DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle
BLOOD LIBEL
Continued from Page 1
against the Jews, aiming, accord-
ing to the historian, Professor
Heinrich Graetz, to accomplish
the following ends: "They could
satiate their hatred against the
Jews, suppress an inquiry as to
whether Father Tomaso had in-
deed quarreled with Mussulmans
and reviled them, and finally a
new martyr, slain by the Jews,
would be added to their lists of
saints, which was always a source
of profit."
The
ual murder charges against the
Jews.
There then ensued a series of
intimidations. Broadcasting the
charge that Jews had murdered
Tomaso and his servant to use
their blood for the Passover, a
number of Jews were arrested
and brought before Ratti Menton
who became the chief prosecutor.
He found willing confederates in
Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt
who revolted against the Sultan
of Turkey and ruled Syria, and
Sheriff Pasha, the governor of
Damascus, both of whom hoped
to profit from the proceedings.
Martyrs in the Tragedy
Villain in the Plot
The clericals found a villain to
help them in their machinations.
France, then the most influential
European power, was looked upon
as the protector of the Roman
Catholics in the East, and Ratti
Menton, the French consul in
Damascus, who was besieged by
the monks to press the charge
against the Jews, hastened to
prosecute them with the aim in
view of strengthening French
power in the East in his dealings
with local authorities. Other clues
in the disappearance of Tomaso,
among them the news that the
Turkish merchant who was pres-
ent at the Christian monk's quar-
rel with the mule-driver had
hanged himself, were ignored,
with the Church and the French
consul bent on furthering the rit-
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Ratti Menton proceeded to per-
secute the Jewish people. A poor
Jewish barber was turned over
to Sherif Pasha as a suspicious
character and was subjected to
the bastinado, receiving 500
blows with a stick upon the soles
of his feet. The barber remained
steadfast in his denial of the
crime, and at the order of the
French consul he was subjected
to additional tortures. Fearing
a more painful inquisition, he was
finally induced to name seven
prominent Jews, David Harari and
his sons and brothers, Moses Abu-
lafia, Moses Salonika and Joseph
Laniado.
There then began a serious of
inquisitions. The communal lead-
ers were subjected to unheard-of
tortures, and when they failed to
confess to the crime charged
against them, Ratti Menton turn-
ed to other means of extracting
an admission of guilt. Sixty chil-
dren in ages of 3 to 10 were
taken from their parents and
shut in a room without being of-.
fered any food. When even this
failed to force the mothers of
the youngsters to make confes-
sions, only one woman and her
daughter having been driven to
embrace Islam out of concern for
their children, there began a ser-
ies of devastations of the Jewish
quarter. On February 18, a band
of soldiers destroyed the homes
of David Harari and others ac-
cused, in an effort to find the
body of the monk Tomaso. Bones
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found in the course of their pil -
lage were immediately displayed
as those of Tomaso, although
they were later proven to be
mutton bones. When a young
Jew ventured to go to Sherif
Pasha and inform him that he had
seen Father Tomaso entering a
Turkish shop just before his dis-
appearance, this evidence was not
only hushed up but the youth
was severely beaten and died the
same night, being the first to
sacrifice his life in the horrible
affair.
Other Martyrs
The aged Joseph Laniado died
as a result of the tortures. Moses
Abulafia, to escape indignities and
pains, became a convert to Islam.
The three Damascus rabbis, Aza-
ria Halfen, Solomon and Jacob
Anteri, were arrested and tor-
tured, and the non-Jewish ser-
vants of the accused were simi-
larly questioned in an effort to
extract admissions of guilt, but
none of these methods availed.
Fanatics made it a practice to
throw bones into the Jewish quar-
ter, in the hope of their being
taken for human bones.
The arrest of Isaac Levi Pic-
ciotto, an Austrian subject, gave
a different turn to the entire
proceedings. The Austrian consul;
Merlato, not only interceded in
behalf of Picciotto but took a
determined stand against the rit-
ual murder agitation. Later in-
tercession of the English and
American governments gave the
affair an aspect of an interna-
tional quarrel, with results that
served to elevate the position of
the Jews.
A Series of Blood Lies
But the Damascus affair was
only one of a series, and the
spread of the libel of ritual mur-
der against the Jew aroused the
suspicion that there was an or-
ganized clerical movement against
the Jews. The Christian conspir-
acy against the Jews in Turkey
was said to be a reprisal against
the granting to Jews by the
young Sultan, Abdul Medjid, the
same rights that were given to
Greeks and Latins. Such freedom
was little thought of by the lat-
ter, and they set out to accuse
and discredit the Jews. In the
island of Rhodes a Jew was tor-
tured into admitting guilt in the
death of a 10-year-old son of a
Greek peasant who hanged him-
self. In Beyrout Jews were pro-
tected from .attacks by the in-
terference of the Dutch consul,
Laurilla, and the Prussian consul,
Sason. Jews were attacked in
Smyrna and in Djabar, near Da-
mascus, a mob pillaged the syna-
gogue, tore the Scrolls of the
Law and mercilessly attacked the
Jews.
The proportions assumed by
the spread of the libel aroused
sympathies for Jews in more en-
lightened Christian lands, and
leaders in French and English
Jewry began to take steps to
put a stop to the outrages. Imme-
diate steps had to be taken not
only because of the incriminating
and libellous propaganda of fa-
natic Christians in the Orient, but
also because the libel was taken
to Europe. In the early part of
March, 1840, a ritual murder
charge was made against a Jew
in Julich, in Rhennish Prussia. A
9-year-old girl, by besmudging
her body with blood, concocted
a tale of an attack upon her by
a Jew and his wife who happened
to be travelling through Julich.
Fortunately the truth was un-
covered and two Christians were
arrested for drumming up the
charge. But the incident added a
link in the chain of a worldwide
conspiracy to involve Jews in this
horrible libel.
Action Taken by Jews
In France, Adolphe Cremieux
(1796-1880), noted statesman,
spokesman for French Jewry, pre-
sented himself before King Louis
Philippe of France, but so little
satisfaction could he get from his
ruler, in an effort to stop the
horrible work of Ratti Menton,
that at a meeting in London he
reported in despair that "France
is against us." Thiers, who be-
came president of the French
cabinet with the aid of the cler-
ical party, was avowedly anti-
Semitic, and ordered the French
consul-general in Alexandria,
Cochelet, to interfere with every
movement to uncover the truth
in the Damascus affair. As a re-
sult, Cochelet caused Mehemet
Ali to go back on a promise to
appoint the consuls of Austria,
England, Russia and Prussia to
investigate the libel.
But in England the champions
of justice to the Jew fared trium-
phant, and Great Britain's efforts
in the Damascus affair are writ-
ten on pages which will forever
draw the gratitude of the Jewish
people. Sir Moses Montefiore be-
July 5 1940
came the leader in the defens e release of the imprisoned. Dr.
movement against the libel, an d Loewe however discovered in the
with him Baron Nathaniel Maye r Firman ordering their release
Rothschild, Salomon Munk, noted that the word "pardon" was used,
French Jewish scholar and Orien - and the commissioners succeeded
talist, leading Jews throughou t in having the term "an honorable
the world and liberal Christians liberation" substituted for the ob-
opened war against a shameful jectionable word.
and hoary lie.
Christians in England Aid Jews
The nobility of Christian aid
to the Jew in fighting the libel
has already been alluded to. In
the House of Commons Robert
Peel introduced the question by
delcaring "that it was merely
necessary to mention the matter
in the lower house, to reach the
great ends of justice and human-
ity." Lord Palmerston replied
that he had "already directed the
English consul-general, Hodges,
to represent to Mehemet Ali what
effect the news of such atrocities
must produce in Europe, and
that it was in his own interest
to inquire into the matter, and
hand over to punishment the
guilty parties, if they were dis-
covered, whilst the innocent vic-
tims should be indentified, if this
were still possible." These words
were received with joy by the
Jews and were accepted as a
great tribute to British liberalism.
The sympathy aroused for the
Jews opened the eyes of English
statement to the need of remov-
ing parliamentary disabilities
against the Jews, which was not
finally accomplished until a quar-
ter of a century afterwards, in
the days of Disraeli. Thus O'Con-
nell, battler for Irish and Catholic
rights in England, stated: "Ob-
servations upon this subject
would have been stronger, if a
member of this House, belonging
to the creed of the accused, had
been able tt make them. The
government ought to introduce a
bill for the complete emancipa-
tion of the Jews."
Distinguished Assemblies
To aid in the defense of the
innocently accused Jews two great
assemblies met in London. On
June 23 Jewish leaders conferred
at the Great Synagogue on the
question of sending a delegation
to the Orient to secure justice.
On July 3 a distinguished assem-
bly of Christians, also in London,
unanimously carried a motion
which rend:
"That this meeting deeply de-
plores the fact that in this en-
lightened age a persecution of
our Jewish brethren could be set
on foot by ignorance and in-
flamed by bigotry."
At this historic assembly of
Christians, Lord Howdon, a
clergyman very prominent in his
(lay, made the following signi-
ficant statement:
"We often find in the myster-
ious ways of Providence that
good arises from evil, and there-
fore I, together with all the
friends of mankind, hope that the
Parliament of this country, ex-
pressing its opinion of this cruel-
ty, will offer a recompense to the
Jews for their sufferings by
legislation in their favor."
So emphatic and noble was the
British protest, that it influenced
Czar Nicholas I of Russia and
the United States Government to
join the other European nations
in expressing abhorrence at the
medieval practices in Damascus.
President Martin Van Buren,
through his Secretary of State
John Forsythe, urged the United
States Minister at Constantinople
to use his best efforts in behalf
of the persecuted Jews.
The Montefiore Mission
Thus encouraged by liberal
Christian opinion and by a united
Jewry which was determined to
nail the hoary lie, the historic
mission set out for the Orient on
July 7. It was headed by Sir
Moses Montefiore, who was ac-
companied by his noble wife„
Lady Judith; by Adolphe Cre-
mieux, Salomon Munk, Dr. Louis
Loewe, Dr. Madden, a noted trav-
eler and Oriental scholar, and
Alderman Wire, who was later
Lord Mayor of London. An added
favor from the British Govern.
ment was bestowed upon this
mission when Queen Victoria not
only joined the millions of friend-
ly Christians in extending her
good wishes, but in granting Mon-
tefiore an audience on the eve
of the mission's departure and
in placing at its disposal the use
of her private yacht to cross the
English Channel.
The mission found its path
beset with difficulties. As a result
of interference from the French
Consul General, Mehemet All re-
fused the commissioners permis-
sion to go to Damascus there to
establish the innocence of the ac-
cused Jews. With the aid of the
consuls of the other nations, how-
ever, Montefiore and his compan-
ions succeeded in securing the
An Historic Firma n
A sudden change in the politi-
cal fortunes in the Near East,
with control of Syria again goin g
back to the Sultan of Turkey,
caused the party headed by Sir
Moses Montefiore to turn their
way toward Constantinople to se-
cure the good will of the new
Syrian ruler. They arrived in
Turkey on October 5. On Octo-
ber 28, Sultan Abdul Medjid re-
ceived them and pledged protec-
tion to the Jews. In a Finnan
which is today an historic docu-
ment in Turkish archives, the
Sultan refuted the ritual mur
der charge. This Firman reads:
...t „ ancient prejudice
pre% ailed
■ 1
11
11.1:18t
:1
h jee".;; wsT l a ee 141 ::•711 41 m I l i
; - I
to sacrifice a human bring to mak ' ,
use of his blood at t heir Feast of
Passover.
IS "1)1(11 1( 11,
.fete s :4"17:11111'11:(el
• is of a nd It (
.
.„
are subjects of our empire) butt e been
rsecut ed by ot her nations. The cal-
umnies
14 hich
have
been
ill (emit
against t he Jews, and the
emit ions
t o W1111. 11
t hey have been subjected
hav e
lu st reached our ilium rial
I brittle.
"Hut a short three has elapsed since
1111111. .fetes (In ening in t be 1 11111111 if
Monies Int) e been brought from thous.
to Constantinople, where t hey h e ave
been tried and judged according to the
new regulations, and their 111111111'111T
of I be 11CCUS11111/11/4 made against them
fully proved. That, therefor,., which
justice 111111 dad! y required has been
done on their behalf.
"Resides which the religio.,4 books
of the llebreas have been examined
by learned men, aril versed in their
the«logical literature, t he result of
which examination Is that It is found
t hat t he Jew( are strongly prohibited,
not only from using human 111 11 011, but
even that of nut Is. It, therefore,
follows that t he charges made against
hem and their religion are nothi n g
Litt pure calumny •
"For t his reason, 111111 for t he lute
rte brur to "1(r
e 1,e cannot
permit the Jett ish nation ( a hose inno-
cence of the crime alleged against
them Is evident) to be feted and tor-
mented upon accusations a hich hate
not t he least foundation in truth, but,
in conformity to the flat t -sherif
w hich has been proclaimed at OM-
t he Jewish not ion shall possess
the same ad )itntages and enjo‘ the
/111111e or') lieges its are grant ed to the
numerous tit her nal ions a ho submit
to our nut hority .
"The Jea ish nation shall oe c r1 1 -
ed and defended.
" TV WT111111111111 t his object, rte hat e
given t he most positive onlers that
t he Jea ish nation, da citing in all
parts of our enunce, shall he per-
fectly protected, 111 well UN 1111 11111er
11 1111.11•1'1X of the
Sublime
1'Or11., 111111
111111 1111 person shall molest them in
Silly manner %%Narver (except for it
just 1 . 11111.), either in the free exer-
cis•s of t heir religion, or t hat « hich
( I 4 . ) n
1 411e 1
tn nt ip i
which is ornamented at it he 111'1111 i11111
our 'lloomaloon' (sign manual).
emanates from our imperial chancel-
Ionic bus been delivered to I he I.-
mei it Ish nation.
"Thus you, t he abox e mentioned
judge, a hen y tot kilo)) t he contents of
t he Firman, )011 endeux or to act nitli
great care in the manner Iherein pre-
scribed. And in order t hat nothing ma)
be dime I, opposition to this Finnan,
at any time ben•tfter, you a ill regis-
ter II in th, arch') es of t he Tribunal :
y on will aft era nrds deliver It to the
Israelitish nation, and you 11111 fake
great care to execute our orders and
11111 our .1111erelgit •vi ll a
"I h en at Constant [nook, 12tI1 16r
murals, 12:)(1 ( 65 It November, ISIS)."
Result s of Damascus Affair
Although the ritual murder lie
repeats itself every year in many
parts of the world, around Pass-
over time, and although even in
Damascus attempts were made
only a few years ago to revive
the hoary lie (see Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency reports of July
26, 1929, from Jerusalem, and
July 29, 1929, from Damascus),
the results of the efforts of the
mission of Sir Moses Montefiore
and the great Jews who served
with him (and the noble Chris-
tians who encouraged them) war
that ritual murder incriminations
were relegated to the ranks of
the most ignorant and most
lowly.
But a result of much greater
significance was that Jews be-
gan to think in terms of unity
and co-operation, and that the
various branches of world Is-
rael were more closely knit to-
gether by the tragedy. This hor-
rible affair proved the helpless-
ness of unorganized Jewry.
Adolphe Cremieux, who was grew
not only in the service of the
Jewish people but as well in
that of France, whom he served
as Minister of Justice in 1848
and as a member of the Govern-
ment of National Defense In
1871, during the Franco-Prussian
War, was awakened to the need
of organizing French Jewry. He
was instrumental, as a result of
the lessons he learned from the
Damascus affair, in organizing
the Alliance Israelite Universelle
in 1860.
In other lands Jews similarly
organized, and, in the words of
Lord Howdon, much "good arose
from evil."
(Copyright, S. A.F.8., ISIS)