Ariel Toaff - Blood Passover

"Secundum consilium doctorum Iudeorum dicitur quod mulieres nec masculi minores .XIII. annis non debent interesse quandodicti pueri interficiuntur, nec etiam illud debent scire, quia mulieres et minores tredecim annis sunt faciles et leves et nesciunt tenere secreta" (cfr. ibidem, pp. 357-358).

In the vast bibliography relating to the Toledot Yeshu , see, in particular, S. Krauss, Das Leben Jesu nach judischen Quellen , Berlin, 1902; Hugh Schonfield, Toledot Yeshu According to the Hebrews , London, 1937; R.Di Segni, Il Vangelo del Ghetto. Le "storie di Gesù": leggende e documenti della tradizione medievale ebraica , Roma, 1985; D. Biale, Counter-History and Jewish Polemics against Christianity. The "Sefer Toldot Jeshu" and the "Sefer Zerubavel" , in "Jewish Social Studies", VI (1999), pp. 130 ss.; Carlebach, The Anti-Christian Element in Early Modern Yiddish Culture , cit., pp. 8-17.

Cfr. Krauss, Das Leben Jesu nach judischen Quellen , cit., pp. 10-11.

The manuscript, a late copy of the Toledot Yeshu and other anti-Christian polemic writings, is in Hebrew and appears under the name of Ma'asè ha-Nozrì ("The Truth About the Nazarene"). It appears to have been copied in Germany around 1740 on a somewhat older copy of the text. It was put up for sale at Jerusalem by the Judaica Jerusalem auction house on 5 January 2005. For a summary description of the text in English, see the auction catalogue (p. 58, n. 122).

Shalom of Neustadt, Decisions and Customs , by Sh. Spitzer, Jerusalem, 1977, p. 137 (in Hebrew).

Cfr. S. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nuremberg Memorbuches , Berlin, 1898, p. 15.

Meir of Rothenburg, Responsa, Decisions and Customs , by Y.Z. Kahana, Jerusalem, 1960, p. 54 (in Hebrew).

In this regard, see the acute observations contained in H. Soloveitchik, Halakhah, Hermeneutics and Martyrdom in Medieval Ashkenaz , in "The Jewish Quarterly Review", XCIV (2004), pp. 77-105 ("the correctness of their conduct was axiomatic to them [...] and it was no less axiomatic to their successors [...]. Convinced of the palpable reality of the afterlife, feeling its almost graspable closeness [...] husbands killed wives and parents dispatched their children with a swift stroke of the knife, certain that they were bestowing upon them gift of eternal bliss")

Cfr. B.Z. Kedar, The Forcible Baptism of 1096. History and Historiography , in K. Borchardt and E. Bünz, Forschungen zur Reichs-Papst- und Landesgeschichte. Peter Herde zum 65. Geburtstag , Stuttgart, 1998, pp. 187-200.

In this regard, see A. Toaff, Migrazioni di ebrei tedeschi attraverso i territori triestini e friulani fra XIV e XV secolo , in G. Todeschini and P.C. loly Zorattini, Il mondo ebraico. Gli ebrei tra Italia nord- orientale e Impero asburgico dal Medioevo all'Età contemporanea , Pordenone, 1991, pp. 10-11; A. Toaff, Gli insediamenti ashkenaziti nell'Italia settentrionale, in Storia d'Italia . Annali. XI: Gli ebrei in Italia , t. I: Dall'Alto Medioevo all'età dei ghetti , by C. Vivanti, Torino, 1996, pp. 160-161.

Cfr. Soloveitchik, Halakhah, Hermeneutics and Martyrdom in Medieval Ashkenaz , cit., pp. 105-106 ("Every aspect of the Christian religion was subject to ridicule and disgust. Much of the intuitive rejection of conversion in Ashkenazi communities come from the revulsion of Christianity instilled from childhood [...] their suffering filled them with bitterness [...]. Having one's children brought up as Christians meant not only having them raised as savages, worshipping idols and venerating corpses, but also becoming the blood-stained persecutors of the Chosen People; and after a barbaric and sin-filled life, they would be condemned to an eternity of death; a swift stroke of the sword was perhaps seen as the greatest kindness that a parent could bestow upon a child").

In this regard, see, among others, I.J. Yuval, Vengeance and Damnation, Blood and Defamation. From Jewish Martyrdom to Blood Libel Accusations , in "Zion", LVIII (1993), pp. 33-90 (in Hebrew); Id., " The Lord Will Take Vengeance, Vengeance for His TempIe" . Historia Sine Ira et Studio , in "Zion", LIX (1994), pp. 351-414 (in Hebrew). For a contrary opinion, see E. Fleischer, Christian-Jewish Relations in the Middle Ages Distorted , in "Zion", LIX (1994), pp. 267-316 (in Hebrew). See also M. Minty, Kiddush Ha-Shem in German Christian Eyes in the Middle Ages , in "Zion", LIX (1994), pp. 266-269 (in Hebrew).

From the 13th century onwards, the tribune of the synagogue, ( bimah, tevah ), seat of the person officiating, was also referred to as the almemor , a term derived from the Arabic, al-minbar , "pulpit", exemplifying the forms and functions of the pulpit. The tribune contained the table ( dukhan ) bearing the roles of the Law during the weekly liturgical readings. It is curious to note the manner in which the term almemor , of Arabic origin, was also adopted by the Ashkenazi synagogues (cfr. Th. Metzger e M. Metzger, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages . Illuminated Hebrew Manuscripts of the XIIlth to the XVIth Centuries , Freiburg, 1982, pp. 71-74).

The chronicle containing the tale of the tragedy of Isaac, the parnas [= president] of the synagogue at Magonza, is reproduced by A.M. Haberman, Sefer ghezerot Ashkenaz we-Zarf at ("Book of the Persecutions in Germany and France"), Jerusalem, 1971, pp.36-38.

For a detailed examination of the affair with historical and ideological references, see J. Cohen, The Persecutions 0f 1096. From Martyrdom to Martyrology. The Sociocultural Context of the Hebrew Crusade Chronicles , in "Zion", LIX (1994), pp. 185-195 (in Hebrew); for an opinion closer to my own, see I.J. Yuval, " Two Nations in Your Womb". Perceptions of Jews and Christians , Tel Aviv, 2000, pp. 159- 161 (in Hebrew).

Cfr. S. Bernfeld, Sefer ha-dema'ot ("The Book of Tears"), Berlin, 1924, p. 169. In this regard, see Yuval, "Two Nations in Your Womb" , cit., pp. 199-200 and, more recently, A. Gross, Struggling with Tradition. Reservation about Active Martyrdom in the Middle Ages , Leyden, 2004, pp. 1-44.

"lnterrogatus ubi erant mulieres ipsorum ludeorum, respondit quod non erant in sinagoga, quia non est de more eorum quod mulieres intrant sinagogam. Interrogatus ubi stant mulieres quando celebrantur offitia sua, respondit quod mulieres tunc stant in camera que est ante sinagogam. Interrogatus an mulieres stantes in dicta camera possint videre in sinagogam et maxime ea que sunt super almemore, respondit quod non, nisi veniant super ostium per quod intratur in sinagogam. Et dicit, interrogatus, quod secundum eorum consuetudinem mulieres, que se reperiunt in camera que est ante sinagogam, se reducunt super ostium quando elevantur precepta Moisi in sinagoga. Et dicit, interrogatus, quod dieta die Sabbati de sero precepta deberunt elevati, quia omni die Sabbato de sero elevantur, secundum eorum ordines" (cfr. A. Esposito e D. Quaglioni, Processi contro gli ebrei di Trento, 1475-1478 . I: I processi del 1475 , Padova, 1990, pp. 324- 325).