51:, an allegation that modern historians have described as unsupported by facts and which the Catholic Church has similarly repudiated since the 13th century. Toaff wrote that these critics had misunderstood his book, which argued that the ritual use of small quantities of dried blood in magical curses had been a real practice among medieval "Ashkenazi extremists", but that this was unrelated to the accusation of ritual murder which was the central claim of blood libel.
183:
forced conversions, expulsions and massacres, Toaff thinks it possible that in certain
Ashkenazi groups dried human blood came to play a magical role in calling down God's vengeance on Christians, the historic persecutors of the Jews, and that this reaction may have affected certain forms of ritual practice among a restricted number of Ashkenazi Jews during
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praised his intellectual courage in reopening a dossier that had lain under a taboo. While Toaff framed his analysis in hypothetical language, and phrased his speculations in conditional language, the reception of the book often tended to translate this caution, according to Hanna
Johnson, into the
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The evidence supporting this hypothesis draws on confessions extracted under torture. His book examines the strong documentary evidence in medieval medical handbooks that dried human blood, traded by both Jewish and
Christian merchants, was thought to be medicinally efficacious. Under the stress of
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A second edition of the book appeared in
February, 2008. In an afterword to this edition in defense of his book, Toaff responded to his critics. To forestall possible misinterpretations, he said that the idea that Jews practiced ritual murder is a slanderous stereotype, and that ritual homicide or
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for ritual purposes at
Passover, there was no relationship whatsoever between the so-called 'ritual of blood' and ritual infanticide. He denied that the Jews implicated were in any way involved in the murder of Simon. On February 14, 2007, Toaff said in a statement that he ordered the Italian
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Toaff promised not to give in to pressure and defend his work "even if crucified". In response to a statement from
Italian Jewish leaders that consumption or use of blood is prohibited by Jewish law and tradition, Toaff stressed that he was not implicating all Jews, but only "a group of
120:("Passovers of Blood: The Jews of Europe and Ritual Murders"), was published in February 2007. The book analyzes the cultural and historical background to a notorious 1475 murder trial in Italy. A group of Jews were accused of murdering a young boy, later known as
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certain criminal acts, disguised as crude rituals, were indeed committed by extremist groups or by individuals demented by religious mania and blinded by desire for revenge against those considered responsible for their people’s sorrows and
276:, Krakow, Nuremberg, Frankfort, 2003 p.12 reads:'It is important to state from the very beginning that Jewish ritual murder never took place. Today proving such theories wrong is not the goal of scientific research'. Cited Toaff,
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rites. The accused were tortured and confessed to killing the boy, who was informally venerated as a saint by
Catholics until the 1960s. The consensus of scholarship has dismissed cases such as Simon of Trent's as a
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fundamentalist Jews did not respect the biblical prohibition ." However, Toaff did eventually pull his book from circulation. He clarified that in regard to the specific trial, dealing with Jews accused of killing
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publisher of his book to freeze distribution of his book so that he can "re-edit the passages which comprised the basis of the distortions and falsehoods that have been published in the media."
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Bar-Ilan to order professor to explain research behind blood libel book: Ariel Toaff's book alleges accusations of Jews using
Christian blood may be based on real ceremonies
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357:, "Bar-Ilan professor who claimed Jews used Christian blood in Passover ceremonies defends his book: 'I will fight for my truth, even if I am crucified'."
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The book's publication, among other responses, led to calls for Toaff to resign from or be fired from his professorship, and questioning of his research,
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47:), in which he claimed historical basis for ritual use of human blood, obtained by murder. The claim was criticized as lending support to
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148:- and motives as they relate to his writing of the book. Threats were made against his life, and some sought his prosecution.
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He came to international prominence with the 2007 publication of the first edition of his controversial book
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Scholar Pulls Book
Revisiting Blood Libel - Says Press Distorted His Work, Pledges Proceeds to ADL
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The book was much criticized for providing material that anti-Semites might capitalize on, though
92:("Jewish Monsters. The Jewish Imaginary from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era", 1996); and
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The Jews in
Medieval Assisi 1305-1487: A social and economic history of a small Jewish community
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The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p. 188-189,193-195,208
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26:) is an Italian-Jewish historian. He is a professor of Medieval and Renaissance History at
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Eating Jewish style. Jewish Cooking in Italy from the Renaissance to the Modern Age
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Mangiare alla giudia. La cucina ebraica in Italia dal Rinascimento all'etĂ moderna
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459:"The Controversies over the Publication of Ariel Toaff's "Bloody Passovers","
387:'Historian recants theory that Jews killed Christian child in ritual murder,'
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Professor's Claim Of Truth To 'Blood Libel' Plays Into Hands Of Anti-Semites
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Blood and Belief: The Circulation of a Symbol Between Jews and Christians
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Blood Libel: The Ritual Murder Accusation at the Limit of Jewish History,
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Mostri giudei. L'immaginario ebraico dal Medioevo alla prima etĂ moderna
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244:'Gregory X: Letter on Jews, (1271-76) - Against the Blood Libel,'
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infanticide was a myth. That said, the possibility existed that:
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Ariel Toaff, 'Trials and Historical Methodology: In Defence of
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in Israel, whose work has focused on Jews and their history in
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MKs seek to try Prof. Toaff over claims in blood libel book.'
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318:. Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. xi.
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Passovers of Blood: The Jews of Europe and Ritual Murders
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MKs demand the author of blood libel book be prosecuted
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The Associated Press and Ofri Ilani Haaretz Service, "
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Il vino e la carne. Una comunitĂ ebraica nel Medioevo
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University of Michigan Press, 2012 pp.132ff. p.132.
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Love, Work and Death: Jewish Life in Medieval Umbria
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118:Pasque di sangue. Ebrei d'Europa e omicidi rituali
494:Article on Toaff and the Jewish-Italian Community
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376:", 11 February 2007; accessed 04 July 2013
484:Commentary on Toaff's Book on Blood Libel
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274:Ritual Murder Legend in European History
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59:Ariel Toaff is the son of
563:20th-century Italian Jews
444:Rizzoli, 2008 pp.101-105.
479:University of Heidelberg
140:- which is based on the
131:blood libel against Jews
402:Matthew Wagner and AP,
475:Commentary (German) by
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22:(born 17 July 1942 in
477:Johannes Heil of the
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74:Among his works are
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28:Bar-Ilan University
588:People from Ancona
442:Ebraismo Virtuale,
409:The Jerusalem Post
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105:Passovers of Blood
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547:Categories
536:—from the
203:References
176:tragedies.
61:Elio Toaff
242:[https://
100:, 2000).
88:, 1989);
55:Biography
344:Haaretz,
310:(2007).
191:See also
185:Passover
126:Passover
78:(1979);
528:Haaretz
518:Haaretz
508:Haaretz
498:Haaretz
488:Haaretz
452:Studies
391:Haaretz
361:Haaretz
295:Haaretz
262:,' p. 2
197:Kashrut
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24:Ancona
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