jvalley.org | jewish community news

Jewish Community News

Columns: January 2004

This Month in Jewish History: January

by Alexis Rubin

Royal edict restricts daily life; disputation held in Spain; infamous forgery published in England

Westminster, England, January 31, 1253

Always in need of money, King Henry III of England squeezed ever more taxes from all his subjects. The country's Jews, however, were particularly hard-hit. By the middle of the 13th century, English Jewry was close to financial collapse and had little more to offer the royal treasury.

On January 31, 1253, Henry issued an edict declaring that Jews were only worth protecting if they contributed to his finances. "No Jew [should] remain in England," he ordered, "unless he do the king service, and that from the hour of birth every Jew, whether male or female, serve us in some way." The same edict severely limited everyday Jewish life: identifying badges had to be worn in public; employment of Christian servants was outlawed; and Jews could no longer live in towns unless granted special licenses by the king. Nor, in the future, could they eat or buy meat during the Lenten season. Henry also ordered that Jews worshipping in their synagogues had to "subdue their voices in performing their ritual offices, that Christians may not hear them."

The end of royal protection and patronage for English Jewry was drawing swiftly to a close. Less than 40 years later, Henry's son, Edward I, would expel all Jews from England. Four centuries would pass before they would be permitted to return.

Tortosa, Spain, January 7, 1413

For centuries, individual Christians and Jews had engaged in debates over the truths and merits of their respective religions. The more or less amiable tenor and informal setting of these encounters changed in 1239 when Church leaders began staging public "disputations." Taking place before large audiences, often with kings and popes in attendance, they featured Jewish scholars forced to defend Judaism's holy books against claims made by Christians. Many of the Catholic debaters – supposedly well-versed in Torah and Talmud – were converted Jews. Moreover, the Christian establishment set the ground rules: by definition, Christian theology would always be upheld as the ultimate revealed truth.

On January 7, 1413, the apostate Jew known as Geronimo de Santa Fe challenged leading Jewish scholars in Spain to disprove that specific biblical and Talmudic passages pointed to Jesus as the true Messiah. Outside the church where the "debate" took place, frenzied mobs demonstrated their hatred of Jews, the people whom they believed had murdered Jesus. Inside, the Jewish debaters attempted to point out how Geronimo had misinterpreted the cited passages, but Church officials frequently silenced them. As in all forced debates, the Tortosa Disputation's outcome was never in doubt: Judaism's defenders could never be declared the victors.

London, England, January 1920

First published in Moscow as part of a book entitled "The Enemy of the Human Race," the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" was a blatant forgery claiming that Jews planned to destroy Christian civilization by overthrowing all strong monarchs. Czar Nicholas II's secret police had created the slanderous document in order to reinforce his anti-Semitic beliefs and to buttress his resistance to liberal reform.

The "Protocols" purported to be the verbatim transcript of a rabbi's speech outlining specific actions Jews planned to take to become rulers of the world. In the process they would sow social and political discontent among the masses, lessen all religious devotion, and create economic chaos. As an ingenious tool to perpetuate anti-Jewish hatred, the "Protocols" did not die with the downfall of the czarist regime.

In January 1920, a London printing house published "The Jewish Peril," an English translation of the "Protocols." During the same year, the "Protocols" appeared in Poland and France, and Henry Ford printed them in his Dearborn Independent. The Nazis later publicized the "Protocols," using them as part of their rationale for murdering European Jewry. Even now, at the beginning of the 21st century, people and nations seeking Israel's demise claim that the "Protocols" are a true and accurate account of Jewish-Zionist plans to control the world.

Alexis Rubin is a Jewish history teacher, writer, researcher and syndicated columnist. Her articles, essays and book reviews have appeared in historical journals, Jewish women's magazines and community newspapers in the U.S. and in Canada.

This Month in Jewish History