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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
The term "blood libel" generally conjures up images of bygone
days. We imagine the Golem of Prague descending upon the evil
priest or the smell of a damp cellar where the body of a
young Christian girl or a jar of blood lies hidden. But just
nine years ago the age-old blood libel reappeared in Spain,
attracting thousands of Christians to participate in a
holiday held in honor of the "martyr."
In the former Soviet state of Georgia 38 years ago a blood
libel led to the spilling of Jewish blood.
And in Italy a blood libel was resurrected in Tirano and
Roustica. When no new blood libels are invented, old ones are
revived.
The Domenichino Festival
Six hundred and fifty years ago in Saragusa, Spain, locals
claimed a Catholic boy named Domenichino had been murdered
while passing by the beis knesses on his way to
church. Twenty years ago a booklet describing the blood libel
was published and it was still being sold ten years later in
Fobruomo, a small town near Carrara, Italy. The tale is
supposedly based on unpublished 14th century documents, but
when a Christian researcher tried to verify the truth of the
story she was denied access to the cathedral library.
For centuries the Catholic Church regularly backed and
adopted all such fabrications. The ignorant masses were
unlikely to doubt the validity of blood libels. (In 1431 a
poor Christian woman approached a Jew from Bernau, Germany,
offering to sell her son for six marks to make blood for
matzos.)
Thirty-five years ago the Catholic Church began to recant
blood libels after an investigative commission was set up.
Calls were also made to change popular thinking on the
Domenichino story, but this did not prevent masses of
Christians from nearby resort towns to continue streaming
into Fobruomo to participate in the annual rite based on this
blood libel.
The prize Fobruomo's local council presents to the winner of
a locally held competition is named after Domenichino. The
town's Secretary of Culture took pains to reassure Jewish
visitors that the name was taken from the local rite and
carries no religious undertones. In preparation for Pesach
5752 (1992) Fobruomo underwent an expansion project designed
to make room for all of the celebrants. During the
festivities peddlers sold key chains bearing an image of
Dominichino.
Clergy heads made a strategic decision to trim back the
event. At the entrance to the church the booklet is no longer
available. Fobruomo residents objected to efforts to reduce
the rite based on economic grounds.
Similar celebrations were held in Roustica, which also
refused to cancel them due to "economic reasons."
The Fried-Bread Procession
Thirty years ago a booklet called Tirano--City of
Miracles written by two local schoolteachers and, with an
introduction penned by the city's archbishop, was published
in Italy. The booklet described a "real event" that took
place in Tirano four hundred years earlier "when deceitful
Jews lived here."
The story is of a Jewish woman who supposedly disguised
herself as a Christian and went to participate in a certain
"communion" ceremony. During the ceremony the priest handed
out pieces of bread and "instead of eating it, [the Jewess]
hid the bread in her scarf. [She] returned home . . . took
out the bread, placed it in a pan full of oil and placed the
pan on the stove top to fry. And just moments later the bread
transformed into fresh meat, splashing blood on the walls of
the cursed house of the cursed Jews . . . "
This fictitious and banal tale was widespread among the lower
classes of Tirano's Christians. At the end of the story the
piece of bread is deposited in one of the church's cabinets.
The authors of the booklet wrote the story as a historical
chronicle of events intended to revive the old custom of
holding a procession in the streets of the city with the
remains of the fried bread displayed at the head of the
procession.
The custom was abolished three hundred years ago by the local
archbishop, but in 5731 (1971) with the help of two
schoolteachers, another archbishop decided to revive it,
including the piece of bread at the head of the
procession.
In the spring of 5733 the archbishop succeeded in re-
instituting the ceremony and masses of Christians gathered to
participate. Italian television broadcast reports of the
procession and Italian newspapers began to delve into the
issue.
When the wide publicity ignited a debate among Italians the
organizers were accused of overt antisemitism. "We are deeply
disturbed by the renewal of the fried bread procession, which
revives bygone antisemitism and hatred toward Jews," read a
letter which the Union of Israelite Communities sent to
Vatican authorities. "Appropriate steps will be taken to stop
the custom, which harms fundamental principals of truth and
justice."
None of these local "revivals" led to violence against Jews
for, since World War II, no Jews have lived in these
provinces, where now the Jew exists only in the imagination
of antisemites. Since then, says Milan's Rav Avraham Chazon,
the controversy has dissipated and has faded into the
background of Italian discourse.
The Palestinian Blood Libel
The Nazis, may their names be blotted out, also tried to
revive blood libels. "Trials" were held in several German
cities and Der Sturmer dedicated an entire edition to
the topic, including "research" articles submitted by German
scientists.
The Arabs also took an interest in the topic. According to a
communist newspaper published in Russia, "A Jew who does not
drink Muslim blood at least once per year is not considered a
true believer in the Jewish faith, and therefore many Jews
buy 5-10 grams of blood from the Muslims . . . The blood is
mixed in a barrel of water and the water is sold as water
containing Muslim blood."
Following modern developments the Arabs have had to revise
the libel by exchanging blood for chemicals. "The Jews poison
our wells through chemical means."
When the State of Israel was founded, anti-Jewish sentiments
among Yemenite Muslims increased. Yahadut Teman notes,
"They devised sinister schemes against the Jews and elected
to employ the tried and true method of the blood libel. On
Shabbos afternoon, 16 Kislev 5709 (December 18, 1949), when
the streets of the Jewish neighborhood were empty, they
dropped two Muslim babies down an abandoned well located on
the edge of the Jewish neighborhood.
"Towards evening they pulled the corpses up from the well,
placed them on a bed and paraded them through the streets of
the Arab city shouting calls for revenge. On motzei
Shabbos the mayor of the city sent soldiers to the Jewish
neighborhood to arrest all of the respected members of the
community, numbering approximately sixty. They were led
through the streets of the city as crowds of Arabs beat them
and threw stones and were placed in prison.
"When news reached the Imam who sat in the capital city of
Taz, he appointed a panel of four judges to investigate the
incident. The Jewish prisoners claimed they had been falsely
charged and proved their innocence before the panel; they
wired the Imam and sent messengers carrying their petitions
and evidence. The Imam and the panel of judges both found the
Jews to be innocent, but did not want to acquit them lest the
charges be placed on the Muslims. Therefore they imposed a
monetary fine of 3,000 rials on the Jewish community and
after four months imprisonment they released a portion of the
prisoners. The remaining prisoners were released only after
an additional four months imprisonment."
Georgian Blood Libels
A modern day blood libel occurred shortly before Pesach of
this year in the former Soviet state of Georgia in the town
of Zastafuni, where the District Prosecutor and his wife, a
physician, notified police that their nine-year-old son "had
been kidnapped by Jews." They claimed the Jews had held the
boy for several hours during which they allegedly drew blood
to be used for matzo baking. In a display of her professional
knowledge the doctor added, "It was done using a syringe."
The accusers also provided the names of the alleged
perpetrators. The police investigated the charges
immediately, but released them soon thereafter when the
charges proved to have been false.
Another blood libel in Georgia in the year 5724 (1964)
appeared in a book published in Israel by a Georgian
immigrant. A forty-year-old man named Jungvalashvili, a known
drunk who could normally be found roaming the market of
Kolchouz, made one of his regular detours to the Jewish
cobbler, Krichly, who secretly sold vodka out of his home. On
this occasion he drank a prodigious number of cups but
refused to pay his bill. Krichly kicked the drunk and sent
him reeling out of his home. Jungvalashvili drifted around
the city, fell into a gutter and passed out, scratching his
shin as he came down. The inebriated man was found wallowing
in the gutter and brought to the hospital.
Instead of sending the wretched man to sober up, the duty
physician, a Jew named Yissochor Yaakovishvili, took pity on
him and admitted him so he could lie in a hospital bed. When
the doctors made their rounds two days later Jungvalashvili
suddenly declared that Jews had abducted him and drawn his
blood. The head physician, Kapanadza, who turned out to be
exceptionally antisemitic, believed the "victim's" version of
the story and, with his backing, rumors soon spread
throughout the city.
The riled masses began to stream to the hospital to offer
their support and bring presents to the patient. Meanwhile
Kapanadza used various means to foment their feelings of
inferiority, serving as the source of the provocative rumors
being disseminated. Yaakovishvili filed a complaint to the
party's municipal committee against the overt acts of
instigation by Kapanadza, but the committee secretary swept
the complaint under the carpet. When Kapanadza heard that the
committee had essentially dismissed the complaint, he fired
Yaakovishvili from his job, adding fuel to the flames. The
courts eventually reinstated Yaakovishvili, but Kapanadza
stubbornly refused to comply even after the Supreme Court
rejected the head physician's appeal.
The mob began to stir. The first victim was a Jewish driver
who suffered severe injuries that led to a serious disability
after he was tossed into a ditch by ruffians. Jewish students
stopped going to school and all Jews began to stay shut
inside their homes. Crowds blocked a Jewish funeral
procession and prevented burials in a cemetery located far
from the city's Jewish quarter.
A short time later bombs were laid at botei knesses in
Kutaisi and Tbilisi, but no one was harmed because the
explosions occurred at times when no congregants were
present. Explosives were also laid at a Czech beis
knesses that was consumed in flames. And in Sukhumi the
local rav, Michael Mozgorshvili, who also served as
chazan and shochet, was kidnapped in 5727
(1967) and later found buried in the Christian cemetery.
According to newspaper reports, "Following these incidents a
delegation of Jews representing the Kutaisi community
appeared before government authorities demanding protection
or permits to leave Georgia."
Georgian Tales
Georgian folk traditions contain several tales of blood
libel. One of the better-known stories is recounted by
Chacham Moshe Dzorlashvili, who now lives in Israel. At the
age of 93 the rav of a certain town was too tired to
stay up till dawn on the night of the Seder, according
to the custom.
As he slipped into bed he heard a voice cry out, "Rise up and
save Am Yisroel!" He donned his clothes and went outside,
where he saw the local Jews walking in the streets singing
the Haggadah and praying joyfully. He returned to his
bedroom and once again the voice drew him outside. This took
place three times, and then the rav decided to go to
the beis knesses.
There he found the shamash who showed him that the
bottle of wine that had been placed on the right side of the
heichal was now on the left side. Upon closer
examination they found the bottle was full of blood. They
poured out the blood and replaced it with wine once again.
During the next day's prayers an entourage of policemen
entered the beis knesses headed by the priest and
accompanied by a Jewish informant who pointed toward the
bottle. When no blood was found the policemen took the
informant to be summarily executed.
Today Georgian Chief Rabbi Ariel Levine says Georgia is not a
hotbed for antisemitism. "In fact Jewish life is thriving.
There is even a Jewish school in the capital city of Tbilisi
with one hundred students."
Although there are no yeshivos "bochurim from Georgia
go to Eretz Yisroel to study at Yeshivas Or Somayach or are
sent to Moscow to Yeshivas Toras Chaim. Young ladies from the
Jewish community go to study at the ulpana in
Jerusalem."
by Rabbi Avi Shafran (Am Echad Resources)
"The Jews' spilling human blood to prepare pastry for their
holidays is a well-established fact.
"During the holiday [of Purim], the Jews wear carnival- style
masks and costumes and overindulge in drinking alcohol and
licentiousness.
"For this holiday, the victim must be a mature adolescent who
is, of course, a non-Jew -- that is, a Christian or a Muslim.
His blood is taken and dried into granules. The cleric
blends these granules into the pastry dough.
"A needle-studded barrel is used, about the size of a human
body. The victim's blood drips from him very slowly. [The
victim's] torment affords the Jewish vampires great
delight.
"This blood is very carefully collected, as I have already
noted, by the `rabbi,' the Jewish cleric, the chef who
specializes in preparing these kinds of pastries.
"The human race refuses even to look at the Jewish pastries,
let alone prepare them or consume them!"
The above was excerpted from an article entitled "The Jewish
Holiday of Purim" and translated by the Middle East Media
Research Institute. The author is a faculty member at King
Faisal University in Al-Damman and the piece was published in
the Saudi government daily Al- Riyadh on March 10 of this
year.
Jewish spokesmen demanded, and got, a full apology, along
with a retraction. However the retraction was far less
enthusiastice than earlier incidents.
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