Ariel Toaff - Blood Passover

Cfr. P. Camporesi, Il sugo della vita. Simbolismo e magia del sangue , Milan, 1988, p. 14. See also the recent study of this problem by B. Bildhauer, Medieval Blood , Plymouth, 2006.

"Ex sanguine humano fieri potest oleum et sal, post haec lapis rubeus mirabilis efficaciae et virtutis; cohibet flux sanguinis, multasque infirmitates expellit" ( Theatrum chemicum , Strasburg, heirs L. Zetzner, 1613, vol. I, p. 693).

The quote is dealt with by Francesco Sirena, L'arte dello spetiale , Pavia, G. Ghidini, 1679, p. 86. See also Camporesi, Il sugo della vita , cit., pp. 20-21.

Leon da Modena, Historia de' riti hebraici , Venice, Gio. Calleoni, 1638, pp. 95-96.

Giulio Morosini, Derekh Emunah. Via della fede mostrata agli ebrei , Rome, Propaganda Fide, 1683, pp. 114-118.

Raffaele Aquilino, Trattato pio , Pesaro, Geronimo Concordia, 1571, pp. 35v-36r. On the appearance and personality of Aquilino, whose previous Jewish name is unknown, but who was probably a rabbi, see F. Parente, Il confronto ideologico tra l'ebraismo e la Chiesa in Italia , in "Italia Judaica", I (1983), pp. 316-319.

Paolo Medici, Riti et costumi degli ebrei , Madrid, Luc'Antonio de Bedmar, 1737, p. 11.

Eliyahu Baal Shem, Sefer Toledot Adam , Wilhemsdorf, Zvi Hirsch von Fürth, 1734, c. 16r. The handbook was printed earlier, at Zolkiew in 1720, while there must have been many republications before that at Lemberg in 1875.

Chaim Lipschütz, Derekh ha-chaim, Sulzbach , Aharon Lippman, 1703. Under the title Sefer ha-chaim ha-nira Segullot Israel and the attribution to Shabbatai Lipschütz, a similar work was printed in 1905 (the recipes in question are at cc. 19v and 20r) and at Jerusalem in 1991. The use of powdered blood on the circumcision wound is also recommended in the modern editions of the Ozara ha-segullot ("Treasure of Secret Remedies"), by A. Benjacov (Jerusalem, 1991, and in the Refuah chaim we-shalom ("Medicine, Life and Peace"), by S. Binyamini (Jerusalem, 1998). See also the manuscript code of segullot , reproduced by Y. Ytzhaky (Amulet and Charm, Tel Aviv, 1976 [in Hebrew], in which the prescription of powdered blood on the circumcision wound appears at p. 101.

Scaharja Plongiany Simoner, Sefer Zechirah , Hamburg, Thomas Rose, 1709, M. Steinschneider ( Catalogus librorum hebraeorum in Biblioteca Bodleiana , Berlin, 1852-1860, column 2249), translates the title: Memoraie et specifica (medicamenta superstitiosa ). The same quotation from Jeremiah 30:17 as a textual basis for the use of dried blood as a haemostatic is reported in the Sefer-ha-chaim by Lipschütz, who, after illustrating the treatment of the circumcision wound, recommends, in the event of nose bleed, "di fiutare il sangue in polvere come fosse tabacco" [to insert it in the nose as if it were tobacco]".

Strack ( The Jew and Human Sacrifice , cit., pp. 139-144) records similar, sometimes identical, customs, present in the popular culture of the surrounding Christian society, but minimizes any consideration of the significance assumed by blood among the Jews, considering any such significance to be the product of tardy external influences of little importance.

Anon., Sha're' Zedq ("The Doors of Justice"), by Nissim Modai, Salonicco, Nahman, 1792, c. 22v. The Gaonic response on the perfumed waters of circumcision is reproduced and commented upon by Strack, The Jew and Human Sacrifice , cit., pp. 136-137.

Morosini, Derekh Emunah. Via della fede mostrata agli ebrei , cit., pp. 114-115.

Lipschütz, Sefer ha-chaim ha-nikra Segullot Israel , cit., Chaim Yoself David Azulay, Machzik herakhah , Leghorn, Castello and Sadun, 1785 ( Yoreh de'ah , par. 79). Chaim Abraha Miranda, Yad neeman , Salonicco, Nahman, 1804.

R. Ohana, Sefer mar'eh ha-yeladim , Jerusalem, 1990.

On this matter, see G.A. Zaviziano, Un raggio di luce. La persecuzione degli ebrei nella storia. Riflessioni , Corfu, 1891, pp. 4-5; Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews , cit., pp. 150-155.

Cfr. R. Straus, Urkunden und Aktenstücke zur Geschichte der Juden in Regensberg, 1453-1738 , Munich, 1960, p. 78-79; Po-Chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder , cit., p. 75. The use of (animal) blood as a safeguard against the Evil Eye is also present among the traditions of the Jews of Kurdistan (cfr. M. Yona, Ha-ovedim be-erez: Ashur: yehude' Kurdistan ["Dispersed in the Land of Assyria: The Jews in Kurdistan"] , Jerusalem, 1988, p. 59).

Cfr. C. Guidetti, Pro Judaeis. Riflessioni e documenti , Torino, 1884, pp. 290-291; Zaviziano, Un raggio di luce , cit., p. 175.

"Cum in X praeciptis Moisi a Deo ipsis Iudeis sit mandatum quod quempiam non interficiant nec sanguinem comedant; et propter hoc ipse Iudei secant gulas animalibus que intendunt velle comedere, ut magis exeat a corporibus animalium, et quod postea etiam salant carnes ut sanguis magis exicetur" (cfr. Esposito and Quaglioni, Processi , vol. I, cit., p. 351).

Lipschütz, Sefer ha-chaim ha-nikra Segullot Israel , cit. The recipe of rabbit's blood to cure sterility in women is repeated by Ohana, Sefer mar'eh ha-yeladim , cit. A variant sometimes consists of the prescription that either it should be the man, and not the woman, who should ingest the potion before having sexual relations. In this regard, see E. Bashan, Yahdut Marocco 'avarah we-tarbutah (" The Hebrewism of Morocco, Its Past and its Culture" ) , Tel Aviv, 2000, p. 216. On arresting excessive menstrual flow, a compound of fallow-deer’s blood and powdered frog, diluted in almond oil was sometimes recommended (Binyamini, Refuah chaim we-shalom , cit.).

Elyahu Baal-Shem, Sefer Toledot Adam , cit., par. 6, 18, 43, 80. The prescription of the menstrual blood of a virgin as a cure for sterile women is repeated with several variants by Banjacov, Ozar ha-segullot , cit.

Cfr. Amira, Das Endinger Judenspiel , cit., p. 97; Po-Chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder , cit., p. 21.

Cfr. Ytzhaky, Amulet and Charm , cit., p. 169.

Cfr. Benjacov, Ozar ha-segullot , cit.

Cfr. Strack, The Jew and Human Sacrifice , cit., pp. 201-205.

In this regard, see M. Rubin, Gentile Tales. The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews , New Haven (Conn.), pp. 190-195.

"Dicit quod dictus sanguis valet mulieribus non valentibus portare partum ad tempus debitum, quia si tales mulieres bibunt de dicto sanguine, postea portant foetum ad tempus debitum [...] Et dicit quod dum ipsa Bella esset in camera in qua erat Anna, illuc venit Bruneta, quae in manibus habebat quoddam cochlear argenti et praedictum illum ciatum argenti, quem Samuel in die Paschae de sero habebat in coena, et de quo ciato argenti dicta Bruneta cum cochleari accepit modicum de vino et illud posuit super cochleari et miscuit illud modicum sanguinis cum vino et porrexit ad os Annae, quae Anna illud bibit" ([Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., pp. 122).