The Ashkenazi Revolution

70Christian persecutions that were arrayed in Spain and Germany. Here arethe words of Dubnov:Thus the Jews of Spain were tested in the summer of 1391 with those samedifficult trials, which were previously decreed in the summer of 1096 onthe Rhine. Many Spanish Jews sacrificed their lives for their faith, but forthe most part, they were not prepared for the catastrophes, as were theirbrethren on the other side of the Pyrenees. The Jews of Germany weremore willing to sacrifice their lives for their faith, and only in exceptionalcircumstances did they convert, and only for outward appearances andthen, as soon as the enemy left, they would return to their Judaism openly.But in Spain apostates were more common than those who had sacrificedtheir lives. These “forced apostates”, who were subject to Christianity,were under the supervision of priests and were forced to fulfill, at least inpublic, all the edicts of the church, while they were only able to fulfill thecommandments of Judaism within the deepest chambers. (YediothAharonoth edition, volume 3, page 1154).Ashkenaz never knew the misfortune of a large class of apostates. Thisblight never ate away at our flesh. Judaism demands innocence andcompleteness and it does not tolerate the duplicity of forced apostates. It isbetter for Judaism if the forced apostates actually become Christians ratherthan belonging to it halfway. History can also prove that Auschwitz andTreblinka damaged Ashkanazic Jewry less than the forced apostatesdamaged Sepharad. Jewry does not fear exterminations or the stakes of theInquisition; they weaken its strength only temporarily, but half-heartednessand duplicity are deathblows. The research that compares the Ashkenazicand Sephardic reactions to oppressive decrees is very limited, but if suchresearch deals with it in depth, it is likely to prove that the misfortune offorced apostates damaged Sepharad more so than the expulsion.Only very late in history, in the days of Mendelssohn, did Ashkenazexperience close contact with the ruling peoples in the same way Sepharadenjoyed them in the eight century. The Ashkenazi People evolved amongcruel and murderous peoples that did not seek its company. So Ashkenaz