Rare Literary Commemorative Works
Mark Abrogation of Trento Blood Libel
The Trento Blood Libel is almost
500 years old. In the year 1475 the
Jews of that city were condemned,
tortured and executed. The rites
connected with their supposed vic-
tim were greatly encouraged by
the Church, by the dissemination
of accounts of miracles wrought
for those who prayed to the saint.
In a special-Chapel of the Church
of S. Pietro in Trento the em-
balmed body of the child, with
whose death the Jews had been
charged, was preserved. Simone
was proclaimed a Beatus and in-
cluded in the list of the martyrs
of the Church: For many years the
body of the child was carried in
annual processions through the
streets. Later this procession took
place only once every 10 years, the
last, held in 1955, being widely
attended.
In November 1965, however,
there was no procession. On Oct.
28 in that year Alessandro Maria"
Gottardi, Archbishop of Trento,
sent a notification — from Rome
where he was attending the Second
Ecumenical Council—to the clergy
in the Diocese of Trento, in which
the charge laid against the Jews
in 1945 was declared as being
without foundation. Thereby the
rites of the Beatus Simone came to
an end and the body of the child
was removed from the Church of
S. Pietro in the city.
The notification was based
upon an investigation made by
Father V. P. Eckert, upon the
instructions of the Archbishop,
into the circumstances of the
death of the child Simone. which
W. Germany Names
Jew to New Cabinet
To mark the abrogation of the
terrible crime laid at the door of
the Jews of Trento for almost five
This study — the Archbishop's
centures, a facsimile edition of a
notification remarks—was conduct-
volume first printed in Riva di
ed by the learned scholar, who is Trento has been published, by the
expert in works of this kind, in
Sally Mayer Foundation (founded
keeping with the highest principles
in Milan in 1954 in memory of
of historical research, with results
Mr. Sally Mayer, 1875-1953, indus-
that make it obligatory for us to
trialist
and philanthropist, presi-
draw certain conclusions, in the
interests of truth and charity, in dent of the Jewish community of
regard to the rites in memory of that city).
"The Burden of the Valley of
that Simonino, long observed in
Vision" is one of the 31 volumes
Trento.
The matter had been submitted printed in the press of Jacob Mar-
to the Vatican's Santa Congrega- caria, who flourished in Riva di
zione dei Riti, which in a letter Trento between the years 1558 and
from the Cardinal heading it dated 1562, under the patronage of Car-
May 4, 1965, in view of the scien- dinal Madruzzo, less than 100
tific weight of the study and the years after the expulsion of the
solid base of the conclusions drawn Jews from the Princedom of
by the investigator, concorded with Trento.
The author of "The Burden,"
the views of the archbishop to the
Benjamin Min Ila'anavim, was a
effect that Article 1284 of Codex
Roman poet of the 13th Century
Juris Canonici should be applied,
and is known as the composer of
not only in what pertains to the
a number of prayers included in
body of the child, but to the rites
the liturgy of Italian Jewry, and
themselves.
also as a Talmudic scholar and
After a brief survey of the his-
grammarian.
was published in the journal
Rivista Trentina di Studi Storici.
tory of the rites, the notification
states: "We respectfully and
gratefully accept the wise deci-
sions of the Vatican and cannot
refrain from noting with great
satisfaction the fact that it seems
entirely in keeping with the spirit
and the documents of the Second
Ecumenical Council."
Written in rhymed prose it can
be regarded probably as the first
example of Ilebrew publicistic
writing. The author castigates the
Jewish magnates of Rome. be-
cause of their pursuit of wealth
and pleasure. and the low regard
in which they hold learning and
virtues.
He goes on to portray the source
of the sins and the virtues.
Of the marriage between Under-
standing and Modesty seven vir-
tues were born, and of Folly's
union with Arrogance six sins. The
golden path that must be followed
is also indicated—study and life in
keeping with God's Tora.
This composition remained in
manuscript for 300 years and was
printed for the first time in Riva
di Trento in 1560 edited by Rabbi
Joseph Ottolenghi, and again in
Lemberg, in 1860. Few copies re-
main of these two editions.
TEL AVIV (JTA) —
The Tel
Aviv district court has imposed
sentences of seven years each on
two Lydda Arab youths age 20 and
21 and a five-year term for an.
other youth, age 18. They were
convicted on charges of trying to
damage the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem
railroad line last March.
They were charged with en-
dangering the life of railroad pas-
sengers by removing 36 bolts on
the tracks near Lydda. Two of the
three youths have previous con-
victions for trying to leave Israel
illegally, officials said. Their names
were withheld.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
8—Friday, December 16, 1966
For Some
The present commemorative
edition, prepared for the press
by Dr. S. U. Nahon, thus pre-
sents scholars with a work of
rare literary and ethical worth.
of the
best buys
on new
Pontiacs
and
Tempests
The introductory essay is by Dr.
Gemma Volli of Bologna, to whom
goes so much of the recognition
of the Trento Blood Libel for what
it was: a dastardly slander of the
Jews. In her short essay, she de-
scribes the course of the proceed-
ings taken against the Trento
community and the development
of the rites of Beatus Simone,
down to their abrogation in 1965.
The foreword to "The Burden of
the Valley of Vision" is by Dr. Gad
Sarfatti, lecturer at the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem and Bar-
Ilan University in Ramat Gan.
ASK
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METROPOLITAN TAKES THE LEAD...
BONN (JTA)—Dr. Joseph Neu-
berger, a Jew who returned from
Israel to West Germany, was
named minister of justice in the
newly formed Social Democratic
government of the West German
state of North Rhine—Westphalia.
Ifeinrich Albertz, a former
Protestant clergyman who was
jailed by the Nazis for six months
during the war for preaching a
sermon deemed by the Nazis as
"hostile to the state," was chosen
West Berlin's governing mayor,
successor to Willi Brandt, now
vice-chancellor and minister of for-
eign affairs in the new Bonn gov-
ernment.
Albertz, whom the Nazis im-
pressed into the army after his
wartime imprisonment, gave up
the ministry to aid refugees after
the war. He was named as
Brandt's successor by the So-
cialist Party, which has an ab-
solute majority in the city as-
sembly. He is to serve until
March 12, when new city elec-
tions are to be held by the
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Hillel Foundation Given
Grant for Jewish Studies
WASHINGTON, (JTA) — Bnai
Brith Hillel Foundations was
awarded a $20,000 grant from the
Charles E. Merrill Trust to en-
courage Jewish study, scholarship
and research among Jewish fac-
ulty members on the university
campus, it was announced here. It
is the second Merrill Trust grant
to the Hillel Foundations for the
development of organized pro-
grams "that seek to familiarize the
Jewish intellectual on the campus
with Jewish thought and affairs."
(The Charles E. Merrill Trust
also awarded $25.000 to the Jew-
ish Federation of Metropolitan
Chicago to help meet the 1966
operating deficits of federation-
.-ipported institutions.)
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