The Damascus Affair

Further Research

Corinne Gilroy

I have agreed to conduct further research on the following topics:

• Our cumbersome volume, “The Damascus Affair: ‘Ritual Murder,’ Politics and the Jews in 1840”, by Jonathan Frankel.
• The concept of ritual murder and human blood being involved in Yom Kippur.

The Book:

2. Ritual murder: official documents

• 29 February, 1840: (Leap year!) One Count de Ratti-Menton sent the first reports of the disappearance of Father Thomas and his servant to the French consul in Paris, but did not reach the city for weeks due to slow transportation.
• Greater Syria, in years previous to the Damascus Affair, had been under rule of the Ottoman Empire. Muhammad Ali (“the viceroy of Egypt”), however, took Syria from the empire’s control. Citizen uprisings (which we identified as a major characteristic of Syria during the time of the Affair) were prevalent within the groups of Druse, Maronite Christians and Nablus Muslims. These revolts were cause for continued war in 1839, won by the Egyptians, which threatened to drag all of Europe into the conflict.
• The Count (see first note) was called in to stabilize French troops in the area and help Ali stabilize the testy population.
• Father Thomas and Ibrahim Amara disappeared on 5 February, 1840.
• Despite coming from Sardinia, as a Capuchin monk and priest, Padre Tomaso reaped benefits from the French presence in Syria. (Could this be any motivation for the murder?) The Franco-Turkish treaty of 1740 gave the French the right to protect Roman Catholic Clergy within the Ottoman Empire.
• Al-Hallaq, a Jewish barber, eventually made a full confession with regards to the murder of Father Thomas: “… he had pulled his head up by the beard in order to facilitate the flow of blood into a copper basin… he had stripped him of all his clothes which were burnt… the body, then still in one piece, was carried into a neighbouring room… In the meantime, Harrari’s servant had returned to the house and was put to work with cutting Father Thomas up. Then they smashed the skull and pounded the bones to pieces on the marble stone of the courtyard. Finally, under the cover of darkness, they went and threw all that remained of the flesh and the cones into one of the conduits in the quarter.”
• Following like confessions by other persons involved in the killing, the case was obviously solved, though the questions regarding Jewish use of human blood for ceremonial purposed still remained.
• In both homicides, there were seven principal murderers and three rabbis present. All blood was collected for preservation.
• From 1144 onward, charges against Jews became standardized—they usually involved young boys, and despite often being sadism or domestic violence, were thought to be sacrifices required for ceremony. Christian “Sacrificial Lamb” ideas may have helped to fuel this belief.
• As scientific, investigative and legal methods improved over the years, the cases of successful blood libel accusations gradually dwindled, so by the time the Damascus Affair rolled around, it was pinned as a bit of an anomaly.

9. The crisis: Jewish perceptions

• The affair was totally unexpected and without precedent in living memory. This made the campaign fought by the Jews (parliamentary exchanges, public meetings, fundraising, diplomacy) all the more formidable.
• There existed no way (given censorship in certain countries, lack of opinion polls, etc.) to determine what the average Jew thought about the crisis.
• Jews in cushiony places like France didn’t have very strong bonds to their people in the Middle East. They had remained free, wealthy and unpersecuted for so long that the trial and crisis didn’t have much impact on their lives. Citing a French periodical, Frankel says that there was confusion surrounding “what it all meant”, but that was about it.
• Increased detachment from religion by European Jews (who, according to the text, were becoming more devoted to business each day) only served to broaden their indifference towards the incident.
• Since newspapers had reported the death of Father Thomas as if it were surely blood libel, Jewish periodicals in Europe were unsure how to react. Thoughtful discussion was held, but little else. Clashes of opinion were occasionally very harsh.

16. Between historiography and myth: the two primary versions of the affair

• The scholarly historiography on the Damascus Affair has become intertwined with myth.
• Version one: The image of the affair that came to dominate the Jewish world; the release of the Damascus prisoners was seen as a triumph of the Jews against their enemies.
• Version two: Given shape by extreme anti-Semitic circles in France; the case was seen as providing the conclusive evidence needed to prove that ritual murder and human sacrifice played an essential role in the practices of a small sect of Jews, if not a greater number.
• Lipmann Hirsch Lowenstein, Orthodox Bible Scholar: Damascia, published in 1840. (Someone may want to look into this.) The book apparently “sustained an impassioned and unrestrained attack on those who had betrayed the most sacred principles to which they were solemnly pledged.”
• Illustrations in this chapter should be sought out in colour format for our website: “One of the Jewish Prisoners” (1840-41), “Sacrificing to Moloch” (Cairo, 1891, Habib Faris), “Ritual Murder” (Faris), “The Murder of Father Thomas” (1986, Mustafa Talas).

Yom Kippur:

• http://www.everythingjewish.com/YomK/YK_origins.htm: “Through immersion, vestment changes and the sacrificial blood of animals chosen "for G-d," the High Priest was able to purify himself, his family and his nation.” / “The young bullock was then slaughtered and its blood collected in a basin for later use.” / “The ritual continued with the High Priest sprinkling blood on the curtain of the Holy of Holies as an act of purification. Next, the remaining goat was slaughtered and additional blood sprinkled on the curtain and around the base of the altar.”
• http://www.chaim.org/theday.htm: “The bird is then ritually slaughtered and given to the poor. Although this practice is not widely accepted among the rabbis, its very existence shows a certain consciousness of the necessity of substitutionary blood atonement.” / “Since there is no longer a blood atonement possible, repentance, prayer, fasting, and charity are substituted for the sacrifice. There is also reference made to Abraham's obedience in being willing to offer up his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice, on Mount Moriah (which later became the Temple Mount). His act is thought to have some merit in saving the nation.” / “In the Bible, however, we read in Leviticus 16 that sin was atoned for by the blood of the sacrificial victim. The high priest, after becoming ritually pure, offered a bull for his sins and the sins of his household. Then two goats were set aside. Lots were cast, and one goat was chosen to be the scapegoat or "Azazel." The High Priest slaughtered the other goat to atone for the sins of Israel and brought the blood into the Holy of Holies.” / “Messiah (Jesus) was taken outside the camp to be destroyed, and his blood was presented in the ultimate, heavenly Holy of Holies once and for all, not year after year as in the ancient temple.”