tragic hostage situation in Gaza. Every Jew, anywhere in the world, is deeply concerned and involved in whatever way they can be. And this is what it really means that Jews are an adam, a singular human. We are all part of one body. Gentiles are not. Muslims don’t particularly care when their fellow Muslims are being slaughtered by the thousands (they themselves are typically doing the slaughtering!) and Christian history is full of internecine warfare and bloodshed. (We sometimes forget the Inquisition executed way more Christian “heretics” than it did Jews.) Closely-related African tribes slaughtered and enslaved each other, as did native tribes across the Americas; Mongolian factions violently battled each other following the death of Genghis Khan, as did Greek factions following the death of Alexander the Great. In short, there is no people like the Jewish people that are so united and intertwined and concerned for one another—even with all of our differences in opinion, custom, political and religious views. The Jewish people are likened to one human, k’ish echad b’lev echad as our Sages said, “like one human with one heart”. And this is something unique in the world.
That said, It is worth noting that in at least three cases, a blood libel was started or amplified by a disgruntled former Jew with a desire for vengeance. This was apparently the case with the formerly-Jewish monk Theobold during the original Norwich case, as well as the infamous case of Nicolas Donin. Donin was a 13th century French Jew who was excommunicated by the rabbinic authorities for his heretical views in 1225. Ten years later, he became a Catholic with an agenda to destroy Judaism. He spread terrible antisemitic lies, including the blood libels. He later led the Paris Disputation of 1240 and the subsequent public burnings of the Talmud. The third case was in 1757 when Jacob Frank leveled the blood libel at the rabbis who were trying to suppress his false messianic cult. Two years later, Frank and his followers converted to Catholicism. (For more, see the recent class on Frankism, its connection to the “Erev Rav”, and lasting impact on Judaism.) If Theobold, Donin, and Frank had been properly educated and guided, they would have remained within the Jewish fold and much suffering and anguish for our people could have been avoided.
What can we conclude from all this? We are a singular body, and a body cannot function if its organs and cells are not coordinated and working together. If one part of the body is infected by a pathogen, the entire body becomes feverish and suffers, and can ultimately perish if left untreated. If one part of the body isn’t doing its job and is simply dividing uncontrollably and spreading—this is a cancer that will ultimately kill the entire organism. As such, we shouldn’t be afraid to speak up and point out the internal pathogens and cancers tearing away at our body. The second half of this week’s parasha reminds us to “rebuke your fellow, and do not incur guilt because of him” (Leviticus 19:17). If your fellow is sinning, it is your responsibility to call him out on it and inspire him to repent, otherwise you will be held responsible and bear the guilt, too. And the following verse in the Torah reminds us “to love your fellow as yourself”, since we are like a single organism after all. We have to reach out to our fellow Jews who are far from God and from true Torah observance and pull them in closer, as well as to our fellow Jews who have gone too far in the other direction and might have succumbed to various cults, false beliefs, or extremist ideologies. We should do it gently, of course, from a place of love and care. Only when we stay united, coordinated, and work as a healthy organism can we fulfil our national mission, and ultimately bring about the Final Redemption with a return to a peaceful, prosperous, and Godly world.