#OTDJH: September 23, 1928
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFfBlzgljjs/
#onthisday, 1928, on the eve of Yom Kippur, the tiny Jewish population of rural Massena, NY was accused of the age-old insidious charge of murdering a Christian girl to harvest her blood for ritual means.
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Commonly known as a blood libel, these have been a part of Jewish history since at least 1144 when English Jews were accused of the same ridiculous charge – within a century, Jews would be wholly expelled from England until the 1600’s.
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Four year old Barbara Griffiths had disappeared and within a day, the town was blaming the Jews of Massena of kidnapping, murdering, and using her blood for the Jewish high holidays.
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NY State Police questioned Rabbi Berel Brennglass of the Adath Israel congregation for about an hour – seriously interrogating him about Jewish practices with regards to human sacrifice and use of blood in food (something that is strictly prohibited according to Kosher laws)
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During the interrogation itself, little Barbara emerged from the woods where she had spent the night after getting lost.
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Her reappearance led the townspeople to declare that the Jews actually released her when the town had “discovered their plot”.
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Mayor Gilbert Hawes believed this sentiment and called for a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses. Dismayed community leaders sought help from the American Jewish Congress who spoke with NY Governor Al Smith.
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Within 2-3 weeks the incident was over after aid from Governor Smith in investigating gross police misconduct, and the NY Times picking up the story – allowing the national attention to apply pressure. Mayor Hawes issued a public apology and was re-elected.
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That the blood libel charge could arise in the US in the 20th century should give pause to all readers. Consider that this occurred just 5 years before Hitler’s rise to power in Europe and a little over a decade before the horrors of the Holocaust.
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When people ask, “why didn’t anybody stop them?” – remember these early 20th century events where evident and backwards Jew-hatred rooted in irrational fear took hold of the most “moral and just societies.”
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✍: @mayogrammo
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#judaism#jewish#history#jewishhistory#otdjh#bloodlibel
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Text Source:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-massena-blood-libel/
Image Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/books/review/the-accusation-edward-berenson.html
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