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A new book has gained some recent notoriety in light of socio-political implications. There's an article about it in USA Today:Historian angers Jews by probing medieval accusations of anti-Christian hatredAccording to the article, the author, who is Italian-Israeli, has brought about some unwelcome research to the Jewish community:
The author, who teaches medieval and Renaissance history at Bar-Ilan University outside Tel Aviv, Israel, delves into the charge that Jews added the blood of Christian children to wine and unleavened bread for Passover ? allegations that resulted in torture, show trials and executions, periodically devastating Europe's Jewish communities over the years.
My feeling on this matter, first of all, is that Christian-Jewish relations have fortunately advanced that we live in peace. From my perspective, prejudice is so far removed from the mainstream that the only way one would know about it is by reading about it or by hearing complaints about it. It's important, however, to acknowledge the past and the turbulent times that Christians and Jews have undergone - both in their treatment toward each other. This is why I don't like it when I read that condemnations of the book are made based on fear of future reprisals against Jews. After all, books that rip on Christianity from an historical perspective are not second-guessed based on potential backlash against the religion. I don't know how many people would hold a 500-year old incident over someone else's head. Perhaps a few individuals who are not "right in the head" in the first place, but not many. The bottom line is that I do not think it's right to reserve historical criticism of one group alone without acknowledging all the fact involved. Truthfully, I dislike criticizing historical peoples too harshly based on our modern-day standards; this seems to be arm chair moralizing at its finest. We should remember that times were different, that morals were not understood as fully as we do today, and societal needs were not the same as now. As such, any criticism - or lack thereof - of Jews, Christians, or other groups shouldn't be done with regard to modern-day socio-politics. Otherwise history is not used as a means of exploring man's nature as it is a tool for power in the here-and-now.
I believe what this “historian” is referring to is the myths that radical Muslim elements teach in their racial hatred of Jews. There are myths that Jews added blood of children to their Passover meals, but this is garbage. It's pure anti-semitism at its sickest. I hope no one takes this kind of sensationalized and mythologized history seriously. The agenda behind it is clear. 😡
Donnie, I was not under the impression that it was in line with anti-Semitic propaganda such as you say. In fact, according to the article the author is a rabbi and he does not believe that “ritual murders” actually took place. My problem is the glaring double standard that I see with those who dismiss bad news about their own from the get go. Do they also dismiss bad news in the same manner when it's directed at another group?I don't know if the people in the article are like this, but it does seem to be a sentiment in our society where a victimization mentality promotes its own oppression but doesn't want to see where this plays to unfairness to others. Haven't all groups been at fault at some time or another in the past? Haven't we gotten to a point where we can acknowledge this and move on?My real point here is that I don't know whether the author's points are true or not, but I don't think that they can be countered by an argument that is based on "look at what will happen if these points are taken as true by the public". I think this turns into a practice of selectively dispersing information for social or political ends.
I must have misunderstood your post. I thought this fellow was making the case that the myths were true. I really don't know if this is a good example of what you're saying. Issues like Slavery should not be ignored by caucasians and the excesses of the French Revolution, Bolshevik Revolution, and the Third Reich are other obvious examples. These are recorded and proven historical events which must be accounted for. Myths about Jewish rituals that probably didn't happen is too vague in my opinion. What else does this rabbi say?
