Jewish Affairs - South African Jewish Board of Deputies

JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 2012rates and became cursed as ‘bloodsuckers’ and‘usurers’ living off the debts of Christians.Persecution of Jews during the Middle Ageswas unprecedented. The Holy Crusades wereunholy for the Jews. For Crusaders it was part oftheir mission to torment and kill Jews. There wereenforced baptisms and conversions, particularlyof Jewish boys. There was a dispute between theFranciscans and Dominicans over their ‘right’ toforcibly baptize Jewish children as an extensionof their lordship over slaves within their domains.During the 12 th Century, the belief took root inEngland that the Jews abducted and sacrificedChristian children, using their blood for matzo atPassover. This was the infamous “blood libel”.The execution of Jews accused of such ritualmurders was accompanied by the destruction ofentire communities.In the 16 th Century, Pope Paul IV instituted theghetto and the wearing of the yellow badge.Empress Catherine of Russia instituted the JewishPale of Settlement within the Russian Empire,locking Jews into a restricted area within whichthey were permitted to live. The Reformation sawthe reduction of repressive laws in areas not underPapal control, such as Holland and England andProtestant areas in North America. The PapalStates persisted in the ghetto system until theunification of Italy in 1848. The ghetto as aresidential area of choice survived until thebeginning of World War II.The Spanish InquisitionDuring the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella ofSpain, the Spanish Inquisition under the guidanceof a Jesuit monk Tomas de Torquemada, theGrand Inquisitor, Jews were given the choice oflosing most of their possessions and expulsion orconversion. This was a most difficult decisionsince the Jews had been in the Iberian Peninsulafor centuries. The aged and the very young haddifficulty in traveling, particularly in those days.They frequently had nowhere to go and theconditions of the Inquisition had impoverishedthem. Many were too ill to travel. The mereprospect of leaving Spain forever was anunmitigated tragedy. It was far worse for themthan mere poverty.A delegation consisting of Abraham Seniorand Isaac Abrabanel went to see Ferdinand andIsabella to plead their case, accompanied by a bagof gold. Torquemada, eyes ablaze with anger, across in hand, placed the Crucifix near the bag ofgold pointing to the figure of Jesus on the cross hesaid “here he is, sell him”Their quest failed. Senior and his familyconverted and Abrabanel and his family went intoexile. The last day to leave Spain was 1 August1492. The last boats leaving with the SpanishJews departed the following day, which coincidedwith Tisha B’Av.The Portuguese were unaffected by theInquisition in 1492. The King of Portugal wasprepared to admit the Jews temporarily and some100 000 went there, at a very high price foradmittance. Those who had nowhere to go, andwho could not afford the admission price toPortugal had to choose between being sold intoslavery or conversion to Christianity.In 1495, a new king of Portugal, Manoel,ascended the throne. He wished to marry thedaughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Thisheld out the possibility of his also inheriting thethrone of Spain upon the demise of the Spanishroyal couple, who had no sons. The Spanishmonarchy would agree to the match conditionalupon Manoel expelling all non-Christians fromPortugal. Manoel recognized that the Jewishsubjects were important to the country’s economicprosperity. He thus tried to forcibly retain themwhilst ridding the country of all other non-Christians.On the first night of Passover in 1497, allPortuguese Jewish children were forcibly draggedout of their homes from the seder tables. Afterbeing kept without food or water for several days,they were forcibly converted. Now that they wereChristians, the King denied them permission toleave the country. Their parents were left with thechoice of either leaving the country without themor likewise ‘converting’.The numbers are uncertain, but a communityof at least 250 000 Jews was destroyed in theIberian Peninsula. 8 Of those who remained underforced conversion, a small percentage managedto escape to other lands in Europe and theAmericas. The name ‘Marranos’ given to thesesecret Jews means ‘swine’. The attempt todehumanize Jews is not new. Once a person is nolonger fully human and is equated to an animalsuch as a baboon then one is entitled to kill him asa “sub-human”. This was practiced in the earlydays of Berlin, where a tax was payable foranimals entering the city. The only national grouprequired to pay the same tax as an animal enteringthe city, were Jews. In Germany, even beforeHitler got into power, there were signs on parkbenches and public buildings “Juden unt hundeverboten” - No Jews or dogs allowed. “Once,however, the victim became completely devoidof humanity in the perpetrator’s eye, he could bekilled. Annihilation followed.” 9 Moslemextremists today speak of Jews as pigs andmonkeys.The series of events leading to the expulsionfrom Spain commenced in 1391, although thefinal expulsion took place in 1492, there werealready a large number of “New Christians” whowere secretly Marranos by 1480. A number ofprominent new Christians at the time were caughthaving a Seder during Passover. Thus wereestablished the torture chambers in whichthousands of Jews were beaten, tortured, terrorizedand starved to death. The fires were kindled toburn down the centuries, right until the end of the33