Ariel Toaff - Blood Passover

The village in question is Brie-Compte-Robert in the Isle-de-France, as shown in the works by William C. Jordan and Shim'on Schwarzfuchs, referred to in the note below, and not Bray-sur-Seine, as claimed by the majority of preceding scholars.

The episode is discussed, not only in the works by Roth, Horowitz and Trachtenberg, already cited, but by W.C. Johnson, The French Monarchy and the Jews. From Philip Augustus to the Last Capetians , Philadelphia (Pa.), 1989, pp. 36, 270-271; Id., Jews, Regalian Rights and the Constitution in Medieval France , in "AJS Review", XXIII (1998), pp. 1-16; Sh. Schwarzfuchs, A History of the Jews in Medieval France , Tel Aviv, 2001, pp. 155-156 (in Hebrew).

The text uses here the verb talah ( li-tlot, wa-yitlu ), which, as we have seen, may be indifferently translated as "to hang".

The quotation is taken from the Sefer Zechirah di Efraim of Bonn. Cfr. A.M. Haberman, Sefer ghezerot Ashkenaz we-Zarfat ("Book of Perscutions" in Germany and France"), Jerusalem, 1971, p. 128.

Manuele da Visso was accused and condemned "super eo quod dicebatur dixisse et fecisse aliqua illicita de Cruce" (cfr. A. Toaff, The Jews in Umbria, I: 1245-1435 , Leyden, 1993, p. 76-77).

"Quod omnia eius brachia et etiam genua sibi dicti spiritus asperuissent et devasstassent cum quibusdam stecchis" (cfr. Toaff, The Jews in Umbria. III: 1484-1736, Leyden, 1994, pp. 1116-1118; Id., Il vino e la carne , Bologna, 1989, p. 171-172).

The Jewish defendants were held guilty “de jugulatione Christi in formam crucifixi” (cfr. R. Segre, Jews in Piedmont , Jerusalem, 1986, vol. I, pp. 171-172).

Cfr. M. Luzzati, Ebrei, chiesa locale, principe e popolo. Due episodi di destruzione di immagini sacre alla fine del Quattrocento , in "Quaderni Storici", XXII (1983), no. 54, pp. 847-877; Toaff, Il vino e la carne , cit., pp. 156-158.

Simonsohn, The Jews in the Duchy of Milan, Jerusalem, 1982, vol. I, pp. 199-200.

Cfr. Giulio Morosini, Derekh Emunah, Via della fede mostrata agli ebrei , Rome, Propaganda Fede, 1683, p. 836.

"Et in festo Mardochai quod adhuc (Judaei) celebrant XV Kalendas martii, ubi conterunt ollas in Synagogis, dicentes: sicut contritus est Aman, sic contetatur velociter regnum Christianorum" [“And during the feast of Mordechai, which the Jews still celebrate on the 15th of March, they smash jars in the synagogue, saying: thus Haman was destroyed, thus may the kingdom of the Christians rapidly be destroyed”] (Marquardo Susanni, Tractatus de Judaeis et aliis infidelibus , Venice, Comin da Trino, 1558, cc. 25v-26r).

In this regard, see A. di Nola, Antropologia religiosa , Florence, 1971, pp. 91-144; R. Le Deaut, La nuit pascale , Rome, 1963, p. 281.

Midrash Shemot Rabbah 17, 3-5, 19, 5; Ruth Rabbah 6; Shir Ha-shirim Rabbah 1, 35; 5; Midrash Tanchumah 55, 4; Pesiktah de-Rav Kahah 63, 27.

In this regard, see Haggadat ha-midrash ha-mevor. Haggadah shel Pesach by Z. Steinberger, P. Barzel and A.Z. Brillant, Jerusalem, 1998, pp. 65-69; N. Rubin, The Beginning of Life. Rites of Death, Circumsciscion and Redemption of the First-Born in the Talmud and Midrash , Tel Aviv, 1995, pp. 102, ss (in Hebrew); I.G. Marcus, Circumcision (Jewish ), in J.R. Strayer, Dictionary of the Middle Ages. III: Cabala-Crimea , New York, 1983, pp. 401-412; Sh. J.D. Cohen, Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised ? Gender and Covenant in Judaism , Berkely (Calif.), 2005, pp. 16-18.

A useful argument, intended to link the meanings of redemption, implemented through the sign of the blood of the Passover lamb on the doors of the house of the Jewish people of Egypt, with the saving meaning of the Cross, may be found in Justine Martyr (Triphone, 111).

Cfr. Sefer Nizzachon Yashan (Nizzahon Vetus ). A Book of Jewish-Christian Polemic , by M. Breuer, Ramat Gan, 1978, p. 50 (in Hebrew). For the same argumentation on the links between the blood of circumcision, that of the sacrifice of Isaac and that of the Passover lamb, see also Shelomoh di Worms, Siddur ("Book of Prayers"), Jerusalem, 1972, p. 288.

Cfr. H.E. Adelman, Sacrifices in the History of Israel , http://www.achva.ac.il/maof.2000_9.doc (google), pp. 5-6. See also the chapter dedicated to this argument in the thesis presented by my assistant in the Department of Jewish History at Bar-Ilan University, I. Dreyfus, Blood, Sacrifice and Circumcision among the Jews of the Middle Ages , Ramat Gan, 2005, pp. 11-16.

In this regard, see J. Parkes, The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue , London, 1934, pp. 116-117. The paragon between Isaac and Jesus was known, among the Fathers of the Church, by Origin: "and his use of it suggests that he knew it was quoted in the synagogue".

Midrash Mechiltah , Pascha 7, 11: Shemot Rabbah 12, 13, 15, 11.

Cfr. Sh. Spiegel, Me-haggadot ha-'akedah: piyut 'al shechitat Izchak we-te-chiyato' le-R. Efraim mi-Bonn ("Of the Story of Sacrifice of Isaac: A poetical composition on the immolation of Isaac and this resurrection, written by the rabbi Efraim of Bonn"), in M. Marx, Alexander Marx Jubilee Volume, New York, 1950, pp. 493-497 (in Hebrew). It is significant that Yiddish theater traditionally represents the sacrifice of Isaac as a drama of death and resurrection (cfr. M. Klausner, The Sources of Drama , Ramat Gan, 1971, p. 186 ([in Hebrew]).

Tosofot ha-shalaem 22, 14. The term “tossaphists” [rabbinical commentators], the rabbi to whom the establishment of this liturgical custom is attributed, refers to the learned of the Talmudic academies in the Franco-German lands between the 12th and 14th centuries.

On this argument, see in particular, S. Spiegel, The Last Trial , New York, 1967; I.G. Marcus, From Politics to Martyrdom. Shifting Paradigms in the Hebrew Narratives of the 1096 Crusade Riots , in "Prooftext", II (1982), pp. 40-52; I.J. Yuval, "Two Nations in Your Womb". Perceptions of Jews and Christians , Tel Aviv, 2000, pp. 173-175 (in Hebrew); H. Soloveitchik, Religious Law and Change. The Medieval Ashkenazic Example , in "AJS Review", XII (1987), pp. 205-221; Id., Halakhah, Ermeneutics and Martyrdom in Medieval Ashkenaz, in "The Jewish Quarterly Review", XCIV (2004), pp. 77-108, 278-299.

Midrash Beresit Rabbah 60, 3; Wairah Rabbah 37, 4; Kohelet Rabbah 10, 15; Midrash Tanchumah (Bechukkutai ) 7. See also, Josephus, Ant. Jud . 5, 10.

In this regard, see J. Berman's recent study, Medieval Monasticism and the Evolution of Jewish Interpretation to the Story of Jepthah's Daughter in "The Jewish Quarterly Review", XCV (2005), pp. 228-256; E. Baumgarten, "Remember that Glorious Girl". Jepthah's Daughter in Medieval Jewish Culture , in "The Jewish Quarterly Review", XCVII (2007).