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canadian j1
It Came to Pass That
With this issue the Canadian Jewish Review begins a new feature which must prove of absorbing interest to all its readers especially the young folks. It is a history of the Jewish people through centuries recorded by days. This first instalment tells you the outstanding events in the last days of October in the history of your race. Buy a loose leaf note book, clip this first account and paste it in. If you do this every week in time you will possess a hand-book of value. The historian is Cecil Roth. He was born in London, England, in 1899 and attended the City of London School until 1917. After two years of military service in England and France he entered Oxford. He holds the degree of Ph.D. from Oxford and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Mr. Roth is author of "The Last Florentine Republic," and many scholarly articles and essays, among which is one in the current "Menorah Journal."
OCTOBER 26th Riots at Cracow, 1407. The blood libel had followed hot on the trail of the Jews when they came to Poland. One of the earliest cases was the present. A priest asserted in one of his sermons that the Jews had murdered a child on the previous night for ritual purposes. The mob swept out of the church and made its way to the Jewish quarter, sacking the houses and killing all those who fell into their hands. The governor of the city collected an armed force and dispersed the rioters, capturing some of the ringleaders. The church bells were sounded to summon the magistrates to come and sit in judgment upon them. The rumour got around, however, that this was intended as a signal to the people that they might fall upon the Jews. A mob collected again and rushed against their quarter. The inhabitants defended themselves gallantly, but without effect, and they were ultimately forced to take refuge in the church of Saint Anna. This was surrounded and set on fire, leaving the Jews no alternative but surrender. Some few apostatised, but the vast majority chose to die rather than abjure their faith. Only the children were spared, being taken by force to be baptized. Meanwhile the fire spread from the church and consumed the whole of the Jewish quarter, which was left in absolute desolation�a mournful monument to its former inhabitants.
OCTOBER 27th Last public auto-da-fe in Portugal, 1765. It was two centuries and a quarter since the Inquisition had initiated its activity in the country with the Lisbon auto of September 20th, 1540. In the meantime, many thousands of victims had suffered at the pyre. The series was now rounded off with a last public ceremony in which (as at the first) expiation was made for the crime of Judaism. One or two private autos in which Jews figured followed, until the Holy Office in Portugal was finally shorn of its power by the Marquis de Pombal. Social and political prejudice remained however strong: and thus it is only in our own days that there has been a general movement among the Marranos of the country to return to Judaism.
OCTOBER 28th Death of Nahmanides, 1270. The aged Spanish scholar had been forced to abandon his country after his alleged blasphemies at the Disputation of Barcelona (July 20, 1263), despite the freedom of speech which he had been guaranteed. Leaving his family and friends, he made his way to the Holy Land. Here he found everything desolate. The Tartar Invasion of 1260 had left the land an utter waste. The cities were depopulated. Jerusalem itself lay in ruins. Only two Jewish households were to be found in it�brothers, dyers by trade. In their house, when possible, visitors to the city gathered for worship on the Sabbath. Into this state of chaos, Moses ben N ah man introduced a certain amount of order. He recovered the scrolls of the Law wtiich had been taken off for safety to Nablous, and fitted up one of the ruined houses as a synagogue, in which public worship was first, held on the New Year, 5028. In addition, he founded a school for taimudic studies, to which students came even from beyond the Euphrates. It was at this period of hit life, too, that he finished the commentary on the Pentateuch which he had begun in Catalonia. On his death in 1270, at a ripeoid age, be left behind him, in addkioe to his former titles to fame, the glory of having been ooeof the rcbuilders of the Jewufc �ettJemeat of the HoftjrUad.
OCTOBER 29th. {
Emancipation in Hesae-Cawel, 1W3. Th< Jewi haji already enjoyed freedom in this principaJity during the'JMfm^tyra it had formed part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, in which Jerome Bona-part had emancipated them on January 24, 1808, After the passing of the Napoleonic order, they became reduced once more to the status ctf "protected subjects," restricted in their civil rights at every turn. The memory of the liberality of the former regime remained, however, strong. Hesse-Cassel was thua predisposed to listen to the agitation for emancipation conducted by Gabriel Riesser. On October 29, 1833, all thgvjews of the electorate, excepting pedlars and petty traders, were accorded full civil equality, which it took other states nearly forty years to imitate. This was the earliest instance of full emancipation in Germany.
OCTOBER 30th
Banking forbidden in Rome, 1682. This was a branch of economic activity which had been left unrestricted even by the oppressive legislation of the Popes of the close of the sixteenth century. The decree of Innocent XI now in question was accordingly among the harshest experienced even in these reactionary days. By it, the Jews of Rome became restricted in their activity to little more than dealing in old clothing. The days of the glory of the community were now over; and within a very few years its wealth was reduced by four-fifths.
OCTOBER 31st
Banishment from Portugal, 1497. The deadly decree of expulsion had been signed on December 5, 1496. The Jews were, however, given eleven months to settle up their affairs and leave the country. As the time-limit approached, King Emmanuel became more and more unwilling to see his erstwhile subjects depart, imperilling their souls and impoverishing his realm at the same time. He determined accordingly to bring as many of them as he could over to what he considered the true faith, by fair means or by foul. The first day of Passover (March 19, 1497) saw the infamous seizure of all young Jews up to the age of twenty-five and their forced baptism. The rest, to the number of some twenty thousand, were ordered to assemble in Lisbon, from which port they were to embark. Arrived here, they were herded together and kept under guard until the time designated for their departure had elapsed. They -were then informed that by their insubordination they had forfeited their liberty and become the king's slaves, to be dealt with at his pleasure. There followed a strenuous attempt to make them change their religion as the price of their ransom. When all other means had failed, recourse was made to force. They were dragged to the baptismal font wholesale, or else baptised where they were with the merest travesty of a religious ceremony. Only half a dozen, headed by the Chief Rabbi, Simon MaSrai, continued to maintain an open opposition. Buried up to the neck in order to induce hini to set an example for his flock to follow, their leader died seven days after, still refusing to yield. His few remaining companions were then permitted to go to Africa� all that was left of the once-famous Portuguese Jewry.
NOVEMBER 1st
Jews leave England, 1290. After an unsuccessful attempt to regulate Jewish life in precisely the direction he desired, Edv ird I had issued, on July 18, 1290, a decree of expulsion. All Jews were to leave the country by the feast of All Souls (November 1 the anniversary, as it happens of the date when they had all been thrown into prison for the purpose of spoliation exactly seventy years previous by John. True to his upright though narrow spirit, Edward extended to the Jews in the meantime a certain degree of protection and security which was rare in such cases. His subjects, however, were not always so compassionate. One master-mariner, who had l)een hired to convey a large party overseas from London, invited them to disembark upon a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames at low water, and left them to their fate, recommending them to apply succour to their teacher, Moses, who had proved himself equal to a similar emergency at the Rea Sea. He, as well as others who had despoiled their charges, was hanged. Altogether about 16.0CO Jewi are said to have left the country�the vast majority going to Fra^ From tais date to the middle of the seventeenth century, no authorise* settlement was to be found in England. This wm the first of U* great general cqmlmom of the Middle Aft*, letting- the examp* for the rnni*mat from Pram* > few yean later fcod for the crow*"*
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