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Jewish Ritual Murder Jewish Ritual Murder: A Historical Investigation

Jewish Ritual Murder: A Historical Investigation Jewish Ritual Murder

NOTE: Amazon no longer carries this title. RealityRoars.com is providing this .pdf copy for your convenience.

The position I have come to after translating this work, is that the accusation of JRM (Jewish Ritual Murder) has always been based upon a real and not an imaginary, phenomenon, a historical reality. I believe that, for all practical purposes, and for a variety of reasons, genuine cases of JRM were beginning to peter out at around the turn of the 20th century. I believe that they were perpetrated by what are usually referred to as the "ultra-Orthodox" Jews; after the mid 17th century, that means the Hasidim in particular; that up until the late 19th century, the existence of JRM was more generally known to exist by the Jews themselves, although its practice was anything but universal among them. I believe that today, very few Jews know its history and most of them do indeed honestly regard it as a "libel." What has convinced me of it as historical reality are the following:

  • 1. Descriptions of the various incidents go back in the historical record to around 170 B.C., and then occur over the next approximately 2000 years wherever a Jewish community of any size has lived;
  • 2. The details of the cases — what today would be called the "signature" and the modus operandi of these crimes are remarkably consistent, especially considering the lack of communication over widely separated geographical locations during much of that millennium-and-a-half.
  • 3. Contrary to the way it is always portrayed, JRM is not just an hysterical collection of horror stories originating in ignorant peasant minds, but has been considered genuine by educated persons who actually had opportunity to investigate the crimes committed, and who left detailed documentation in the form of trial protocols, etc.
  • 4. There have been rare but genuine defections by Jews who left Judaism voluntarily and not in an attempt to gain leniency or favors, and who wrote about this practice.
  • 5. Even assuming confessions were gained by torture, in several cases the judicial authorities saw to it that witnesses and accused were questioned separately, with no opportunity to compare notes. In some of these cases, physical evidence was found which corroborated the statements of the accused in such a way as to establish their guilt beyond question. In other cases, Jews were actually caught in the act.
  • 6. As with other phenomena associated with the Jews, this one has been associated with no other "minority group" world-wide — rather odd if it were just the result of some sort of myth-creating tendency, or something analogous to it.
  • 7. The details of purported cases of JRM, separated by more than 500 years, show the same patterns, the same confessional features, and so forth.
  • 8. There are highly suggestive passages even in Jewish sacred writings which indicate that this practice was not only condoned but prescribed. References to the use of sacrificial human blood appear in various religious Jewish works, and in the writings of well-known Jewish luminaries, as Schramm delineates; according to the tractates of the Jewish philosopher Maimonides, blood obtained by the piercing of the body is a curative beverage — the blood of animals is not what is meant. In a very rare and little-known book by Rabbi Chaim Wital, Ets-Chaim (XVII Century), we read that "the murder of goys and the drinking of their blood increases the holiness of Israel for the Jews."

.pdf file: 346 pages
Author: Hellmut Schramm
Translated by: Regina Belser

Blood Libel in Late Imperial Russia: The Ritual Murder Trial of Mendel Beilis Blood Libel in Late Imperial Russia: The Ritual Murder Trial of Mendel Beilis

Blood Libel in Late Imperial Russia: The Ritual Murder Trial of Mendel Beilis Blood Libel in Late Imperial Russia: The Ritual Murder Trial of Mendel Beilis

On Sunday, March 20, 1911, children playing in a cave near Kiev made a gruesome discovery: the blood-soaked body of a partially clad boy. After right-wing groups asserted that the killing was a ritual murder, the police, with no direct evidence, arrested Menachem Mendel Beilis, a 39-year-old Jewish manager at a factory near the site of the crime. Beilis's trial in 1913 quickly became an international cause célèbre. The jury ultimately acquitted Beilis but held that the crime had the hallmarks of a ritual murder. Robert Weinberg's account of the Beilis Affair explores the reasons why the tsarist government framed Beilis, shedding light on the excesses of antisemitism in late Imperial Russia. Primary documents culled from the trial transcript, newspaper articles, Beilis's memoirs, and archival sources, many appearing in English for the first time, bring readers face to face with this notorious trial.

Paperback: 204 pages
Publisher: Indiana University Press; 1 edition (November 20, 2013)

Blood Libel: The Ritual Murder Accusation at the Limit of Jewish History Blood Libel: The Ritual Murder Accusation at the Limit of Jewish History

Blood Libel: The Ritual Murder Accusation at the Limit of Jewish History Blood Libel

The ritual murder accusation is one of a series of myths that fall under the label blood libel, and describes the medieval legend that Jews require Christian blood for obscure religious purposes and are capable of committing murder to obtain it. This malicious myth continues to have an explosive afterlife in the public sphere, where Sarah Palin's 2011 gaffe is only the latest reminder of its power to excite controversy.Blood Libel is the first book-length study to analyze the recent historiography of the ritual murder accusation and to consider these debates in the context of intellectual and cultural history as well as methodology. Hannah R. Johnson articulates how ethics shapes methodological decisions in the study of the accusation and how questions about methodology, in turn, pose ethical problems of interpretation and understanding. Examining recent debates over the scholarship of historians such as Gavin Langmuir, Israel Yuval, and Ariel Toaff, Johnson argues that these discussions highlight an ongoing paradigm shift that seeks to reimagine questions of responsibility by deliberately refraining from a discourse of moral judgment and blame in favor of an emphasis on historical contingencies and hostile intergroup dynamics.

About the Author

Hannah R. Johnson is Associate Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh.

Hardcover: 250 pages
Publisher: University of Michigan Press (July 9, 2012)

The Urantia Book The Urantia Book
The Urantia Book The Urantia Book

Love

Love is truly contagious and eternally creative. (p. 2018) “Devote your life to proving that love is the greatest thing in the world.” (p. 2047) “Love is the ancestor of all spiritual goodness, the essence of the true and the beautiful.” (p. 2047) The Father’s love can become real to mortal man only by passing through that man’s personality as he in turn bestows this love upon his fellows. (p. 1289) The secret of a better civilization is bound up in the Master’s teachings of the brotherhood of man, the good will of love and mutual trust. (p. 2065)

Prayer

Prayer is not a technique of escape from conflict but rather a stimulus to growth in the very face of conflict. (p. 1002) The sincerity of any prayer is the assurance of its being heard. … (p. 1639) God answers man’s prayer by giving him an increased revelation of truth, an enhanced appreciation of beauty, and an augmented concept of goodness. (p. 1002) …Never forget that the sincere prayer of faith is a mighty force for the promotion of personal happiness, individual self-control, social harmony, moral progress, and spiritual attainment. (p. 999)

Suffering

There is a great and glorious purpose in the march of the universes through space. All of your mortal struggling is not in vain. (p. 364) Mortals only learn wisdom by experiencing tribulation. (p. 556)

Angels

The angels of all orders are distinct personalities and are highly individualized. (p. 285) Angels....are fully cognizant of your moral struggles and spiritual difficulties. They love human beings, and only good can result from your efforts to understand and love them. (p. 419)

Our Divine Destiny

If you are a willing learner, if you want to attain spirit levels and reach divine heights, if you sincerely desire to reach the eternal goal, then the divine Spirit will gently and lovingly lead you along the pathway of sonship and spiritual progress. (p. 381) …They who know that God is enthroned in the human heart are destined to become like him—immortal. (p. 1449) God is not only the determiner of destiny; he is man’s eternal destination. (p. 67)

Family

Almost everything of lasting value in civilization has its roots in the family. (p. 765) The family is man’s greatest purely human achievement. ... (p. 939)

Faith

…Faith will expand the mind, ennoble the soul, reinforce the personality, augment the happiness, deepen the spirit perception, and enhance the power to love and be loved. (p. 1766) “Now, mistake not, my Father will ever respond to the faintest flicker of faith.” (p. 1733)

History/Science

The story of man’s ascent from seaweed to the lordship of earthly creation is indeed a romance of biologic struggle and mind survival. (p. 731) 2,500,000,000 years ago… Urantia was a well developed sphere about one tenth its present mass. … (p. 658) 1,000,000,000 years ago is the date of the actual beginning of Urantia [Earth] history. (p. 660) 450,000,000 years ago the transition from vegetable to animal life occurred. (p. 669) From the year A.D. 1934 back to the birth of the first two human beings is just 993,419 years. (p. 707) About five hundred thousand years ago…there were almost one-half billion primitive human beings on earth. … (p. 741) Adam and Eve arrived on Urantia, from the year A.D. 1934, 37,848 years ago. (p. 828)

From the Inside Flap

What’s Inside?

Parts I and II

God, the inhabited universes, life after death, angels and other beings, the war in heaven.

Part III

The history of the world, science and evolution, Adam and Eve, development of civilization, marriage and family, personal spiritual growth.

Part IV

The life and teachings of Jesus including the missing years. AND MUCH MORE…

Excerpts

God, …God is the source and destiny of all that is good and beautiful and true. (p. 1431) If you truly want to find God, that desire is in itself evidence that you have already found him. (p. 1440) When man goes in partnership with God, great things may, and do, happen. (p. 1467)

The Origin of Human Life, The universe is not an accident... (p. 53) The universe of universes is the work of God and the dwelling place of his diverse creatures. (p. 21) The evolutionary planets are the spheres of human origin…Urantia [Earth] is your starting point. … (p. 1225) In God, man lives, moves, and has his being. (p. 22)

The Purpose of Life, There is in the mind of God a plan which embraces every creature of all his vast domains, and this plan is an eternal purpose of boundless opportunity, unlimited progress, and endless life. (p. 365) This new gospel of the kingdom… presents a new and exalted goal of destiny, a supreme life purpose. (p. 1778)

Jesus, The religion of Jesus is the most dynamic influence ever to activate the human race. (p. 1091) What an awakening the world would experience if it could only see Jesus as he really lived on earth and know, firsthand, his life-giving teachings! (p. 2083)

Science, Science, guided by wisdom, may become man’s great social liberator. (p. 909) Mortal man is not an evolutionary accident. There is a precise system, a universal law, which determines the unfolding of the planetary life plan on the spheres of space. (p. 560)

Life after Death, God’s love is universal… He is “not willing that any should perish.” (p. 39) Your short sojourn on Urantia [Earth]…is only a single link, the very first in the long chain that is to stretch across universes and through the eternal ages. (p. 435) …Death is only the beginning of an endless career of adventure, an everlasting life of anticipation, an eternal voyage of discovery. (p. 159)

About the Author

The text of The Urantia Book was provided by one or more anonymous contributors working with a small staff which provided editorial and administrative support during the book's creation. The book bears no particular credentials (from a human viewpoint), relying instead on the power and beauty of the writing itself to persuade the reader of its authenticity.

Leather Bound: 2097 pages
Publisher: Urantia Foundation; Box Lea edition (August 25, 2015)

A Tale of Ritual Murder in the Age of Louis XIV: The Trial of Raphael Levy, 1669 A Tale of Ritual Murder in the Age of Louis XIV: The Trial of Raphael Levy, 1669

A Tale of Ritual Murder in the Age of Louis XIV: The Trial of Raphael Levy, 1669 A Tale of Ritual Murder in the Age of Louis XIV

In the late seventeenth century, France prided itself for its rationality and scientific achievements. Yet it was then that Raphaël Lévy, a French Jew, was convicted, tortured, and executed for an act he did not commit, a fiction deriving from medieval anti-Jewish myth: the ritual murder of a Christian boy to obtain blood for satanic rituals. When Lévy was accused of the ritual murder, it was the first accusation of blood libel for a century. Lévy's trial, however, became a forum for anti-Jewish accusations, and although the Holy Roman Emperor and a representative of King Louis XIV both tried to intervene, they were ignored by the parliament of Metz. Pierre Birnbaum explores the cultural, political, and personal elements that led to the accusation and shows that the importance of this story goes beyond local history: at a critical moment in the construction of the nation-state, France was unable to impose its conception of law and order on local officials. Birnbaum reveals the echoes of Lévy's trial in the Dreyfus Affair and suggests that, amid the contemporary retreat of the state and the accompanying explosion of prejudice and violence, it is time to remember the tragic fate of Raphaël Lévy.

About the Author

Pierre Birnbaum is a leading French historian and sociologist and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Paris I―Panthéon-Sorbonne. His works available in English include The Jews of the Republic (Stanford, 1996) and Geography of Hope (Stanford, 2008).

Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Stanford University Press (October 3, 2012)

Trent 1475: Stories of a Ritual Murder Trial Trent 1475: Stories of a Ritual Murder Trial

Trent 1475: Stories of a Ritual Murder Trial Trent 1475: Stories of a Ritual Murder Trial

On Easter Sunday, 1475, the dead body of a two-year-old boy named Simon was found in the cellar of a Jewish family's house in Trent, Italy. Town magistrates arrested all eighteen Jewish men and one Jewish woman living in Trent on the charge of ritual murder—the killing of a Christian child in order to use his blood in Jewish religious rites. Under judicial torture and imprisonment, the men confessed and were condemned to death; their womenfolk, who had been kept under house arrest with their children, denounced the men under torture and eventually converted to Christianity. A papal hearing in Rome about possible judicial misconduct in Trent made the trial widely known and led to a wave of anti-Jewish propaganda and other accusations of ritual murder against the Jews.

In this engrossing book, R. Po-chia Hsia reconstructs the events of this tragic persecution, drawing principally on the Yeshiva Manuscript, a detailed trial record made by authorities in Trent to justify their execution of the Jews and to bolster the case for the canonization of "Little Martyr Simon." Hsia depicts the Jewish victims (whose testimonies contain fragmentary stories of their tragic lives as well as forced confessions of kidnap, torture, and murder), the prosecuting magistrates, the hostile witnesses, and the few Christian neighbors who tried in vain to help the Jews. Setting the trial and its documents in the historical context of medieval blood libel, Hsia vividly portrays how fact and fiction can be blurred, how judicial torture can be couched in icy orderliness and impersonality, and how religious rites can be interpreted as ceremonies of barbarism.

Paperback: 204 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press; New edition edition (September 25, 1996)

The Butcher's Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town The Butcher's Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town

The Butcher's Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town The Butcher's Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town

One of the most dramatic explorations of a German town in the grip of anti-Semitic passion ever written.

In 1900, in a small Prussian town, a young boy was found murdered, his body dismembered, the blood drained from his limbs. The Christians of the town quickly rose up in violent riots to accuse the Jews of ritual murder―the infamous blood-libel charge that has haunted Jews for centuries. In an absorbing narrative, Helmut Walser Smith reconstructs the murder and the ensuing storm of anti-Semitism that engulfed this otherwise peaceful town. Offering an instructive examination of hatred, bigotry, and mass hysteria, The Butcher's Tale is a modern parable that will be a classic for years to come.

Winner of the Fraenkel Award and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2002.

4 pages of illustrations

About the Author

Helmut Walser Smith is the Martha Rivers Ingram Chair of History at Vanderbilt University.

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition edition (November 17, 2003)


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