Ariel Toaff Blood Passover. Internet Aaargh, 2007. (ang.)

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painting in the Liebfrauenkirche in Nuremberg, dating back to the half of the 16th century and depicting the same subject, the godmothers,
with caricature-like Jewish faces, crowd around the poor child with the terrorized face. The Jews wear the ritual mantle, bearing Sybillene
writings in the holy language, while the mohel, dressed in black, resolute and pitiless, is about to lower the knife on the defenseless body
(33).
An iconography of the circumcision of Jesus of this type may be observed to be similar, in both design and execution, to the representation of
the martyrdom of Little Simon of Trent in a painting of the Alto Adige school, dating back to the first half of the 16th century. Here as well,
a large group of bearded, big-nosed Jews, with a grim appearance and caricature-like features, crowd around the naked, glorious body of the
little martyr, the new Christ, intent on performing their cruel Passover rite on his miserable body (34). The themes of blood, circumcision, the
crucifixion and ritual murder were closely linked in the collective imagination, are eagerly reflected in the artistic expressions of the
Germanic world of the late Middle Ages, among both Jews and Christians (35).
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NOTES TO CHAPTER TEN
1. On the illustrations of the Haggadahin the manuscripts and printed editions, there is an exceptionally extensive bibliography. See, among
others, C. Roth, The Illustrated Haggadah, in "Studies in Bibliography and Booklore", VII (1965), pp. 37-56; B. Narkiss, Medieval
Illuminated Haggadot, in "Ariel", XIV (1966), pp. 35-40; M. Metzger, La Haggadah enlumin�e, Leyden, 1973; Y.H. Yerushalmi, Haggadah
and History, Philadelphia (Pa.), 1975.
2. Shemot Rabbah, 1, 34. In this regard, see L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Philadelphia (Pa.), 1946, vol. II, pp. 296-304.
3. Anon., Sefer Ha-Yashar, Furth, 1768, c. 94a.
4. Rashi (R. Shelomoh Izchaki di Troyes), Perush la-Torah ("Comment on the Pentateuch"), with reference to Esther 2:23.
5. It should be noted that none of the classical Biblica exegetists of Sephardic Judaism, from Abaham Ibn Izra to Moshe ben Nachman, from
Levi ben Gherson to Izchak Arama, to Izachak Abravanel, paid any attention to this legend.
6. See, in particular, the arguments of I.J. Yuval, "Two Nations in Your Womb". Perceptions of Jews and Christians, Tel Aviv, 2000, p. 258-
264 (in Hebrew).
7. Izchak b. Moshe, Or Zarua, Zhitomir, 1862, c. 117b. See also M.M. Kasher, Haggadah Shelemah, New York, 1961, p. 95.
8. See, in particular, the excellent and well-documented argument of D.J. Malkiel, Infanticide in Passover Iconography, in "Journal of the
Warburg and Courteauld Institutes", LVI (1993), pp. 85-89.
9. Cfr. ibidem, p. 88-89.
10. Haggadah shel Pesach, Prague, Ghershom Cohen, 1526; Haggadah shel Pesach, Mantua, Giacomo Rufinelli, 1560, Seder Haggadah
shel Pesach, Mantua, Ya' akov Shalit Ashkenazi, 1568; Seder Haggadah shel Pesach, Venice, Giovanni De Gara, 1609. On the second
Haggadah of Prague, see C. Abramsky, Two Prague Haggadahs, Verona, 1978.
11. See fig. 1
12. See fig. 2. One rare copy of the second Haggadah of Prague is conserved at the Valmadonna Trust Library in London.
13. Utraquist Passional, Prague, Jan Camp, 1495, c. 24a. Cfr. Ch. Wangrow, Haggadah and Woodcut, New York, 1967, pp. 109-110. See
fig. 3.
14. See fig. 4
15. See fig. 6.
16. This is the thesis advanced by Malkiel, Infanticide in Passover Iconography, cit., pp. 96-99.
17. See fig. 7.
18. The caption of the scene is in Italian in Hebrew characters.
85
19. The caption of the scene is in Italian in Hebrew characters.
20. "Omnium perniciosissimum est, sortilegiis, incantationibus magisque superstitionibus et maleficiis dedititi (sc. Judaei) quamplurimos
incautos atque inforos Satanae praestigiis inducunt" [Approximately: The worst thing of all is that the Jews are dedicated to spells,
incantations and great supersititions, leading many incautious persons to be deceived by the wiles of Satan ] The bull Hebraeorum gens was
promulgated on 26 February 1526 (Bullarium Romanum, Turin, 1852-1872, vol. VII, pp. 740-742). See in this regard K.R. Stow, Catholic
Thought and Papal Jewry Policy (1555-1593), New York, pp. 34-36.
21. See fig. 8
22. See fig. 9
23. See fig. 10
24. See fig. 11. In this regard, see Yerushalmi, Haggadah and History, cit., plates 25, 51-52, B. Narkiss, The Passover Haggadah of Venice
1609, Jerusalem, 1974, p. 12.
25. See fig. 12.
26. Hamburg, Staats- und Universit�tsbibliothek, Cod. Hebr. 37. The manuscript is dated 1427-1428.
27. See fig. 13.
28. See fig. 14.
29. Ahser b. Yechiel (Rosh), Sheelot w-teshuvot. Responsa, Constantinople, 1517.
30. See figures 15 and 16. This woodcut of the sacrifice of Isaac was reprinted in the second half of the Sixteenth Century in the editions of
Isac Prossnitz at Cracow (cfr. A. Yaari, Hebrew Printers' Marks, Jerusalem, 1943, pp. 29, 141.
31. See fig. 17. The image is reproduced by A.M. Hind, Early Italian Engraving II: Florentine Engravings and Anonymous Prints of Other
Schools. Figs. 1-171, New York - London, 1938, fig. 74, and subsequently reproduced in Occhiali da vedere. Arte, scienze e costume
attraverso gli occhiali, Carl Zeiss Foundation, Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Cataloghi di mostre, Firenze, 1985, vol. II, p. 30, no.
G1, in H. Schreckenberg, The Jews in Christian Art, G�ttingen, 1996, p. 280, fig. 6j.
32. In this regard, see L. Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion, New York, 1983, pp. 57-65.
33. See figure nos. 19 and 20. The two images are reproduced in Schreckenberg, The Jews in Christian Art, cit., pp. 144-145, figures 1 and 3.
34. See fig. 22. The table is conserved at the Museo provinciale d'Arte di Trento. Cfr. L. Dal Pra, L'immagine di Simonino nell'arte dal XV al
XVIII secolo, in L. Rogger and M. Bellabarba, Il principle vescovo Johannes Hinderbach (1465-1486), fra tardo Medievo e Umanesimo, Atti
del Convegno promosso dall Biblioteca Communale di Trento, 2-6 October 1989, Bologna, 1992, pp. 445-481, table 19.
35. On the relationship between the circumscision of Christ, blood and ritual homicide in late Medieval Christian iconography in the
German-speaking territories, see B.Blumenkranz, Juden und Judentum in der mittelalterlichen Kunst, Stuttgart, 1965, p. 85; W.P. Eckert,
Motivi superstiziosi nel processo agli ebrei di Trent, in Rogger and Bellabarba, Il principe vescovo Johannes Hinderbach, cit., pp. 390-391.
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p. 162]
p. 163]
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE DINNER AND INVECTIVE: THE SEDER AND THE CURSES
In the depositions, and, if you wish, the confessions under torture, of the Trent defendants under indictment for Simonino s so-called ritual
murder, ample space, at the request of the inquisitors, was given to the preparation of the Seder of Pesach in the respective houses, to the
reading of the Haggadah and the particular rites of the festival. The inquisitors inquired about the order of the prayers, their content, the
salient phases of the celebration, the foods eaten, and the various roles played by the participants in the collective ritual. The persons under
interrogation responded, apparently without reticence, here dwelling at length to illustrate in detail the unfolding of the Seder, here more
succinctly, restricting themselves to cored the most significant moments.
At this point, the question must be raised whether these descriptions and reports, extorted under torture, were authentic or real; whether they
were the fruit of suggestive pressures brought to bear by the inquisitors, intended to confirm their prejudices, the stereotypes and the
superstitions which they carried in their minds and in those of the Christian society of which they were the expression, and to evaluate the
assumptions of the accusation which were at the origin of the trials. In other words, an attempt should be made to determine whether these
crude and embarrassing confessions were largely the result of suggestion, and were, so to speak, recited and written under dictation. To do [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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