Ariel Toaff - Blood Passover

Cfr. Y.H. Yerushalmi, Zakhor. Storia ebraica e memoria ebraica , Parma, 1983, pp. 57-58.

In this regard, see L.A. Hoffmann, Covenant of Blood. Circumcision and Gender in Rabbinic Judaism , Chicago (Ill.), pp. 95-135.

Midrash Tachumah 57, 6.

Aharon b. Yaakov Ha-Cohen, Orchot Chayim ("The Paths of Life"), Berlin, 1902, vol. I, p. 12; Bechayeh b. Asher, Kad ha-kemach ("The Amphora of Flour"), Venice, Marco Antonio Giustinian, 1546, s.v. milah (circumcision); Id., Beur 'al ha-Torah (Comment on the Penteuch"), Naples, Azriel Ashkenazi Gunzenhauser, 1492, on Genesis 17:24.

Yaakov Ha-Gozer, Zichron berit ha-rishonim ("On Circumcision"), by Yaakov Glassberg, Berlin-Cracow, 1892, p. 5.

Cfr. M. Klein, 'Et la-ledet. Mihagim we-masorot be- 'edot Israel (" A Time to Give Birth. Traditional Customs and Uses of the Community of Israel"), Tel Aviv, 2001, pp. 157 ss.; A. Gross, Taame' mizwat ha-milah. Zeramim we-hashpa' ot historiot biyme' ha'benaym ("The Motives for the Precept of Circumcision. Historical Currents and Influences in the Middle Ages"), in "Da' at", XXI (1989), pp. 93-96; I.G. Marcus, Tikse' yaldut. Chanichah we-limmud ba-chevrah ha-yehudit biyme' ha-benaym ("The Ceremonies of Girlhood. Initiation and Learning in Jewish Society of the Middle Ages"), Jerusalem, 1998, pp. 20-21, 34; Dreyfus, Sacrifice and Circumcision , cit., pp. 11-16; Cohen, Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised , cit., pp. 31-32.

Anon, Sha'are' Zedeq , cit., c. 22v; Aharon b. Yaakov Ha-Cohen, Orchot chayim , cit., pp. 13-14; Yaakov Ha-Gozer, Zichron berit harishonim , cit., pp. 14-21; Izchak b. Avraham, Sefer ha-eshkol. Hilkot milah, yoledot, chole' we' gherim ("Book of the Precepts of Circumcision, etc"), Halberstadt 1868, p. 131. In this regard, see also H.L. Strack, The Jew and Human Sacrifice. Human Blood and Jewish Ritual, London, 1909, pp. 136-137.

Jacob Mulin Segal ( Maharil ), Sefer ha' ha-minhagim. The Book of Customs , by Sh. Spitzer, Jerusalem, 1989, pp. 482 ss (in Hebrew); Yuspa Shemesh, Mihage' Warmaisa ("The Customs of Worms"), Jerusalem, 1992, vol. II, p. 71. In this regard, see also J. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition. A Study on Folk Religion , Philadelphia (Pa.), 1939, pp. 154; 170; Cohen, Why Aren’t Jewish Women Circumcised ?, cit., pp. 32-40.

In this regard see Hoffman, Covenant of Blood , cit., pp. 96-135.

Yaakov Ha-Gozer, Zichron berit-ha-rishonim , cit., p. 61. See also in this regard S. Goldin, The Ways of Jewish Martyrdom , Lod, 2002 (in Hebrew).

Machazor Vitry , by H. Horovitz, Jerusalem, 1963, p. 626.

Zohar (parashat Bo ),c. 35b.

ibidem, c. 41a.

Ibidem., c. 36a.

Ibidem, cc. 39b-40a

In this regard, see Yuval, "Two Nations in Your Womb ", cit., pp. 109-150; Blood and Sacrifice , cit., pp. 28-30.

On this point, see in particular Hoffman, Covenant of Blood , cit., pp. 96-135.

Zohar (parashat Bo), c. 36a.

On the meaning and origins of the charoset, understood as "memorial of blood", see in particular Yuval, "Two Nations in Your Womb", cit., pp. 258-264.

On the rather extensive bibliography on ritual murders of 1329 in the Duchy of Savoy, linked to the preparation of the charoset, see, among others, Strack, The Jew and Human Sacrifice , cit., pp. 190; J. Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews , Philadelphia (Pa.), 1961, pp. 130 ss; M. Rubin, Gentile Tales. The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews , New Haven (Conn.), 1999, p. 108; M. Esposito, Un procès contre les Juifs de la Savoie en 1329 , in "Revue Historique", XXXIV (1938), pp. 785-801. According to the text of their confessions, the Jews of Savoy had carried out that rite consuming the human charoset "loco sacrificii" [at the sacrifice location] at Pesach , considering that they were approaching Redemption in so doing ("credunt se esse salvatos").

The arrival in Savoy of the English Jews expelled in 1290 is documented by R. Segre, Testimonianze documentarie degli ebrei negli Stati Sabaudi (1297-1398), in "Michael", IV (1976), pp. 296-297. In the lists of Jews of the Duke, there appears the name of "Manisseo Menasheh) anglico, Crestecio (Ghershon) anglico, Elioto (Elahu) anglico, etc.". See O. Ramírez's recent study, Les Juifs et le crédit en Savoie au XIVe siècle , in R. Bordone, Credit e società: le fonti, le techniche e gli uomini. Secc. XIV-XVI , Asti, 2003, pp. 55-68.

In this regard, see R. Ben Shalom, Un' accusa di sangue ad Arles e la missione francescana ad Avignone nel 1453 , in "Zion", XVIII (1998), pp. 397-399 (in Hebrew).

Alphonsus de Spina, Fortalitium fidei , Nuremberg, Anton Koberger,10 October 1485, cc. 190-192.

Ibidem, c. 192: "Copiosissime vivus sanguis Infantis effundebatur in predicto vase (in quo Judaei consueverunt recipere sanguinem Infantium circumcisorum [...] et deinde fructibus diversis, scilicet pomus, piris, nucibus, avelanis et ceteris, que habere potuerunt, in partes minuitissimas dividentes, sanguinem illius Infantis Christiani in predicto vase miscuerunt et de illa confectione horribili omnes illi Judaei comederunt" [Approximately: “The living blood of the child flowed copiously into the vessel (in which the Jews were accustomed to capture the blood of their circumcised children [...] and then they mixed various fruits, like apples, pears, nuts, hazelnuts, etc., whatever they might have had on hand, cut into extremely fine bits, into the vessel containing the blood of the Christian child and then all the Jews ate of that horrible confection”].

On the tradition of the tekefot (literally, "seasons"), rooted among the Jews of the German-speaking lands, above all starting in the years following the First Crusade, see in particular Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition , cit., pp. 275-258; E. Baumgarten, Mothers and Children. Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe , Princeton (N.J.), 2004, p. 238, no. 130; Ead., " Remember that Glorious Girl", cit. (which examines a broad range of Medieval Ahkenazi sources, in large part manuscript, on this topic).

Abudarhamha-shalem , b A.J. Wertheiemer, Jerusalem, 1963, pp. 311-312. On the religious texts of Ashzenazi Judaism, which include the tradition of the tekufot , from the Machazor Vitry to the manuscript of the work Kevod ha-chuppah ("The Honour of the Nuptials") by Chaike Hurwitz, see ibidem, p. 413.

On the testimonies of the Marranos of Bragança relating to the tekufot , recorded in the protocols of the Inquisition of Coimbra, see in detail the pioneering study by my excellent student C.D. Stuczynski, A "Marrano Religion"? The Religious Behaviour of the New Christians of Bragança Convicted by the Coimbra Inquisition in the Sixteenth Century (1541-1605), Ramat Gan, Bar-Ilan University, 2005, pp. 32-35 (cum laude doctoral thesis).