LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE BLOOD-ACCUSATION.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR:']
Sin,—In the Spectator of December 30th you wish that I would explain to you the constant recurrence of " the strange and absolutely baseless charge" that the Jews sacrifice a Christian boy at Passover. But, Sir, I am not an authority on Christian psychology. It is not for the Jew to explain why Christian peoples should persist in believing the in- credible. It is not for Dreyfus to explain why belief in his guilt should survive every disproof. Your own surprise seems to show that you confound the laws of evidence with the laws of psychology. They belong to different categories. Strack's " Blutaberglanbe " and other learned monographs have disposed of the question historically, but as the late Isidor Loeb remarked : " Le probleme• n'est pas ma problame d'histoire mais de psychologie. Le prejuge vient d'un des instincts lee plus profonds des peoples qni l'ont invents." Renan said to S. Reinach " Notez combien In malignite hnmaine est pen inventive : elle tourne eternellement dans le meme cercle d'accusations, sacrifices hnmains, anthropophagie, attentats anx mcenrs." For—as Messrs. Jessopp and James say in their edition of "The Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich, by Thomas of Monmouth "—" charges of this kind were made against Christians by Pagan Greeks and Romans, against heretical sects by orthodox Christians, against the Templars by their contemporaries, against Christian missionaries (in 1870 and 1895) by Chinese." St. William was the first boy- martyr, for the story actually arose in England, though from this recently-published Latin text it appears that the one fact round which the circumstantial tale was woven was that the body of a boy was found in Thorpe Wood on March 24th, 1144. The "blessed martyr" smelt sweetly, like "a great mass of herbs and flowers": the Jews were in ill odour. If any one desires further explanation, let it be added that his shrine worked miracles, and the monks took the profit. Other boy-martyrs followed in rapid succession,— St. Harold of Gloucester, St. Robert of Edmondsbury, and the anonymous boy of Winchester, respecting whose crucifixion his own hagiographer, Richard of Devizes, says deliciously : "The Jews of Winchester earned renowned glory for themselves by martyring a boy at Winchester, as was shown by the indications of the deed, though the deed itself was absent."—(J. Jacoba's "Jews of Angevin England.") That " the people that crucified Christ " should carry out a crucifixion at the Passover (Easter) period—and all the stories echo curiously the Gospel narrative—was an idea likely to appeal strongly to the imagination of the Dark Ages, especially as the Jews actually retain a shred of the sacrifice of the "Paschal Lamb," a phrase so charged with mysticism to Christian ears. It was an idea that would appeal specially to defalcating debtors. It had only to be suggested to spread throughout Europe. It entered into litera- ture. Chaucer embodied it in the Prioress's Tale. The belief in it gave plausibility to the Shylock drama, whose absurdi- ties are still witnessed with literal belief by myriads even unto this day, though it has been traced to a Mahommedan story in which Jews do not appear at all. What wonder if the Blood-Accusation, thus endorsed by Chaucer and Shakespeare, should still persist in the mediaeval recesses of Europe and Asia. Literature has only Heine's " Der Rabbi von Bacharach" by way of counterblast. To be surprised at the myth were to project the modern consciousness back into the past centuries. As well ask how people could believe in witches ! And if, allowing for its origin in the Dark Ages, you ask why
does the Blood-Accusation still persist, pray do not forget that it is not left to die out. Briefs for the prosecution still receive high ecclesiastical sanction, despite noble protesters, and if corpses of children are not smuggled into Jewish houses, as in Heine's story, corroborative evidence is still manufactured. Do you suppose that politicians and priests do not pertinaciously resurrect the myth when. ever some end is to be served? It is a red herring always available. Are there no such red herrings here in England ? Even at this moment we hear cries that the Jews are responsible for the Boer War : this war so notoriously organised by Christians in the interests of civilisation. I read indignant letters to the Press that the Jews will not even contribute to the funds or the fighting ranks. When I look at the lists, I see the Jews are contributing to both far more than their due share. But the instant the outlook is dark, it is the Jews ; at the moment of victory they will be forgotten. As Isaiah predicted in that much misunderstood fifty-third chapter, they are still the scapegoat of the peoples.
—I am, Sir, &c., I. ZANOWILL. 24 Oxford Road, Kilburn, N. W.
[We publish with great pleasure Mr. Zangwill's striking letter, and are glad to see he deals with the monstrous asser- tion that the war is the work of Jew capitalists. — ED. Spectator.]
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