BACKGROUND
Our Home Equity
Loan Is First Rate
MAX. LOAN
TO VALUE
CURRENT ArK
A PR
Franklin Savings
11.75%
80%
National Bank of Detroit
12.00%
75%
Manufacturers
12.50%
75% +
Standard Federal
12.00%
75%
Comerica
12.50%
75%
Michigan National Bank
12.00%
75%
LOWEST RATE & HIGHEST LOAN LIMIT
The chart says it all. Even the largest financial institutions
in Metro Detroit don't offer the LOWEST RATE and
the HIGHEST LOAN LIMIT like Franklin Savings Bank.
PLUS ... There are NO ANNUAL FEES or closinu, costs
that can cost 100's of dollars at other banks.
*Applications now being accepted for our variable rate
home equity plan adjusted monthly according to prime
+1.75% to a maximum Annual Percentage Rate of 18.0%
effective 1/30/90.
+Other offers may apply based on first mortgage relationship.
CALL (313) 358-5170
Franklin
Bank
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SOUTHFIELD GROSSE POINTE WOODS
FDIC Insured
BIRMINGHAM
ECM.. “0171•4
Unique
Eyewear
DOC
• •
OF WEST BLOOMFIELD
Dr. Howard J. Rosner, Optometrist
West Bloomfield Plaza • Orchard Lake south of Maple • 626.0200
Let
Your
Words
Do
The
Talking in THE JEWISH NEWS
Call the Jewish News Advertising Dept.
354-6060
36
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1990
Artwork by Catherine Kanner. Copyright° 1990, Catherine Kanner. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
An English Pogrom? Dark Secret
Comes To Light In City Of York
HELEN DAVIS
Foreign Correspondent
T
he ancient city of York
is an unlikely site for
Jewish martyrdom. It
is the very quintessence of
Englishness, a bastion of
those qualities of decency,
fair play and understated,
easy-going tolerance for
which the English are
renowned.
It takes a considerable feat
of imagination to conjure up
a very different York, where
mobs rampaged through the
streets baying for Jewish
blood, while smoke, flames
and cries of terror rose from
the castle keep.
But last week, Jews and
Christians gathered to mark
just such an event, a time
when the Jewish community
of the city was massacred
and driven to mass suicide
by a frenzied mob.
It is 800 years since
Shabbat Hagadol, the Great
Sabbath that precedes
Passover, when the small
Jewish community of York
came under attack from a
mob which was led by minor
nobles who were deeply in
debt to Jewish money
lenders.
The mob murdered the
widow and children of a
prominent Jew, then set fire
to the Jewish quarter. The
rest of the community fled to
the "safety" of York Castle,
where they barricaded
themselves in the wooden
tower which had been built
by William the Conqueror as
the castle's main stronghold.
As the mob besieged the
tower, the Jews took the
decision to kill themselves
and their children. Led by
the poet and scholar, Rabbi
Yomtob de Joigne, the Jews
set fire to their possessions
and most of the community
then proceeded to commit
suicide.
On the Sabbath morning,
the few survivors were per-
suaded by promises of mercy
to open the gates to the
tower. They were slaugh-
tered on the spot, completing
the destruction of the entire
community of some 150
souls.
The triumphant mob then
marched to York Minster,
where documents relating to
financial dealings were de-
posited. Forcing the
cathedral authorities to
hand over papers relating to
debts to the Jewish money
lenders, they burnt the
"evidence" in the middle of
the nave.
The tragedy came as a
terrible blow to the Jewish
community of England, as
well as to other communities
throughout Europe. York
was an important center of
learning; three of its schol-
ars are quoted in the
Tosaphot, the Franco-
German rabbinic commen-
tary.
Two powerful elegies to
the York martyrs — written
by Menachem Ben Jacon of
Worms and Joseph of Char-
tres — became incorporated
into the liturgy of Tisha
b'Av, the first inclusion of
this kind since the destruc-
tion of the Temple.
It was, however, to be 800