What Happened 1 Adar In Jewish History

1 Adar II 5763 – Mar. 5, 2003: Suicide bombing of Egged bus No. 37 in Haifa kills 17 and wounds 53.

In the afternoon of March 5, 2003, Egged Bus No. 37 was on its regular route toward Haifa University. At one point, a computer student at Hebron Polytechnic Institute boarded the bus and naturally blended in with the other passengers, many of whom were also students. In fact many were of high school and middle school age. When the bus stopped at a bus stop near the Carmel Center on Moriah Boulevard, the computer student opened his jacket and detonated a medium size bomb strapped to his suicide vest. The bus was demolished, and seventeen (17) people – most of whom were younger than 20 years old – were killed. Fifty-three more were seriously injured. The computer student – the terrorist – was praised in his community in Hebron as a hero, while citizens of the Jewish state mourned.

1 Adar 5600 – Feb. 5, 1840: The Damascus Affair

The Damascus Affair of 1840 was an infamous blood libel that became international news and led to one of the first instances in which Jewish communities around the world worked together to demand justice for another Jewish community. The Damascus blood libel is recognized as one of the turning points in modern Jewish history when world Jewry realized the importance of uniting to advocate for each other.

The Blood Libel
On February 5, 1840, Father Thomas, an Italian Friar of the Capuchin Order who lived in Damascus, disappeared with his Muslim servant Ibrahim Amara. They were assumed murdered, possibly by businessmen with whom Thomas had had shady dealings or by a Muslim who was infuriated by an insult to Islam that Father Thomas had uttered.

The Capuchins friars began spreading rumors that the Jews had murdered the two men to use their blood for Passover. This led to one of history’s most famous blood libels, the Damascus Blood Libel, better known as the Damascus Affair of 1840.

Due to the French jurisdiction over this case, the French consul, Ulysse de Ratti-Menton, known for his anti-Jewish views, presided over the investigation. Along with the governor-general Sharif Pasha, he conducted a short investigation and a barber named Shlomo Negrin, among others, was arbitrarily arrested and tortured.

They managed to extort a “confession” from Negrin that the monk had been killed in the house of David Harari by seven Jews. The men whom he named were arrested and tortured. Two of the arrested men died, one converted to Islam to be spared, and the statements made under torture by the others were considered adequate as an admission of guilt.

But that was not the end of the affair. Bones were discovered in a sewer. They were rumored to have belonged to the murdered monk, and so were buried in a well-publicized funeral, which re-kindled anger against the Jews. When citizens began attacking the Jews, Sharif Pasha sent hundreds of soldiers to protect the Jewish quarter.

Rabbi Yaakov Antebi, accused of having received a bottle of the blood of Thomas, was arrested and tortured, yet he held strong under the torture and would not confess to anything. His courage became a model of Jewish heroism.

More bones were found and the investigators claimed they were the remains of Ibrahim Amara. A physician in Damascus, Dr. Lograso, did not believe they were human bones, and he requested that the bones be sent to Europe for examination. The French consul, Ratti-Menton, refused. Instead he made an announcement that he had proven, without a doubt, that Jews were guilty of the double murder.

The Blood Libel Spreads and the World Jewish Community Responds
The predictable result of the accusations was that the Jews of Damascus and other parts of Syria began to suffer from antisemitic mobs. Synagogues were destroyed and looted, cemeteries were desecrated, and Jews were attacked all over the country.

News of the atrocities spread throughout the world, causing waves of shock and anger at what was happening in Syria.

Letters from diplomats and a petition from Jews in Palestine reached the governor over Syria, asking for the use of torture to stop. The governor of Syria agreed and issued instructions to Damascus to stop the torture. The use of torture came to an end on April 25, 1840, spurring a new round of riots began in Damascus.

The accusation of murder and blood libel remained, and the investigation against the Jews continued, albeit without torture. News of the blood libel and the riots reached Jewish communities far from Damascus. Prominent Jewish leaders who became involved included: Baron James de Rothschild in France, his brother Solomon Rothschild in Austria, and Sir Moses Montefiore in Great Britain. All used their influence upon the leading diplomats of their respective countries to lean on Damascus to stop the violence perpetrated by Muslim and Christian mobs against the Jews in Syria.

When Montefiore appealed to Sultan Abdul Mejid of the Ottoman Empire. The sultan was hesitant at first, but eventually gave in to Montefiore’s request, and issued a decree stating that the blood libel was obviously false. The Sultan condemned the blood libel and its use in bringing charges against Jews in the community.

The Jews who had been unfairly charged with murder were released from prison, the charges dropped, and the violence subsidy eight months after the whole Damascus Affair began.

A Lesson For All Time
The Damascus Affair marks the first time in Jewish history that an incident in one Jewish community elicited reactions from the international Jewish community. From then on, Jews around the world have realized that even though we are spread out, we are still one people, one nation. Since the Damascus Affair of 1840, Jews have realized that whatever happens to a Jewish community anywhere in the world affects all Jews all over the world.

We also should have learned about the power of antisemitism to spread and intensify. The blood libel of the Damascus Affair has been disproven time and time again, even before the Damascus Affair, yet continues to show up wherever conspiracy theories are told. For years and years after 1840, Catholics of Damascus continued to tell the story of how Jews killed a friar for his blood, and the only reason they were let free was because of powerful Jewish lobbies in high places.

Today, the same blood libel appears on anti-Jewish websites to prove what Jews are all about. For those who won’t believe that Jews kill for blood, there are still the popular allegations that the Jews control all the money, control the banks, control all the media, control Hollywood, etc. etc. The latest blood libel leveled against us is that Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza. Though the allegation has been debunked and disproven many times, people from many different walks of life have used it to justify violence against Jews, or marginalizing Jews in other ways.

In the end, the only people Jews can count on are other Jews.

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