Jews have been persecuted throughout history for many reasons, most of which amount to casting Jewish people as "the other" whenever a scapegoat is needed. Hard as it may be to believe today, the Jewish religion has often been equated with Satanic worship and worse.
One of the persistent beliefs which crops up throughout history is that Jews steal the babies and children of their neighbors, and use their blood in various rites. Interestingly, this is also a belief which has been applied to witches throughout history. In the minds of many unsophisticated, xenophobic cultures, the Jewish religion becomes equated with witchcraft.
These incidents often start with the unexplained death of a child. I think parents of all nationalities can relate to the horror of finding your child mysteriously dead, or simply missing. This fear has stalked humanity for thousands, perhaps millions of years.
Although the fear of losing a child is rational, all too often it can drive people to irrational lengths. Today it drives parents to throw away drop-side cribs, always lay babies on their backs to sleep, and compile a list of forbidden foods as long as your arm.
The fear of theft of a child has completely rearranged families' lives, such that children are never left alone or in the company of strangers. But in medieval Europe, it might lead to rounding up a group of "foreign" people and torturing them to death.
This accusation, that Jews steal children and use their blood in religious rites, is called the "blood libel." This distinguishes it from other forms of libel, and is a term specific to the homicidal persecution of Jews.
Blood libel is one of three main anti-Semitic allegations made throughout history. The other two are well-poisoning (which was actually the work of cholera or bad sanitation) and desecration of the host. Host desecration is similar to blood libel in that both stem from the persistent belief that the Jews killed Jesus. And more so, that they celebrate the death of Jesus through various occult rituals.
In the myth of host desecration, Jews are said to steal the host from churches and desecrate them in their rituals, thus "crucifying Jesus anew." The flip side of this is blood libel, in which Jewish people were said to collect the blood of Christian children and bake it into their own ritual bread, the Passover matzos.
Strange as it may sound to many people today, Jews have been slandered with these monstrous acts throughout history. And in fact, it continues today. As recently as 2007, when an Islamic leader giving a speech in Israel informed the crowd that Islam is better than Judaism because Islam has never baked the blood of children into ritual bread. Also in 2007, an anti-Semitic group in Russia demanded that the government investigate the Jews after two young boys were found dead.
"Blood libel" is not a broad term which encompasses a wide territory. It is in fact a specific term, with a specific meaning. As you can see, it is in the same category as a Holocaust reference (as when Mel Gibson recently called Winona Ryder an "oven dodger"). Which is to say, not the kind of term you want to throw around lightly.
One of the persistent beliefs which crops up throughout history is that Jews steal the babies and children of their neighbors, and use their blood in various rites. Interestingly, this is also a belief which has been applied to witches throughout history. In the minds of many unsophisticated, xenophobic cultures, the Jewish religion becomes equated with witchcraft.
These incidents often start with the unexplained death of a child. I think parents of all nationalities can relate to the horror of finding your child mysteriously dead, or simply missing. This fear has stalked humanity for thousands, perhaps millions of years.
Although the fear of losing a child is rational, all too often it can drive people to irrational lengths. Today it drives parents to throw away drop-side cribs, always lay babies on their backs to sleep, and compile a list of forbidden foods as long as your arm.
The fear of theft of a child has completely rearranged families' lives, such that children are never left alone or in the company of strangers. But in medieval Europe, it might lead to rounding up a group of "foreign" people and torturing them to death.
This accusation, that Jews steal children and use their blood in religious rites, is called the "blood libel." This distinguishes it from other forms of libel, and is a term specific to the homicidal persecution of Jews.
Blood libel is one of three main anti-Semitic allegations made throughout history. The other two are well-poisoning (which was actually the work of cholera or bad sanitation) and desecration of the host. Host desecration is similar to blood libel in that both stem from the persistent belief that the Jews killed Jesus. And more so, that they celebrate the death of Jesus through various occult rituals.
In the myth of host desecration, Jews are said to steal the host from churches and desecrate them in their rituals, thus "crucifying Jesus anew." The flip side of this is blood libel, in which Jewish people were said to collect the blood of Christian children and bake it into their own ritual bread, the Passover matzos.
Strange as it may sound to many people today, Jews have been slandered with these monstrous acts throughout history. And in fact, it continues today. As recently as 2007, when an Islamic leader giving a speech in Israel informed the crowd that Islam is better than Judaism because Islam has never baked the blood of children into ritual bread. Also in 2007, an anti-Semitic group in Russia demanded that the government investigate the Jews after two young boys were found dead.
"Blood libel" is not a broad term which encompasses a wide territory. It is in fact a specific term, with a specific meaning. As you can see, it is in the same category as a Holocaust reference (as when Mel Gibson recently called Winona Ryder an "oven dodger"). Which is to say, not the kind of term you want to throw around lightly.
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