In I got It!
The Black Death
During the fourteenth century, Europe was struck by the "Black Death" plague which was caused by rats and spread quickly due to the lack of hygiene.
N. Lieberman 22/07/2009 10:00
The epidemic claimed the lives of roughly 25 million people, a number that amounted to 50% of the total population in Europe at the time.
However, the ones who suffered the most were the Jews, and not because there were more Jewish victims, but because they were blamed by the gentiles for creating and spreading the disease.
In those days, it was still unknown that diseases and illnesses are caused by bacteria – as Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), the famous French chemist who was considered the Master of Microbiology, would later discover.
Thus, the gentiles had all the reasons to believe that the Jews were to blame for the plague, claiming that the Jews had received a deadly poison from the Satan himself which they had poured into the wells, thereby spreading the dreadful disease to all of Europe.
These false accusations led to horrendous pogroms against Jews in all of Europe, and whole Jewish communities were brutally murdered throughout the duration of the epidemic, especially between the years 1348-1349.
The Jews of Strasbourg, for instance, were burned alive.
In a collection of documents on Jewish History, the following is reported:
"On the Sabbath, they burned the Jews on wooden planks which they scattered all around. There were about two thousands of them. Many small children were extracted from the fire and forcibly converted to Christianity against the will of their mothers and fathers."
May Hashem revenge their blood.
However, the ones who suffered the most were the Jews, and not because there were more Jewish victims, but because they were blamed by the gentiles for creating and spreading the disease.
In those days, it was still unknown that diseases and illnesses are caused by bacteria – as Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), the famous French chemist who was considered the Master of Microbiology, would later discover.
Thus, the gentiles had all the reasons to believe that the Jews were to blame for the plague, claiming that the Jews had received a deadly poison from the Satan himself which they had poured into the wells, thereby spreading the dreadful disease to all of Europe.
These false accusations led to horrendous pogroms against Jews in all of Europe, and whole Jewish communities were brutally murdered throughout the duration of the epidemic, especially between the years 1348-1349.
The Jews of Strasbourg, for instance, were burned alive.
In a collection of documents on Jewish History, the following is reported:
"On the Sabbath, they burned the Jews on wooden planks which they scattered all around. There were about two thousands of them. Many small children were extracted from the fire and forcibly converted to Christianity against the will of their mothers and fathers."
May Hashem revenge their blood.
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