This is perhaps an inadvertantly volatile question, but here it goes.
Why is it that in almost any society where there is a significant Jewish presence, why are there rumors of children being sacrificed for nefarious Jewish purposes? Does the legend follow them, or is it a bizarre coincidence?
I believe the first “formal” case of the blood libel was in Norwich, England in 1144. Once word of that case spread, Jew-haters worldwide picked it up in any country where they happened to be. No coincidence. It is still believed in some quarters even today.
Zev Steinhardt
Right…the story of St. William of Norwich. It just sort of ballooned after that.
Well, there was an earlier “Jews killing Christian child” from the 5th century, apparently, but nothing much happened with it.
Zev is right. In the book Jewish Literacy by Joseph Telushkin, he identifies the Norwich incident as the first case of the blood libel.
This webpage gives a short account of the 1144 blood libel charge, as well as a listing of many subsequent cases of blood libel, and its related charge of host desecration. All of it equally appalling.
I’ve tried googling to find the reference to the 5th century case that Captain Amazing refers to, but with no results.
Check this site:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/rinn.html
It references Socrates Scholastices and his Ecclesiastical History.
It’s worth noting that some (IIRC about 3) of the Catholic saints (in my dictionary of saints) are the children supposedly sacrficed in the infamous blood libel, though now their cultus(es?) have been supressed.
It seemed to orginated in England but spread as far afield as Italy.