Dr Matthew Raphael Johnson looks at Jewish ritual murder and the Jewish professor who thoroughly investigated it, expecting to be able to debunk the many claims of it made throughout history. This week's lecture concerns a perennial issue in Russian and Jewish history, that of ritual murder. This is the claim that extreme sects hidden within Judaism murder young Christian boys and use the blood in the Seder or Passover rituals as a sign of victory over the church. This broadcast will use the little known work from Professor Ariel Toaff, Passover of Blood: The Jews of Europe and Ritual Murders (Lucchese-Gianetti Editori, 2007), as its starting point. As a professor at the University of Tel Aviv, his acceptance of the “blood libel” charge is significant. After hundreds of threats on his life and the destruction of his good name, he has withdrawn the book from circulation. In most cases, the child has been entirely drained of blood. In addition, the murder takes place near Passover and the wounds on the body of the victims are often made with substantial surgical skill. The best known of these poor victims are William of Norwich, Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, and Simon of Trent. In Russia, Gabriel of Bialystok is venerated as a martyr for this reason. Ritual murder is a fact of history and it should be acknowledged as such, not referred to as a fiction but as being carried out by a small group from within Judaism, either with or without direct knowledge by wider Jewrie, as Ariel Toaff asserts. Presented by Matt Johnson The Orthodox Nationalist: Prof Ariel Toaff and Ritual Murder – TON 070319
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