History of the Jews, Vol. 5 (of 6)

But even this phenomenon had its favorable side. It was a challenge to the orthodox party, which had hitherto met innovations with silence, or impotent rage, but always awkwardly, or, as in the person of Bernays, had made sphinx-like utterances. They altogether denied the justification of the reform which the advanced party so confidently urged. The "Nineteen Letters on Judaism," by Ben Usiel, a disciple of Bernays (1836), were the first tones of a powerful opposition against the leveling of Judaism to a commonplace religion, to consist of sermons, German hymns, and confirmation, so forcing its generous proportions to adapt themselves to the narrow limits of the synagogue. This was the commencement of a contest between two different sets of views, a strife which has not yet ceased. The struggle was confined to Germany. The Jews of the other European countries were not cognizant thereof. In Germany it was so difficult to destroy the old state of ignominy, so toilsome to obtain the new freedom, that educated Jews, imagining the peculiarities of their belief to be one of the obstacles in the way of securing equal privileges, were ready to sacrifice these, trying to persuade themselves that it was not surrender, merely a shedding of the outer skin. Christian society refused to recognize them as Germans, and, therefore, they desired to show, by stripping off their original garb, that they were Germans, naught but Germans, and kept up only a distant connection with Judaism. The spirit of subtle inquiry which had been awakened to a high degree, chiefly in Germany, furthered the habit of fault-finding, not alone with details, but with the whole structure of Judaism; of considering it as a work rotten with age, which, with the exception of a few foundation-stones, ought to be destroyed.

It was strange that thoughtful Christians admired the tents of Jacob in their simplicity, whilst the adherents of Judaism felt confined in them, and desired to exchange the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant for the pomp and parade of the Church, or wished to surround them with disfiguring adornments. Two poetically-gifted Christian scholars, astounded by the wonderful fact that the persecuted Jewish people even in modern days produced neo-Hebraic poetry – spring blossoms in the midst of the violence of winter – strove to spread understanding and love of it in Christian circles. The "History of Neo-Hebraic Poetry" (1836), by Franz Delitzsch, and the "Hebrew Chrestomathy" (1837), by Adam Martinet, are tokens of the homage brought by Christians to the Jewish mind. The authors were astounded at its creative faculty, and at the capacity for development existing in the Hebrew language, although they knew only fragments, and were unacquainted with the most modern and the fairest specimens of neo-Hebraic poetry. This side of Jewish ability convinced them of the immortality of the race. "No one can deny," remarked the former, "that the Jewish people is the most remarkable of all nations, and next to those of the Church, its history and literature deserve the deepest and most devoted attention. Poetry forms a large part of this colossal mass of literature, and is the truest image of the inner history of this people. The elegiac poetry of the synagogue reveals to us the constant recurrence of suffering which God imposed on the exiles, and the impressions which these sufferings have left upon the heart of the nation. The Orient is an exile in the midst of the West, and from the tears of its home-sickness springs forth Jewish poetry."

Martinet desired "to ascertain the height, depth, and breadth of the Jewish spirit of our times as shown in the treasures of its own literature," and was fortunate in having found a noble, deeply interesting, in every way fine fragment. His "Chrestomathy" was intended as a vindication of neo-Hebraic literature – beauteous Eastern flowers reared upon Western soil, which he arranged in an odorous bouquet, in order to gain admirers for them, and induce them to cull radiant garlands of still fairer flowers from the magic garden.

The new school of reform felt little of the enthusiasm of appreciative Christians. They regretted that doubts, conflict, and dissension had sprung up in the place of confidence, peace, and perfect unity and sincerity; that all minds were filled with uncertainty and discomfort, creating a state of irritability which enervated all will-power. But they themselves had contributed, if not actually to call this ill-humor into existence, at least to nurse it, and so infect healthy minds. They imagined that the decomposition of Judaism had already commenced until they became convinced of it, and like romantic dreamers indulged in artificial grief, until it became real. In Germany, on account of the contest for the removal of disabilities, the awakening of self-consciousness and the dawn of knowledge were purchased at a heavy price, at the cost of internal disruption and self-torment.

The somber views of those who, whilst admiring Judaism in its ancient and venerable form, yet entertained doubts as to its continuance, were truthfully represented in "The Plaints of a Jew" (1837). The Prussian Jews at this time were placed in a situation both comic and tragical by an ordinance worthy of the Byzantine court promulgated by King Frederick William III. Instead of a partial grant of the liberty guaranteed to them, they were no longer to be officially called "members of the Mosaic faith," but curtly "Jews," and were not allowed to bear Christian names. The police were directed to insist that this law be carried into effect. This method was expected to bring waverers over to baptism. The self-respect of the Jews was not yet sufficiently strengthened for them to endure the intended humiliation with dignity. Many Jews in the large cities, especially in Berlin, who were nearer to the church than to the synagogue, considered it a slight, and implored the king to protect them against such undeserved contempt. They mourned as if they were to be again thrust into exile. This comic sadness was depicted after the manner of the Psalms in "The Plaints of a Jew."

"The children of my people came to me complaining and weeping. The old men and the mothers drew near, and anxious suffering was depicted on their countenances. I asked the little ones, 'Why are you weeping so early in life?' and to the elders I said, 'Why are you complaining so late in life?' The children lisped, 'Alas! we may no longer bear the bright, beautiful names of the Christians, but have to use the dull, hateful ones of the Jews. We are meant to be branded at our very games.' And the old men said, 'The quiver of anger is again emptied, and threatens our children with misery and danger.' Then I replied, … 'Comfort yourselves, be quiet, and bear proudly the proud names of your fathers. They are the names of heroes, of martyrs crowned with fame, of an ancient nobility, of an ancient knighthood… When the West was still sunk in utter barbarism, your names flourished in immortal splendor, ruling the world, and enlightening and delivering it. For I say unto you, that before the hand of the clock of history turns round, many empty names of the West will be swept off the face of the earth like stubble by the sharp scythe. But as long as time endures there will always remain royally enthroned the names of Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah.'"

Joel Jacoby, the son of a strictly orthodox father, introduced into his "Plaints of a Jew" many untrue outpourings of fantastic sentimentality and a feigned sense of pain; but some of his elegies are ardent and beautifully constructed.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE YEAR 1840 AND THE BLOOD ACCUSATION AT DAMASCUS

Mehmet Ali – Ratti Menton – Damascus – Father Tomaso – His Disappearance – Blood Accusation against the Jews of Damascus – Imprisonment of Accused – Their Tortures and Martyrdom – Blood Accusation in Rhodes – In Prussia – Adolf Crémieux – Meeting of English Jews – Moses Montefiore – Nathaniel de Rothschild – Merlato, the Austrian Consul – Plots – Thiers – Steps taken by the Jews in Paris and London – Bernard van Oven – Mansion House Meeting – Montefiore, Crémieux, and others sent to Egypt – Solomon Munk.

184 °C. E

If Joel Jacoby wavering between faith and apostasy thus addressed Judaism, "Feeble is thy body, my people, and thy spirit weary: therefore do I bring thee a coffin and dedicate to thee a tomb"; and if Geiger's paper, half in pain, half in spite, testified that "the bond which used to keep together the congregations is torn asunder, and now they are only externally united, the will-power of the community is broken," the wish was father to the thought, or the writers greatly deceived themselves. Superficial observers, self-willed opinionists, they thought the symptoms of rapid growth signs of swift consumption, and praised their own quack medicines, which would surely have brought about dissolution.

An unforeseen event, insignificant at the beginning, but of vast importance in its results, gave the lie to the false prophets and quacks, and showed how wondrous the force which holds the members of the Jewish race in an indissoluble union; how strong the invisible bond which without their knowledge embraces them; and how a serious menace to Judaism arouses the patriotism of the reformer and the orthodox, of the politician who appears to have forsaken his faith and the recluse engrossed only in the Kabbala or the Talmud, of the Jew in frivolous France and of him in serious Asia. Strangely enough, the despised "Jewish Question" became interwoven in the complicated threads of European and Asiatic politics, and the Russian despot Nicholas as also the American Republic had to take up the cause of the Jews in Damascus. He who remembers this time, and can appreciate the marvels of history, cannot misunderstand the wonderful intermingling of events. Ratti Menton, an Italian naturalized in France, a reckless, unconscientious fortune-hunter; Hanna Bachari Bey, a renegade, who had passed from Christianity to Islam, a thorough knave and bitter Jew-hater; Mohammed El-Telli, a man of like caliber, who threatened a rich Jew in Damascus with a blood accusation unless he advanced money to relieve him of his difficulties; and finally a Christian Arab, Shibli Ajub, a worthless wretch panting for revenge, because he had been imprisoned on the charge of embezzlement preferred by a Jew; this is the list of fiends who originated a bloody drama, in which the part of martyrs was once more played by the Jews. But their sufferings induced courage, exaltation, and proud self-reliance.

Political events, as intimated, served as the background for this drama. The cunning Mehmet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, by splendid victories had wrested all Syria and Palestine from the Turkish sultan, his feudal lord. He oppressed the inhabitants of these countries more severely even than those of his own pashalic, in order to fill his coffers. The so-called Citizen King, Louis Philippe, equally cunning, in order to disarm the resentment of the legitimate princes of Europe, supported Mehmet Ali's plans of conquest, and French agents aided the Egyptian robbery system. These intrigues increased when the strong-minded but unfortunate Sultan Mohammed was dead, and his weak, pampered son, Abdul Meg'id, only seventeen years old, ascended the throne (July, 1839). Then the Eastern Question commenced to wax warm. Russia supported feeble Turkey that it might not fall into the arms of Mehmet Ali. France, on the other hand, supported the Egyptian robber, in order to checkmate Russia. Austria and England were unsettled in their policy, and Prussia was the fifth wheel on the van of the European Pentarchy. Owing to the close union between Louis Philippe and Mehmet Ali, the Christians in Palestine and Syria, hitherto oppressed, could now raise their heads; for France delighted to pose as the protector of Christianity in the East in order to gain title and power, as she coquetted with the clerical party at home in order to suppress the friends of liberty. The clergy and monks of many orders in the East, especially the Catholics or Latins, until lately the oppressed, now, relying upon French protection, became the oppressors.

In Damascus, which at that time contained five thousand Jewish families, or about twenty thousand souls, the guardian of a Capuchin cloister, Father Tomaso (Thomas), of Sardinia, together with his servant, disappeared one day (February 5, 1840). He was no saint in the Catholic sense of the word, but a man of the world, more ready to take than to give money. He pottered in medicine, especially occupying himself with inoculation for small-pox, and as often visited in Jewish and Mahometan as in Christian quarters. What had become of the Father so well known to the whole population of Damascus? No one knew exactly. There was a rumor that Tomaso had some days before quarreled with a Turkish mule-driver, who was said to have sworn, "This Christian dog shall die by no other hand than mine." It was said that insults and violence followed. As soon as it was known that the Father had disappeared, and had probably met with a violent death, the monks besieged the unscrupulous Ratti Menton, the French consul in Damascus, with entreaties to search for the murderer. Attention was immediately directed to the Jews, some of them having innocently testified that they had seen Tomaso and his servant in the Jewish quarter, on the evening before they disappeared. The monks, chief among them a fanatical Jew-hater, Father Tusti, quickly caught up the suspicion against the Jews, hoping thereby to gain several ends. They could satiate their hatred against the Jews, suppress the inquiry as to whether Father Tomaso had indeed quarreled with Mussulmans and reviled them, and finally a new martyr, slain by the Jews, would be added to their list of saints, which was always a source of profit. Ratti Menton, in turn, from interested motives, quickly endorsed the suspicion against the Jews, and relinquished every other theory, although a clue had been given by the fact that the Turkish merchant, who had been present at the quarrel with the Father, had hanged himself. Sherif Pasha, the governor of Damascus, was readily induced to permit or carry on the persecution of the Jews from a desire to be on friendly terms with the French consul, and hoping to obtain profit for himself from a blood accusation against the Jews. To save appearances, the accusers quoted the evidence of a pious fraud, who assured them that Tomaso and his servant had been murdered in the Jewish quarter in such and such a house. This trick was probably perpetrated by Bachari Bey. The Turkish rascal, Mohammed El-Telli, offered his services as a spy to Ratti Menton, if he would free him from prison and debt. He willingly consented; the two scoundrels were worthy of each other.

Proofs soon accumulated. Christians testified that they had heard Jews say, "Let us shut the gates, and not go out, because danger is imminent," or that they had seen the monk in the house of a Jew shortly before his disappearance. The bill of accusation was quickly prepared: "The Jews have murdered Tomaso and his servant to use the blood for their Passover Festival," – as though they would be so ridiculous as to keep it for six weeks! Efforts were made to arouse the Christians and the Turkish populace. Several Jews were arrested, brought before Ratti Menton, and examined. A poor Jewish barber from inborn fear showed great confusion during the examination in the presence of the spies. But he firmly denied participation in, or knowledge of, the murder of the missing monk. Nevertheless the French consul handed him over for trial to Sherif Pasha, as a man under strong suspicion. The latter ordered him to receive the bastinado, five hundred blows with a stick upon the soles of his feet. This torture, however, appeared too mild to Ratti Menton. The poor barber was subjected to the cruellest tortures, but he remained steadfast. He was then visited by Mohammed El-Telli, who was in prison for debt. Induced by deceitful speeches, the barber, afraid of fresh torture, agreed to name the guilty persons. He named, upon suggestion, seven distinguished and wealthy Jews, David Arari (Harari), with his son and brothers, then Moses Abulafia, Moses Saloniki, and Joseph Laniado, an old man of eighty years. When arrested and examined they denied their guilt. The bastinado was resorted to, but the executioners, fearing that the old men would sink under the blows, and that their confessions would be of no use, employed another method of torture. The accused, guarded by soldiers, were compelled to stand erect for thirty-six hours, without food or drink, and without being allowed to go to sleep. As this torture bore no result, the bloodthirsty villains proceeded at Ratti Menton's orders to inflict a violent beating with switches; at the twentieth blow the unhappy victims fell to the ground unconscious. The French consul nevertheless ordered the scourging to be continued when they revived.

All this, however, did not extort a confession. Sherif Pasha invented a new species of torment, or employed one suggested to him. More than sixty children between the ages of three and ten were torn from their parents, shut up in a room, and deprived of food, so that the mothers, agonized by the piteous cries of the children, might be driven to make confessions, even though untrue ones. This means also failed. In spite of compassion for their children, the Jewish mothers in no way confirmed the horrible accusation. Only one woman and her daughter were driven by grief and love of their children into the arms of Islam. Sherif Pasha became enraged, and threatened that if the Father were not found, many Jewish heads should fall. With a band of soldiers (February 18) he marched into the Jewish quarter, and commanded the magnificent house of David Arari to be destroyed, in order to find the corpse of the monk or suspicious traces. The houses of the other accused were also ruined. Distressed by so much cruelty, a Jewish youth ventured to go to the Pasha and give evidence that he had seen Father Tomaso enter the shop of a Turk shortly before his disappearance. Instead of following this clue, Ratti Menton and his private secretary, Baudin, tried to hush up the evidence. The youth was unmercifully flogged, and in the same night died, the first martyr in this tragedy.

Ratti Menton was inexhaustible in devices for extorting a confession from the Jews. He ordered an experiment to be tried upon David Arari's Turkish servant, Murad el Fallat. He had nothing to confess, and permitted himself to be scourged till his body was almost lacerated. Mohammed El-Telli then interviewed him, and by mingling friendly overtures and threats obtained some information from him. The servant accused himself of having murdered Tomaso at the command of David Arari in the presence of the other prisoners; and the Jewish barber was persuaded to confirm this statement. Ratti Menton then caused the two mutilated men to be led to a place where the bones and skulls were supposed to have been thrown into a canal. He found a piece of bone and a fragment of cloth; Christian doctors declared that this bone belonged to a human body, and the patch was judged to be part of the monk's cowl. Positive proof of the murder having been thus found in the Jewish quarter, the seven accused were again examined, and subjected to cruel tortures. They were ordered to produce the flask of blood taken from the murdered men for the Passover Festival. The tortures killed the old man Joseph Laniado. Moses Abulafia, to escape further torture, assumed the turban. The others, worn out by suffering, said all that was demanded of them; they had become dull, and only desired a speedy death. Their confession, however, did not help them. The French consul wanted tangible evidence, such as the flask of blood and other proofs. But the poor prisoners, however willing, were unable to produce them.

New tortures were applied, the only result being that the wretched victims retracted their former confessions. As Ratti Menton needed new victims, Arari's servant was required to assist in supplying them early in March. Suspicion fell upon other distinguished Jewish families: upon the wealthy family of Farchi (Parchi), upon a young man named Isaac Levi Picciotto (Peixotto), and upon Aaron Stambuli. Three rabbis of Damascus, Jacob Anteri, Solomon and Azaria Halfen, had been arrested earlier, and tortured, but the desired evidence was not obtained. Of the distinguished Jews said to be implicated in the charge of murder, only two could be found: Raphael Murad Farchi who, owing to his high position as consul, thought himself safe, and Picciotto, the nephew of the consul-general of Aleppo, who had been knighted for his services by the Austrian emperor. Picciotto alone remained steadfast, and boldly upbraided Ratti Menton and the Pasha with the inhumanity of their conduct. He was protected by the Austrian consul, an Italian named Merlato, who despite all threats and arguments refused to allow an Austrian subject to be tortured without substantial proofs of his guilt. This new complication produced a change in the horrifying drama. Merlato had long looked on calmly at the inhuman acts, like the other European consuls, especially the English consul named Werry, who was Ratti Menton's accomplice. But at length Merlato's patience was exhausted; he openly attacked the barbarous, horrible proceedings. Consequently he had to endure a good deal of abuse. The Christian populace heaped curses upon him, because he defended the Jews, and would not surrender his protégé Picciotto into the hands of the cannibals. His house was surrounded by spies, and the Mahometan mob was also inflamed against the Jews by foul means.

Ratti Menton was indefatigable in inventing new charges and sham proofs. He ordered a contemptible book against the Jews, by Lucio Ferrajo, which had been shown him by the monks, to be translated into Arabic. This book proved from the Talmud that the Jews used blood, that they slew Christian children, and outraged the Host, which afterwards worked miracles. The Arabic translation was given by Ratti Menton to Sherif Pasha, and he circulated it among the Mahometan populace. To set on foot a thorough-going persecution, Franciscus of Sardinia, a venomous Capuchin monk, was brought from Beyrout, being well known for his ability to give an appearance of truth to perversions and falsehoods. The Pasha then commanded that the three imprisoned rabbis be separated, and directed to translate into Arabic certain suspicious passages in the Talmud, with the threat of death if they were caught in a deception. Thoughtful Turks shook their heads at this systematic persecution of the Jews; but they held their peace. Ratti Menton closed the proceedings, and pronounced judgment, as if it had been incontrovertibly proved, that the arrested and tortured Jews were the murderers of Father Tomaso. Those still alive were sentenced to be beheaded. Sherif Pasha obtained the assent of his lord, Mehmet Ali, to this deed.

As if to give verisimilitude to the blood-accusation against the Jews, and justify their destruction as bloodthirsty cannibals, a similar incident occurred at about the same time on the island of Rhodes, which belonged to Turkey. A boy of ten years of age, the son of a Greek peasant, had hanged himself, and the Christians hastened to charge the Jews with his murder. The European consuls took the matter in hand, and demanded of the governor, Jussuf Pasha, a strict investigation against the Jews. Upon the evidence of two Greek women that the boy had followed a Jew of Rhodes, the man was arrested, tried, imprisoned, and, because of his denial, inhumanly tortured. His nostrils were pierced by an iron wire, red-hot coals placed upon his head, and a heavy stone upon his breast. This was done or approved by Europeans and Christians, consuls of the European powers, of England, France, and Sweden. Here, too, the Austrian consul took no part in the barbarous persecution. The torture was applied to the accused Jew by his officers without the knowledge of the Pasha. The confession which they desired to obtain was that he had killed the Greek boy to send his blood to the chief rabbi at Constantinople. It was a sort of conspiracy of the Christians in Turkey against the Jews, to bring them to the edge of the precipice, perhaps due to envy, because the young Sultan, Abdul Meg'id, on ascending the throne, in his congratulatory address (Hatti-Sherif of Gulhane) had conceded equal privileges to all subjects of his kingdom, Jews included. The Greeks and Latins in Turkey thought but little of their freedom, because they had to share it with the hated Jews.