JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

tribute among the wells, the cisterns, and the springs about
Venice and the other places where you go, in order to poison
the people who use the water….” This indictment, therefore,
shows that his accusers recognized that the plague had spread
from the south northward. As the case dragged on, details
were extracted telling of further consultations held among
the Jews, about messengers from Toledo, and other wild allegations.
On Oct. 3, 1348, during the summing up, an allegation
providing a motive for the total destruction of Jewry was
made; it was asserted that “before their end they said on their
Law that it is true that all Jews, from the age of seven, cannot
excuse themselves of this [crime], since all of them in their
totality were cognizant and are guilty of the above actions”
(“asseruerunt praefati Judaei ante eorum ultimum supplicium
per legem suam esse vera dicentes quod omnes Judaei a septem
annis circum non possint super hoc se excusare, quoniam universaliter
sciant omnes, et sint culpabiles in dicto facto”).
Outbreak of Persecutions
These “confessions” were sent to various cities in Germany.
The accusation that the Jews had poisoned the wells spread
there like wildfire, fanned by the general atmosphere of terror.
The patricians of *Strasbourg attempted to defend the
Jews at a meeting of representatives of the Alsatian towns at
Benfeld, but the majority rejected their plea, arguing: “If you
are not afraid of poisoning, why have you yourselves covered
and guarded your wells?” Correspondence on the subject between
the authorities in the various cities has been preserved.
In general, it reveals a decision to expel the Jews from the locality
concerned for good, and to launch an immediate attack
to kill them while they still remained. At *Basle the patricians
also unsuccessfully attempted to protect the Jews. In
various cities Jews were tortured to confess their part in the
conspiracy. The defamation, killings, and expulsions spread
through the kingdoms of Christian Spain, France, and Germany,
to Poland-Lithuania, affecting about 300 Jewish communities.
On Sept. 26, 1348, Pope Clement VI issued a bull
in Avignon denouncing this allegation, stating that “certain
Christians, seduced by that liar, the devil, are imputing the
pestilence to poisoning by Jews.” This imputation and the
massacre of Jews in consequence were defined by the pope as
“a horrible thing.” He tried to convince Christians that “since
this pestilence is all but universal everywhere, and by a mysterious
decree of God has afflicted, and continues to afflict,
both Jews and many other nations throughout the diverse regions
of the earth to whom a common existence with Jews is
unknown [the charge] that the Jews have provided the cause
or the occasion for such a crime is without plausibility.” Both
the emperors Charles IV and Peter IV of Aragon also tried to
protect the Jews from the results of the accusation. The arguments
generally put forward by the rulers were expressed by
the physician Konrad of Megenberg in his Buch der Natur arrived
at in the light of his own experience: “But I know that
there were more Jews in Vienna than in any other German city
familiar to me, and so many of them died of the plague that
black death
they were obliged to enlarge their cemetery. To have brought
this on themselves would have been folly on their part.” However,
all these appeals to reason were ineffective. The massacres
of the Jews continued, and Jewish property was confiscated.
Despite his policy of protecting the Jews, in 1350 the emperor
Charles IV formally absolved the burghers of *Cheb (Eger)
in Bohemia for the killings and robbery they had committed
among the Jewish population. In doing so, he stated: “Forgiveness
is [granted] for every transgression involving the slaying
and destruction of Jews which has been committed without
the positive knowledge of the leading citizens, or in their ignorance,
or in any other fashion whatsoever.” By this time it
was well-known that the accusation that Jews had spread the
plague was false. In many places Jews were killed even before
the plague had visited the locality. Further outbreaks of plague
continued later in the 14th century but Jews were no longer accused
of being the cause.
The Martyrs
It was recognized by the Jews that the Christians “have opened
wide their mouths about me: they have put and spread poison
on the water, so they say, in order to libel and attack us,” to
quote a contemporary dirge. Faced with this overwhelming
antagonism, the Jews tried to defend themselves wherever possible
and in whatever way they could. In many localities fierce
conflicts took place between the Jewish population and their
attackers. At *Mainz the Jews set fire to their homes and to the
Jewish street: according to some sources, 6,000 Jews perished
in the flames. This also occurred at *Frankfurt on the Main. In
Strasbourg, 2,000 Jews were burnt on a wooden scaffold in the
Jewish cemetery. The manner in which the martyrs met their
deaths is described in a contemporary Hebrew source concerning
“the holy community of Nordhausen….They asked
the burghers to permit them to prepare themselves for martyrdom:
permission having been given…they joyfully arrayed
themselves in their prayer shawls and shrouds, both men and
women. They [the Christians] dug a grave at the cemetery and
covered it with wooden scaffolding…The pious ones [among
the Jews] asked that a musician be hired to play dancing tunes
so that they should enter the presence of God with singing.
They took each other by the hand, both men and women, and
danced and leapt with their whole strength before God. Their
teacher, R. Jacob, went before them; his son, R. Meir, brought
up the rear to see that none should lag behind. Singing and
dancing they entered the grave, and when all had entered, R.
Meir jumped out and walked around to make certain that
none had stayed outside. When the burghers saw him they
asked him to save his life [by apostasy]. He answered: ‘This
now is the end of our troubles, you see me only for a while,
and then I shall be no more.’ He returned to the grave; they
set fire to the scaffolding; they died all of them together and
not a cry was heard” (Sefer Minhagim of Worms). This was
the spirit that enabled European Jewry to emerge spiritually
unscathed from the avalanche of hatred and cruelty released
on the Jews by the Christians in Europe.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 733