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biblical and rabbinic prohibitions on the consumption of blood....But between this dried blood used in the rite – blood which originated from unknown ‘donors’, alive and well, and mostly belonging to indigent families – and alleged ritual murders there was no relationship whatsoever save in the minds of judges (and not only those of Trent) as they endeavoured to prove the blood accusation against the Jews. Through their tendentious interpretations, the magical, therapeutic, alchemic, propitious or maleficent use of blood served to give plausible support to the deadly blood libel.
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382:. Twelve of Italy's chief rabbis in a press release refuting Toaff's claims declared: "It is totally inappropriate to utilize declarations extorted under torture centuries ago to reconstruct bizarre and devious historical theses." Kenneth Stow, Professor Emeritus of Jewish History at the University of Haifa, wrote: "To disparage this book is not, as some have suggested, to challenge academic freedom. It is to decry bad historiographical method."
362:
of
Ashkenazi Jews were powders made of blood." The article also states that: "Although the use of blood is prohibited by Jewish law, Toaff says he found proof of permission given by a highly restricted school of Ashkenazi rabbis to use blood, even human blood. 'The rabbis permitted it both because the blood was already dried, and because in Ashkenazi communities it was an accepted custom that took on the force of law.'"
242:, and was assured of that city's protection - sufficiently so to boast of taking on and beating any Christian who might prove bold enough to mess around with him. The other son, Salamoncino, took care of that grey area where shady business ventures and the criminal underworld rubbed elbows, attempting to assassinate Mehmed II, dealing in counterfeit goods and forbidden trade, and fleecing the Jews of
272:, large quantities of both sugar and blood for the Venetian market. Specifically, Tobias testified that the German Jews were keen to procure from the daring Cretan trader the blood of Christian children, not for confectioning rare medicines, but rather for obscure magical religious rites. Mavrogonato, wary of the dangers of direct involvement, delegated negotiations to a certain Hossar, i.e. Asher of
25:
423:(CESNUR) argued that "Toaff's work is not based on any "discovery". On the central case for his argument, which is that of Trent, he does not bring new documents but tries to overturn the scientific methodology used for decades for the correct interpretation of known and public ones, without realizing that, using his method, one would also have to admit that
208:. The Ashkenazi retained their deep suspicion of the Christian world which, in Germany, had caused them grievous injury, even within the, at the time, more hospitable world of northern Italy. In various agreements, they asked for and obtained strict guarantees from their hosts against forced conversion by friars and priests, the right to use
204:, pacts negotiated between Jewish leaders and the local authorities stipulating the duties and conditions under which the Jewish communities were given the rights of residency, Toaff elicits a significant difference in cultural values between the native Italian Jewish communities, and those hailing from the German-speaking world beyond the
224:-speaking Ashkenazi, and were forced to close down their banking operations in many northern areas in consequence. Toaff describes entrepreneurs from these Ashkenazi communities as brash with the new power of the financial authority they had expeditiously acquired in a mere five decades after their arrival:-
452:
I wish to specify that the principal aim of my research was to investigate the role of the so-called ‘blood culture’ in the German-speaking Jewish community, as in the
Christian society that surrounded it. This was a manifold, therapeutic, magical, propitiatory, alchemic role which flouted the strict
361:
Toaff said: "Over many dozens of pages I proved the centrality of blood on
Passover," Toaff said. "Based on many sermons, I concluded that blood was used, especially by Ashkenazi Jews, and that there was a belief in the special curative powers of children's blood. It turns out that among the remedies
263:
Tobias of
Magdeburg, one of the doctors visiting Venice in search of a conferment of an imperial recognition from Frederick III in 1469, gave testimony linking the German Jews who had flocked to that city in the Emperor's train, with the figure of David Mavrogonato. According to his testimony at the
250:
by a rabbinical victim, sought arbitration, Salamoncino hired an assassin to kill one of the other members of the swindling consortium, Aaron of Wil. The attempt failed, Salamoncino's role was discovered. He freely confessed to his
Venetian protectors and was imprisoned for 6 months and banned for 4
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Jews, leaders of a community that, over the preceding century, had emigrated in considerable numbers from German lands towards northern Italy where the expanding commercial empire of Venice offered prospects of prosperity and relief from the afflictions they had suffered in northern lands, in waves
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foods, the right to physical safety, severe punishments to be inflicted on any one who should harm them, and freedom from having their assets seized. Strict conditions were negotiated to govern the reliability of witnesses in the case of criminal charges being laid against them. They obtained the
443:
A week after its publication, Ariel Toaff withdrew the book from circulation, in order to "re-edit the passages which comprised the basis of the distortions and falsehoods that have been published in the media" The book was republished the following year. Toaff added an afterword, "Trials and
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states: "There is plenty of evidence to suggest hatred between Jews and
Christians, as many scholars have demonstrated regarding the Middle Ages. It is, however, quite a leap of imagination to take testimonies obtained under torture and to construct a hypothetical reality based on unrelated
126:. It was his third visit to the city, and his arrival was met by an influx of numerous visitors, merchants, adventurers, clerics and relic-hawkers, all keen to obtain certificates attesting to their merits, services and learning. Among the various groups was a delegation of
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Salomon of Piove's two sons, Marcuccio and
Salamoncino, outshone their father in their rash adventurousness and bold wheeling and dealing. The first was distinguished for his braggart haughtiness - he was defined by Venetian authorities as
474:, 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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Shortly after its publication, press reports were circulated stating that Toaff claims in his book that there was some truth to the story, and that
Christian children may have been killed by "a minority of fundamentalist Jews of
405:, is largely ignored as an explanation of the fantasies, for such they were, about Passover rituals, fantasies in which the unleavened bread and wine became explicit negations of the body and blood of Christ. The
394:- not being an expert on the history of medicine, I remain open-minded on this; but it is sheer blind logic to jump to the conclusion that Jewish groups might have used Christian blood for ritual practices."
181:. The cameo role played by these two allows Toaff to touch on the politics of intrigue within the larger Jewish community. As Mavrogonato and Salomon of Piove acted on Venice's behalf to kill a Turkish
94:. Because the book lent credence to one of the ritual murders, it sparked intense controversy including calls for him to resign from or be fired from his professorship; the questioning of his research,
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280:. According to further testimony by Israel Wolfgang, a double-dealing opportunist, powdered blood from Mavrogonato's shipment had been used in preparing the wine and unleavened bread for the
228:'(They were) self-confident and often arrogant and insolent in their relationships with rulers, observing laws only when it was strictly necessary or too dangerous to act otherwise.'
378:, Italy's leading daily, treated the issue. A preliminary rebuttal, including interviews with Italian scholars, appeared on 11 February 2007 in the Italian newspaper
401:, Professor of Mediterranean History at the University of Cambridge, "... the significance of blood in Christian culture, and in particular the significance of the
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372:, has said, "I would expect a more serious statement than 'it might have been true.'" He also expressed dismay at the sensationalism with which
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from the
Catholic faithful. The Bishop of Trent signed a decree proclaiming that the accusation against the Jews of that city was unfounded.
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ARCHIVI Anna
Esposito e Diego Quaglioni contestano la nuova interpretazione dello storico. (Corriere della Sera) 11 febbraio, 2007.
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189:'s powerful banker Mendele b.Abraham to get an Italian priest to assassinate by poisoning those responsible for the trial at
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circumstantial facts. It may be true that dried blood or other exotic ingredients were used in popular medicine, Jewish or
173:. He, and his bodyguard and successor Salomone of Piove, enjoyed considerable privileges for services they rendered to the
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331:, a young boy supposedly murdered by Jews in order to extract his blood to be used in making bread for Passover rituals.
217:, the authorities were asked, and consented to, expelling any Jews from the city (Gemona) who converted to Christianity.
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98:(s), and motives as they relate to his writing of the book; threats to his life; and demands that he be prosecuted.
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Pasque di sangue, le due facce del pregiudizio «Omicidi rituali: manca la prova. Toaff legge acriticamente i testi»
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Both groups competed as suppliers of credit, but the older Italian Jewish communities quickly lost out to the new
90:. The book analyses a notorious medieval trial regarding the ritual murder of a child by Jews for the purposes of
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246:, rabbis, widows, students and the poor, of their savings. When his henchman David Schwab, hit by a
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Scholar Pulls Book Revisiting Blood Libel - Says Press Distorted His Work, Pledges Proceeds to ADL
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right to be allowed to follow their own religious observances with 'zealous scruple'. In some
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Reactions to the book concentrated on the final chapter, which addressed the story of
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has played a particularly nefarious role in the history of anti-Semitism."
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by David Abulafia (Times Literary Supplement) February 28, 2007.
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Toaff opens his book with a detailed vignette of the arrival in
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Ariel Toaff, 'Trials and Historical Methodology: In Defence of
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Bar-Ilan prof. defiant on blood libel book 'even if crucified'
503:'molto favorevole agli ebrei', as Elia Capsali, then Rabbi of
431:, or that hundreds of good 1990s Americans were kidnapped by
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adventurer and businessman David Mavrogonato, regarded as a
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165:, who was engaged in furthering Venetian interests in the
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Passovers of Blood: The Jews of Europe and Ritual Murders
197:, which had led to the executions of many Jews in 1475.
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MKs demand the author of blood libel book be prosecuted
149:Venice had in its employ a spy and intriguer, the
84:Pasque di sangue. Ebrei d'Europa e omicidi rituali
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268:trial, Mavrogonato had imported, perhaps from
284:feast in Salomon of Piove's home, in 1471.
621:Blood Libel: Ariel Toaff's Perplexing Book
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65:Learn how and when to remove this message
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472:Ritual Murder Legend in European History
578:Historian gives credence to blood libel
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444:Historical Methodology: In defence of
86:) is a 2007 book by Israeli historian
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385:Writing in the same newspaper, Prof.
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421:Center for Studies on New Religions
370:Union of Italian Jewish Communities
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439:Withdrawal and republication
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435:from some distant galaxy".
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633:The real blood of Passover
580:By LISA PALMIERI-BILLIG. (
368:, former president of the
161:by the Jews of his native
744:Israeli non-fiction books
754:Books about antisemitism
255:he passes from history.
37:may need to be rewritten
649:"Blood libels are back"
417:sociologist of religion
288:Reception and reactions
739:2007 non-fiction books
623:By Kenneth Stow (HNN).
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448:", in which he wrote,
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403:Eucharistic sacrifice
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759:Books by Ariel Toaff
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419:and director of the
278:el Zudio de la barba
240:fidelis noster civis
169:'s dominions in the
138:from the age of the
119:of the philosemitic
707:) February 16, 2007
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387:Ronnie Po-chia Hsia
380:Corriere della Sera
375:Corriere della Sera
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16:Book by Ariel Toaff
689:The Jerusalem Post
604:2008-01-19 at the
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307:. You can help by
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518:Pasque di sangue
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749:Blood libel
705:The Forward
533:, ibid.p.36
407:blood libel
144:Black Death
133:antisemitic
88:Ariel Toaff
733:Categories
671:2023-06-10
546:ibid. p.45
458:References
339:published
516:A.Toaff,
505:Heraklion
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259:Chapter 3
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179:Mehmed II
163:Heraklion
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602:Archived
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215:condotte
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140:Crusades
102:Contents
92:Passover
721:,' p. 2
637:Haaretz
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425:witches
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337:Vatican
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191:Trento
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