Rhodes blood libel

Last updated
The Rhodes blood libel and the Damascus affair, reported together in The Times, Apr 18, 1840 Rhodes and Damascus affairs, The Times, Saturday, Apr 18, 1840.png
The Rhodes blood libel and the Damascus affair, reported together in The Times , Apr 18, 1840

The Rhodes blood libel was an 1840 event of blood libel against Jews, in which the Greek Orthodox community accused Jews on the island of Rhodes (then part of the Ottoman Empire) of the ritual murder of a Christian boy who disappeared in February of that year.

Contents

Initially the libel garnered support from the consuls of several European countries, including the United Kingdom, France, the Austrian Empire, Sweden, and Greece, although later several supported the Jewish community. The Ottoman governor of Rhodes broke with the long tradition of the Ottoman governments (which had previously denied the factual basis of the blood libel accusations) and supported the ritual murder charge. The government arrested several Jewish subjects, some of whom were tortured and confessed. It blockaded the entire Jewish quarter for twelve days.

The Jewish community of Rhodes appealed for help from the Jewish community in Constantinople, who forwarded the appeal to European governments. In the United Kingdom and Austria, Jewish communities gained support from their governments. They sent official dispatches to the ambassadors in Constantinople unequivocally condemning the blood libel. A consensus developed that the charge was false. The governor of Rhodes sent the case to the central government, which initiated a formal inquiry into the affair. In July 1840, that investigation established the innocence of the Jewish community. Finally, in November of the same year, the Ottoman sultan issued a decree ( firman ) denouncing the blood libel as false.

Background

Jewish community

The existence of a Jewish community in Rhodes was first documented toward the end of the Hellenistic period. In a Roman decree dated to 142 BC, Rhodes is listed among the areas notified of the renewal of the pact of friendship between the Roman senate and the Jewish nation. The Jews of Rhodes are mentioned in documents at the time of the Arab conquest of the island in the 7th century. In the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela found some 400 Jews in the city of Rhodes.

In 1481 and 1482, earthquakes destroyed the Jewish quarter so that only 22 families remained in the city. After an epidemic of plague in 1498–1500, the Knights Hospitaller, who ruled the island at that time, expelled those of the remaining Jews who would not be baptized. In the next two decades, the Hospitallers brought to the island between 2,000 and 3,000 captured Jews who were kept as slaves to work on fortifications. [1]

In 1522, these Jews and their descendants helped the Ottomans seize Rhodes. Under the Ottoman rule, Rhodes became an important Sephardi center, home to many rabbis. By the 19th century, the wealthier Jews were merchants in cloth, silk, sulfur, and resins. The rest were small shopkeepers and artisans, street vendors, and fishermen. The community was governed by a council of seven officials. Sources give the number of Jews during the 19th century between 2,000 and 4,000. [1]

Blood libel against the Jews in the Ottoman Empire

Suleiman the Magnificent had denounced the blood libel in the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, but it became more common as Christian influence increased in the 1800s. EmperorSuleiman.jpg
Suleiman the Magnificent had denounced the blood libel in the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, but it became more common as Christian influence increased in the 1800s.

The blood libel against Jews originated in England in 1144 with the case of William of Norwich. [2] The accusation that Jews used the blood of Christian children to prepare matzos for Passover became a staple of Christian antisemitism of the Middle Ages, [3] with the total number of recorded ritual murder accusations reaching 150. [4] With the strengthening of standards of evidence in legal cases, the number of charges began to decline, and few blood libel cases reached European courts after 1772. [5] Nevertheless, some instances of ritual murder accusation arose as late as the 19th century. [3] [6]

In the Middle East, the blood libel was deeply ingrained in the consciousness of some local Christian communities by the early 20th century, while the blood libel likely came there in the early 19th century . [7] Accusations of blood libel were entirely unknown in the Byzantine Empire, unlike in Western Europe where they were more common. After the Ottomans conquered the Byzantine lands, Greek communities were usually the source of ritual murder charges against Jews, often at times of social and economic tensions. The first appearance of the blood libel under Ottoman rule took place in the reign of Mehmet II. Subsequently, accusations of ritual murder were only sporadic and Ottoman authorities usually condemned them. [8] In the 16th century, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent issued a firman, formally denouncing blood libel charges against the Jews. [9]

With the increase of Christian influence in the Ottoman Empire, the standing of the Jews declined. The sultan's Hatt-i Sharif of Gulhane, proclaimed in 1839, ushered in an era of liberal reforms known as Tanzimat. This period further enhanced the status of the Christians and eroded the power of authorities to protect the Jews. [7] Before 1840, cases of blood libel occurred in Aleppo in 1810 and in Antioch in 1826. [8]

In 1840, contemporaneous with the affair in Rhodes, a case of blood libel known as the Damascus affair was developing in Damascus, while the city was under the short-lived control of Muhammad Ali of Egypt. On February 5, Capuchin friar Thomas and his servant Ibrahim Amara went missing, and the Jews of Damascus were accused of murdering them to collect their blood for Passover matzos. [10] The local Christian community, the governor, and the French consul, who received full support from Paris, actively pursued the ritual murder charge. The Jews were tortured, and some of them confessed to having killed Father Thomas and his servant. Their testimonies were used by the accusers as the irrefutable proof of guilt. The case drew international attention, arousing active protests from the European Jewish diaspora. [11]

Accusation

Disappearance

On February 17, 1840, a boy from a Greek Orthodox family in Rhodes went for a walk and did not return. The next day his mother reported the disappearance to the Ottoman authorities. The island's governor, Yusuf Pasha, ordered a search, but several days' efforts proved fruitless. The European consuls pressed the governor to solve the case: the boy's family was Christian, though without foreign protection. [12] The Greek Christian population of Rhodes, meanwhile, had no doubts that the boy had been murdered by the Jews for ritual purposes. An eyewitness reported: "It was firmly believed that the child in question was doomed to be sacrificed by the Jews. The whole island was agitated from one end to the other." The assurance of the local Christians having been impressed upon the Ottoman authorities, they began searching the Jewish quarter, again in vain. [13]

Arrests, interrogations, and torture

Several days later, two Greek women reported having seen the boy walking towards the city of Rhodes accompanied by four Jews. The women claimed that one of the Jews was Eliakim Stamboli, who was arrested, questioned, and subjected to five hundred blows of the bastinado . On February 23, he was interrogated again and tortured in the presence of many dignitaries, including the governor, the qadi (Muslim judge), the Greek archbishop, and European consuls. Jews of Rhodes reported that Stamboli was "loaded with chains, many stripes were inflicted upon him and red-hot wires were run through his nose, burning bones were applied to his head and a very heavy stone was laid upon his breast, insomuch as he was reduced to the point of death." Under torture, Stamboli confessed to the ritual murder charge and incriminated other Jews, opening the door to further arrests. Some half dozen Jews were accused of the crime and tortured, and the chief rabbi was intensely questioned as to whether Jews practice ritual murder. [14]

Blockade

At the instigation of the Greek clergy and the European consuls, Governor Yusuf Pasha blockaded the Jewish quarter on the eve of Purim and arrested Jacob Israel the chief rabbi. [1] The inhabitants could obtain neither food nor fresh water. [15] The Jews thwarted a subversive attempt to smuggle a dead body into the Jewish quarter. [16] The Ottoman authorities, on the whole, were keen to make life more difficult for the residents through the ritual murder accusation against the Jews. At the end of February, he initiated further hearings on the case, after which evidence was declared insufficient to convict the prisoners. The governor, on the other hand, refused to lift the blockade of the Jewish quarter. In early March he sent to Constantinople asking for instructions. Only after the blockade had lasted for twelve months was the governor forced to lift it by a high treasury official who visited the island on a tour of inspection. At that point, the Jews thought that the affair was over and "returned thanks to the Almighty for their deliverance". [17]

Influence of the Damascus affair

The relief, however, was dashed in early March by news of the Damascus affair. Reports that the Jews of Damascus had confessed to having murdered Father Thomas reinforced the belief of the Christian community in the ritual murder charge. [10] The British consul reported that "the Greeks cried loud that justice had not been rendered to them and that the rabbi and chiefs ought to have been imprisoned… In order to keep the populace quiet… it was decided that these should be arrested." Eight Jews were arrested, including the chief rabbi and David Mizrahi, who were tortured by being suspended swinging from hooks in the ceiling in the presence of the European consuls. Mizrahi lost consciousness after six hours, while the rabbi was kept there for two days until he suffered a hemorrhage. Nevertheless, neither confessed and they were released after a few days. The other six Jews remained in prison in early April. [18]

Consular involvement

The European vice-consuls in Rhodes were united in believing the ritual murder charge. They played the key role in the interrogation, with J. G. Wilkinson, the British consul, and E. Masse from Sweden being involved. [15] During the interrogation of the chief rabbi, Wilkinson asked, referring to the qadi's decision to dismiss the case: "What signifies the Mollah's judgment to us after what happened in Damascus and it is proved that, according to the Talmud, Christian blood must be used in making your Passover bread?" [19] The consuls were also present during much of the torture. [15] When the chief rabbi, an Austrian subject, was tortured, he appealed to Austrian vice-consul Anton Giuliani, who replied: "What rabbi? What do you complain about? So you are not dead yet." [18]

Some Jewish inhabitants of Rhodes accused the consuls of a conspiracy to exploit the case to eliminate Elias Kalimati, a local Jew, who represented the business interests of Joel Davis, a Jewish businessman from London. Davis was rapidly increasing his share in the profitable sponge exports from the island, and he was a major business rival of the European consuls. Kalimati, however, was not among the persons held in the affair, calling that allegation into question. Other Jewish sources claimed that the "consuls stated openly… their purpose of exterminating the Jews of Rhodes or to compel them to change their religion." [15]

European diplomatic involvement

Map of southeastern Europe and the Levant, showing the extent of the Ottoman Empire in 1840 (red outline). Major Jewish communities are denoted in blue. Ottoman Jewish.png
Map of southeastern Europe and the Levant, showing the extent of the Ottoman Empire in 1840 (red outline). Major Jewish communities are denoted in blue.

In the first days of the blockade, someone managed to smuggle a letter out of the Jewish quarter to the Jewish leadership in Constantinople. It was not until March 27 that the leaders of the Jewish community in the Ottoman capital forwarded it to the Rothschild family, together with a similar call for help from the Jews of Damascus. To these documents, the Jewish leaders attached their own statement in which they cast doubt on their ability to influence the sultan. [20]

Salomon Mayer von Rothschild Salomon Rothschild.jpg
Salomon Mayer von Rothschild

The intervention of the Rothschilds bore the quickest fruit in Austria. The head of the Rothschild family bank in Vienna, Salomon Mayer von Rothschild, played the key role in raising financing for the Austrian Empire, and he had a very close relationship with the Austrian chancellor von Metternich. On April 10, Metternich dispatched instruction regarding both the Damascus and Rhodes affairs to Bartholomäus von Stürmer, ambassador in Constantinople, and Anton von Laurin, consul in Alexandria. In his dispatch, Metternich wrote: "The accusation that Christians are deliberately murdered for some blood-thirsty Passover festival is by its nature absurd…" Regarding the Rhodes case, the chancellor instructed von Stürmer "to tip the wink to the Turkish regime, so that they instruct pasha of Rhodes accordingly and that you let [our] vice-consul in Rhodes know that in such cases he should work in the spirit of sensible mediation." [21] Von Stürmer, responded, "[T]here have been no persecutions against the Jewish population, at least not by the authorities." [22]

In the UK, it took the Jewish community longer to react to the calls for help from Rhodes and Damascus. The Board of Deputies of the British Jews convened on April 21 to discuss the blood libels. They resolved to request the British, Austrian, and French governments to intercede with the Ottoman government and stop the persecutions. The resolution condemning the ritual murder charges was published as a paid advertisement in 35 British journals; it appeared twice in the most important newspapers. On April 30, a delegation elected by the Board met with the foreign secretary Lord Palmerston, who called the blood libel a "calumny" and promised that "the influence of the British government should be exerted to put a stop to [the] atrocities." In his dispatch of May 5, the foreign secretary told Lord Ponsonby, the British ambassador in Constantinople, to communicate the material on the Rhodes affair to the Ottoman government "officially and in writing" and to "request… an immediate and strict inquiry to be made… especially into the allegation that these atrocities were committed at the instigation of the Christians and the European consuls." [23]

A consensus formed within the European diplomatic community in Constantinople that the persecution of the accused Jews had to be stopped. This opinion was held not only by Lord Ponsonby, but also by von Stürmer, whose correspondence revealed that he was not at all convinced of the innocence of the Jews; by the French ambassador Edouard Pontois, whose government stood by the French consuls who supported blood libels in Rhodes and Damascus; and by the Prussian ambassador Hans von Königsmark. Consequently, the way was open for Lord Ponsonby, by far the most powerful diplomat in Constantinople, to intervene unopposed on behalf the Jews of Rhodes. [24]

Investigation and trial

Intervention of the Ottoman government

In response to Yusuf Pasha's request, the Ottoman government sent its instructions to Rhodes, where they arrived at the end of April. The government would set up an official investigatory commission before which representatives of the Jewish and Greek communities were ordered to present their evidence. In mid-May, the government sent orders to release the six remaining Jewish prisoners. On May 21, they were ceremoniously called before the court ( shura ) and freed under the guarantees of the elders of the Jewish community. [25]

The Christians responded to these actions of the central government with a fresh wave of fury against the Jews so that in late May violence was in the air. The Jews described many cases in which they were assaulted or beaten by the Greeks, and the sons of the British and the Greek consuls were among those who beat up a number of Jews. When the Jews complained to the governor, he ordered the complainants subjected to four to five hundred blows of the bastinado. The qadi disassociated himself from the actions of the governor, who declared that he had acted upon the demands of the consuls. On top of that, the governor ordered five other Jews arrested. [26]

Acquittal

The Greek and Jewish delegations from Rhodes, each numbering five, arrived at Constantinople on May 10. [27] In the capital they were joined by the qadi, the French consul, and the Austrian vice-consul. On May 26, the investigatory tribunal held its first open session chaired by Rifaat Bey. The qadi argued that "the entire affair is the product of hatred; [and] was instigated by the English and Austrian consuls alone." The consuls insisted on the guilt of the Jews, and they presented a concurring written testimony from their colleagues who stayed on Rhodes. [28]

The case dragged on for two more months, as the British ambassador insisted on bringing to light the facts implicating the Rhodes governor of torture. Finally, on July 21 the verdict was announced. In its first part, the case between "the Greek population of Rhodes, the plaintiff, and the Jewish population, defendant", the result was acquittal. In its second part, Yusuf Pasha was dismissed from his post as governor of Rhodes because "he had permitted procedures to be employed against the Jews which are not authorized in any way by the law and which are expressly forbidden by the Hatt-i Sharif of 3 November". The British ambassador praised the investigation as one during which "[t]he affair of Rhodes was examined with fairness" and called the verdict "a signal proof of the justice and humanity with which the Sublime Porte acts." [29]

Sultan's firman

Moses Montefiore's audience with the Sultan led to the firman denouncing the blood libel. Sir Moses H Montefiore.jpg
Moses Montefiore's audience with the Sultan led to the firman denouncing the blood libel.

In July 1840, a delegation headed by Adolphe Crémieux and Sir Moses Montefiore left for Egypt to save the Jews of Damascus. Crémieux and Montefiore requested Muhammad Ali to transfer the investigation to Alexandria or have the case considered by European judges. However, their request was denied. The delegation, concerned primarily with the release of the imprisoned Jews of Damascus, decided to accept their liberation without any judicial declaration of their innocence or formal denunciation of the blood libel. The liberation order was issued on August 28, 1840, and, as a compromise, it stated explicitly that it was an act of justice rather than a pardon granted by the ruler. [11]

After completing his mission to Muhammad Ali, Montefiore was returning to Europe by way of Constantinople. On October 15, 1840, in the Ottoman capital he had a meeting with Lord Ponsonby, to whom Montefiore suggested that following the precedent set by Suleiman the Magnificent, the sultan should issue a decree (firman) formally denouncing the blood libel and effectively sealing the cases both in Rhodes and in Damascus. The British ambassador was enthusiastic about the idea, and within one week he arranged for Montefiore a meeting with Reshid Pasha. Montefiore prepared a draft text of the firman and had its French translation read to Reshid Pasha, who responded encouragingly. [9]

Montefiore's audience with the sultan took place at the palace late in the evening on October 28. Montefiore described in his diary that as he and his party were driving to the palace, "[t]he streets were crowded; many of the Jews had illuminated their houses." During the audience, Montefiore read aloud a formal address in which he thanked the sultan for his stand in the Rhodes case. In turn, the sultan assured his guests that their request would be granted. The firman was delivered to Montefiore on November 7, and a copy was subsequently provided to the Hakham Bashi. Citing the judgment in the Rhodes case, the decree stated that a careful examination of Jewish beliefs and "religious books" had demonstrated that "the charges brought against them… are pure calumny. The Jewish nation shall possess the same privileges as are granted to the numerous other nations who submit to our authority. The Jewish nation shall be protected and defended." [30]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Rhodes", Jewish Encyclopedia, retrieved 07 May 2007.
  2. ↑ Poliakov 57–58
  3. 1 2 "Blood Accusation", Jewish Encyclopedia, retrieved 07 May 2007.
  4. ↑ Poliakov 60–63
  5. ↑ Frankel 29
  6. ↑ Poliakov 63–64
  7. 1 2 Frankel 65
  8. 1 2 Lewis, 158
  9. 1 2 Frankel 376
  10. 1 2 "Damascus Affair", Jewish Encyclopedia, retrieved 07 May 2007.
  11. 1 2 Abraham J. Brawer. "Damascus Affair", Encyclopedia Judaica
  12. ↑ Borovaya, Olga (2024-10-01). The 1840 Rhodes Blood Libel. Berghahn Books. doi:10.3167/9781805396864. ISBN   978-1-80539-686-4.
  13. ↑ Frankel 69
  14. ↑ Frankel 69–70
  15. 1 2 3 4 Frankel 70
  16. ↑ Angel 38
  17. ↑ Frankel 70–71
  18. 1 2 Frankel 71–72
  19. ↑ Frankel 71.
  20. ↑ Frankel 80
  21. ↑ Frankel 119–122
  22. ↑ Frankel 159
  23. ↑ Frankel 123–127
  24. ↑ Frankel 160–161
  25. ↑ Frankel 156–157
  26. ↑ Frankel 157–158
  27. ↑ Frankel 157
  28. ↑ Frankel 161–162
  29. ↑ Frankel 162–163
  30. ↑ Frankel 377

Related Research Articles

Antisemitism has increased greatly in the Arab world since the beginning of the 20th century, for several reasons: the dissolution and breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and traditional Islamic society; European influence, brought about by Western imperialism and Arab Christians; Nazi propaganda and relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world; resentment over Jewish nationalism; the rise of Arab nationalism; and the widespread proliferation of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blood libel</span> False claim that Jews killed Christians to use blood in ceremonies

Blood libel or ritual murder libel is an antisemitic canard which falsely accuses Jews of murdering Christians in order to use their blood in the performance of religious rituals. Echoing very old myths of secret cultic practices in many prehistoric societies, the claim, as it is leveled against Jews, was rarely attested to in antiquity. According to Tertullian, it originally emerged in late antiquity as an accusation made against members of the early Christian community of the Roman Empire. Once this accusation had been dismissed, it was revived a millennium later as a Christian slander against Jews in the medieval period. The first examples of medieval blood libel emerged in England in the mid 1100s before spreading into other parts of Europe, especially France and Germany. This libel, alongside those of well poisoning and host desecration, became a major theme of the persecution of Jews in Europe from that period down to modern times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damascus affair</span> 1840 antisemitic accusation

The Damascus affair of February 1840 was the disappearance of an Italian monk and his servant, for which a large number of Jews were summarily tortured until they "confessed" to murder. As an instance of antisemitism and a blood libel, news of the case spread, across the Middle East, to Europe, and the Western world.

Religious antisemitism is aversion to or discrimination against Jews as a whole based on religious doctrines of supersession, which expect or demand the disappearance of Judaism and the conversion of Jews to other faiths. This form of antisemitism has frequently served as the basis for false claims and religious antisemitic tropes against Judaism. Sometimes, it is called theological antisemitism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judah Alkalai</span> Sephardic rabbi

Judah ben Solomon Chai Alkalai was a Sephardic Jewish rabbi, and one of the influential precursors of modern Zionism along with the Prussian Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer. Although he was a Sephardic Jew, he played an important role in a process widely attributed to the Ashkenazi Jews. Alkalai became noted through his advocacy in favor of the restoration of the Jews to the Land of Israel. By reason of some of his projects, he may justly be regarded as one of the precursors of the modern Zionists such as Theodor Herzl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Syria</span> Syrian Jewry

Jews have resided in Syria from ancient times. They were joined by Sephardim who fled after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal in 1492 CE. There were large Jewish communities in Aleppo, Damascus, and Qamishli for centuries. In the early 20th century, a large percentage of Syrian Jews immigrated to British Mandate-Palestine, the U.S. and Latin America.

Shiraz pogrom or Shiraz blood libelof 1910 was a pogrom of the Jewish quarter in Shiraz, Iran, on October 30, 1910, organized by the Qavam family and sparked by accusations that the Jews had ritually killed a Muslim girl. In the course of the pogrom, 12 Jews were killed and about 50 were injured, and 6,000 Jews of Shiraz were robbed of all their possessions. The event was documented by the representative of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Shiraz.

Antisemitism in the history of the Jews in the Middle Ages became increasingly prevalent in the Late Middle Ages. Early instances of pogroms against Jews are recorded in the context of the First Crusade. Expulsions of Jews from cities and instances of blood libel became increasingly common from the 13th to the 15th century. This trend only peaked after the end of the medieval period, and it only subsided with Jewish emancipation in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

Ariel Toaff is an Italian-Jewish historian. He is a professor of Medieval and Renaissance History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, whose work has focused on Jews and their history in Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haim Farhi</span> Ottoman military adviser (1760–1820)

Haim Farhi, was a Jewish adviser to the governors of the Galilee in the days of the Ottoman Empire, until his assassination in 1820.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massacres during the Greek War of Independence</span>

There were numerous massacres during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) perpetrated by both the Ottoman forces and the Greek revolutionaries. The war was characterized by a lack of respect for civilian life, and prisoners of war on both sides of the conflict. Massacres of Greeks took place especially in Ionia, Crete, Constantinople, Macedonia and the Aegean islands. Turkish, Albanian, Greeks, and Jewish populations, who were identified with the Ottomans inhabiting the Peloponnese, suffered massacres, particularly where Greek forces were dominant. Settled Greek communities in the Aegean Sea, Crete, Central and Southern Greece were wiped out, and settled Turkish, Albanian, Greeks, and smaller Jewish communities in the Peloponnese were destroyed.

Passovers of Blood: The Jews of Europe and Ritual Murders is a 2007 book by Israeli historian Ariel Toaff. The book analyses a notorious medieval trial regarding the ritual murder of a child by Jews for the purposes of Passover. Because the book lent credence to one of the ritual murders, it sparked intense controversy including calls for him to resign from or be fired from his professorship; the questioning of his research, historical method(s), and motives as they relate to his writing of the book; threats to his life; and demands that he be prosecuted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1834 looting of Safed</span> Anti-Jewish violence in Palestine

The 1834 looting of Safed was a month-long attack on the Jewish community of Safed in the Sidon Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire during the Peasants' revolt in Palestine. It began on Sunday, June 15, the day after the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, and lasted for 33 days. It has been described as a spontaneous attack on a defenseless population during the armed uprising against the rule of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, the Ottoman governor. The event took place during a power vacuum while Ibrahim Pasha was fighting to quell the wider revolt in Jerusalem.

Antisemitism in Turkey refers to acts of hostility against Jews in the Republic of Turkey, as well as the promotion of antisemitic views and beliefs in Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proto-Zionism</span> Jewish thinkers and precursors of Zionism before the consolidation of the Zionist movement

Proto-Zionism is a concept in historiography describing Jewish thinkers active during the second half of the 19th century who were deeply affected by the idea of modern nationalism spreading in Europe at that time. They sought to establish a Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel. The central activity of these men took place between the years 1860 to 1874, before the establishment of practical Zionism (1881) and political Zionism (1896). It is for this reason that they are called precursors of Zionism, or proto-Zionists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire</span>

By the time the Ottoman Empire rose to power in the 14th and 15th centuries, there had been Jewish communities established throughout the region. The Ottoman Empire lasted from the early 12th century until the end of World War I and covered parts of Southeastern Europe, Anatolia, and much of the Middle East. The experience of Jews in the Ottoman Empire is particularly significant because the region "provided a principal place of refuge for Jews driven out of Western Europe by massacres and persecution."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Purim</span> Family or community celebration supplementing Purim for surviving another antisemitic event

Second Purim, also called Purim Katan, is a celebratory day uniquely observed by a Jewish community or individual family to commemorate the anniversary of its deliverance from destruction, catastrophe, or an antisemitic ruler or threat. Similar to the observance of the Jewish holiday of Purim, Second Purims were typically commemorated with the reading of The Megillah about the events that led to the salvation, specially-composed prayers, a festive meal, and the giving of charity. In some cases, a fast day was held the day before. Second Purims were established by hundreds of communities in the Jewish diaspora and in the Land of Israel under foreign rule. Most Second Purims are no longer observed.

This timeline of antisemitism chronicles the acts of antisemitism, hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group, in the 19th century. It includes events in the history of antisemitic thought, actions taken to combat or relieve the effects of antisemitism, and events that affected the prevalence of antisemitism in later years. The history of antisemitism can be traced from ancient times to the present day.

The Fornaraki affair was an accusation of Jewish ritual murder which was made in Egypt in 1881.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Rhodes</span>

The Jews in Rhodes is an ancient Jewish community that existed in Rhodes at least from the 12th century and grew significantly since the expulsion from Spain in 1492. The arrival of Sephardic Jews following their expulsion from Spain revitalized and expanded the community, bringing with them rich cultural and religious traditions. Under Ottoman rule, the Jews of Rhodes enjoyed good relations, experiencing a period of relative peace and prosperity, particularly during the 16th and 17th centuries. This harmonious coexistence continued until the Italian occupation on May 12, 1912, which marked the beginning of a more challenging era for the Jewish community.

References

36°10′N28°00′E / 36.167°N 28.000°E / 36.167; 28.000

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.