1751bloodlibel /490
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Circumcision and the
Blood Libel
By
Harley L. Sachs
An open letter to all Icelanders:
There are often people who want to
tell others how they should practice their religion. A case in point is the
attempt in Iceland
The claim is a baby has no ability
to choose whether or not to be circumcised.
But neither has a baby a choice to be baptized in the Christian faith.
The parents choose.
Circumcision is a widely practiced
ritual performed not only by Jews and Moslems but by other cultures where it is
a puberty rite. Besides serving religious and cultural traditions, circumcision
is healthy, a preventive in the transmission of AIDS and other diseases.
When it comes to banning religious
rituals, turnabout is fair play. Consider the Blood Libel. The earliest incidence
I know is Hugh of Lincoln, mentioned in Chaucer’s The Prioress’s Tale. Hugh of
Lincoln was a child found murdered and drained of blood. The claim was he was
killed by Jews so they could use his blood in the making of matzos, the
unleavened bread used in the Passover Seder. Presumably Chaucer did not know
that the Jewish laws of Kashrut forbid the eating of blood. Kosher slaughter of
animals requires that no blood remains
as “the blood is the life.” Jews do not eat blood pudding, blood sausage, or
any food that includes blood. Who does?
The essence of Christianity is the
human sacrifice of the Jew Jesus as the sole son of God who “died for your
sins.” By partaking in the Eucharist, Christians accept the Jew Jesus as their Christ Savior.
In the Eucharist participants drink
“the blood of Christ” and eat “the body of Christ” a ritual reminiscent of what
a tribal warrior might do when eating the heart or liver of a brave victim to
acquire that person’s courage. It’s an act of cannibalism sublimated into a sip
of wine and a wafer.
Bur what if, like those hysterical
reactors to the Hugh of Lincoln story, Jews went berserk, rioted, and burned
down churches because Christians were drinking Jewish blood and eating Jewish
flesh to gain salvation? The priest solemnly offers the chalice with “the blood
of Christ” and a wafer “the body of Christ.” I was there. I heard it.
It seems incredible that to drink
the blood of a sacrificed Jew and eat his flesh is a way to Salvation but that
is what Christians believe.
After all, how do we know it’s not
just wine in that goblet but really the blood of some murdered Jew? Maybe this
practice should be banned along with cannibalism. It would prevent gullible, hysterical Jews
from running amok.
We may be in the 21st Century, but
atheists and agnostics notwithstanding,
ancient rituals like circumcision and symbolic cannibalism still
persist.
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