Ariel Toaff - Blood Passover

Francesco Maria d'Ancona Ferretti, Le verità della fede christiana svelate alla Sinagoga , Venice, Carlo Pecora, 1741, pp. 342-343.

Cfr. Y. Bergman, Ha-foklor ha-yehudi ("Jewish Folklore"), Jerusalem, 1953, p. 38; Ch. B. Goldberg, Mourning in Halachah . The Laws and Customs of the Year of Mourning , New York, 2000, pp. 56-59 ("It is customary that people pour out all the water that is in the house, where the deceased is dying, because the Angel of Death whets his knife on water, and a drop of the blood of death falls in").

Cfr. Frazer, The Golden Bough , cit., VII, pp. 26-30.

On the illustrations of the Haggadah in the manuscripts and printed editions, there is an exceptionally extensive bibliography. See, among others, C. Roth, The Illustrated Haggadah , in "Studies in Bibliography and Booklore", VII (1965), pp. 37-56; B. Narkiss, Medieval Illuminated Haggadot , in "Ariel", XIV (1966), pp. 35-40; M. Metzger, La Haggadah enluminée , Leyden, 1973; Y.H. Yerushalmi, Haggadah and History , Philadelphia (Pa.), 1975.

Shemot Rabbah , 1, 34. In this regard, see L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews , Philadelphia (Pa.), 1946, vol. II, pp. 296-304.

Anon., Sefer Ha-Yashar, Furth, 1768, c. 94a.

Rashi (R. Shelomoh Izchaki di Troyes), Perush la-Torah ("Comment on the Pentateuch"), with reference to Esther 2:23.

It should be noted that none of the classical Biblica exegetists of Sephardic Judaism, from Abaham Ibn Izra to Moshe ben Nachman, from Levi ben Gherson to Izchak Arama, to Izachak Abravanel, paid any attention to this legend.

See, in particular, the arguments of I.J. Yuval, "Two Nations in Your Womb". Perceptions of Jews and Christians , Tel Aviv, 2000, p. 258- 264 (in Hebrew).

Izchak b. Moshe, Or Zarua , Zhitomir, 1862, c. 117b. See also M.M. Kasher, Haggadah Shelemah , New York, 1961, p. 95.

See, in particular, the excellent and well-documented argument of D.J. Malkiel, Infanticide in Passover Iconography , in "Journal of the Warburg and Courteauld Institutes", LVI (1993), pp. 85-89.

Cfr. ibidem, p. 88-89.

Haggadah shel Pesach , Prague, Ghershom Cohen, 1526; Haggadah shel Pesach , Mantua, Giacomo Rufinelli, 1560, Seder Haggadah shel Pesach , Mantua, Ya' akov Shalit Ashkenazi, 1568; Seder Haggadah shel Pesach , Venice, Giovanni De Gara, 1609. On the second Haggadah of Prague, see C. Abramsky, Two Prague Haggadahs , Verona, 1978.

See fig. 1

See fig. 2. One rare copy of the second Haggadah of Prague is conserved at the Valmadonna Trust Library in London.

Utraquist Passional, Prague, Jan Camp, 1495, c. 24a. Cfr. Ch. Wangrow, Haggadah and Woodcut , New York, 1967, pp. 109-110. See fig. 3.

See fig. 4

See fig. 6.

This is the thesis advanced by Malkiel, Infanticide in Passover Iconography , cit., pp. 96-99.

See fig. 7.

The caption of the scene is in Italian in Hebrew characters.

The caption of the scene is in Italian in Hebrew characters.

"Omnium perniciosissimum est, sortilegiis, incantationibus magisque superstitionibus et maleficiis dedititi (sc. Judaei) quamplurimos incautos atque inforos Satanae praestigiis inducunt" [Approximately: “The worst thing of all is that the Jews are dedicated to spells, incantations and great superstitions, leading many incautious persons to be deceived by the wiles of Satan”] The bull Hebraeorum gens was promulgated on 26 February 1526 ( Bullarium Romanum , Turin, 1852-1872, vol. VII, pp. 740-742). See in this regard K.R. Stow, Catholic Thought and Papal Jewry Policy (1555-1593), New York, pp. 34-36.

See fig. 8

See fig. 9

See fig. 10

See fig. 11. In this regard, see Yerushalmi, Haggadah and History , cit., plates 25, 51-52, B. Narkiss, The Passover Haggadah of Venice 1609 , Jerusalem, 1974, p. 12.

See fig. 12.

Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. Hebr. 37. The manuscript is dated 1427-1428.

See fig. 13.

See fig. 14.

Ahser b. Yechiel (Rosh), Sheelot w-teshuvot. Responsa , Constantinople, 1517.

See figures 15 and 16. This woodcut of the sacrifice of Isaac was reprinted in the second half of the Sixteenth Century in the editions of Isac Prossnitz at Cracow (cfr. A. Yaari, Hebrew Printers' Marks , Jerusalem, 1943, pp. 29, 141.

See fig. 17. The image is reproduced by A.M. Hind, Early Italian Engraving II: Florentine Engravings and Anonymous Prints of Other Schools . Figs. 1-171, New York - London, 1938, fig. 74, and subsequently reproduced in Occhiali da vedere. Arte, scienze e costume attraverso gli occhiali, Carl Zeiss Foundation, Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Cataloghi di mostre, Firenze, 1985, vol. II, p. 30, no. G1, in H. Schreckenberg, The Jews in Christian Art , Göttingen, 1996, p. 280, fig. 6j.

In this regard, see L. Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion , New York, 1983, pp. 57-65.

See figure nos. 19 and 20. The two images are reproduced in Schreckenberg, The Jews in Christian Art , cit., pp. 144-145, figures 1 and 3.

See fig. 22. The table is conserved at the Museo provinciale d'Arte di Trento. Cfr. L. Dal Pra, L'immagine di Simonino nell'arte dal XV al XVIII secolo , in L. Rogger and M. Bellabarba, Il principle vescovo Johannes Hinderbach (1465-1486), fra tardo Medievo e Umanesimo , Atti del Convegno promosso dall Biblioteca Communale di Trento, 2-6 October 1989, Bologna, 1992, pp. 445-481, table 19.

On the relationship between the circumcision of Christ, blood and ritual homicide in late Medieval Christian iconography in the German-speaking territories, see B.Blumenkranz, Juden und Judentum in der mittelalterlichen Kunst , Stuttgart, 1965, p. 85; W.P. Eckert, Motivi superstiziosi nel processo agli ebrei di Trent , in Rogger and Bellabarba, Il principe vescovo Johannes Hinderbach , cit., pp. 390-391.

On the preparation of the unleavened break and the shimmurim , the unleavened bread, under supervision and most important, see A. Toaff, Mangiare alla giudia. La cucina ebraica in Italia dal Rinascimento all'età moderna , Bologna, 2000, pp. 147-149.