The Role Of The Jewish Community During The Thirteenth Century

In Europe, crusaders sometimes turned their fury against Jews, massacring entire communities.” This is interesting

The Papacy in Rome sanctioned the First Crusade and Pope Urban II preached for a great Christian expedition to capture Jerusalem, the Holy Lands from the Muslims. During this time religion permeated every aspect of life. The Christian kings and peasants believed that every human being was judged in death and one way to absolve oneself of sin was to die in the name of the Lord, therefore dying in the Crusades would purify the soul allowing them to go straight to heaven. Consequently, “thousands of laymen and clergy took up the cross and younger sons of the upper-class had military advantages to become Crusaders” (Fiero, 2017). At this particular time, the church acknowledged and vindicated fighting and killing in the name of God, resulting in the Crusaders slaughtering all enemies of Christ; hundreds of men, women, and children plus the “entire Jewish populations of Cologne and Mainz became victims” (Fiero, 2017). The First Crusade set a dangerous precedent, the rise of organized anti-Jewish persecution and each subsequent Crusade resulted in renewed attacks on the Jews. The persecution of Jews reached a climax during the Crusades.

Whilst some historians argue that the Crusades did not cause anti-Semitism but rather stimulated it, as examples of persecution of Jews in Europe can be seen prior to the start of the crusades, such as the killing of more than eighty Jews by Philip Augustus in 1191 at Bray-sur-Seine, there had not been a broad Catholic movement against the Jews since the seventh century. The Crusades saw an outbreak in violence towards Jews, either by those who felt the fight with non-believers lay at home or on the way to Jerusalem; massacres taking place in 1096 in the Rhine cities and at other points on the way. Aggressive conversion took place during the crusades; at Worms 800 Jews died to avoid conversion. The crusades are the primary cause of anti-Semitism during the Latin Middle Ages through the large scale of persecution they faced, more severe and violent than any other causes. Furthermore, as the crusades continued and became less successful citizen violence against Jews increased, such as the

Jews all over Europe feared for their lives and many were aware that the punishment for their religion depended on the

Like the Holocaust in the 1930s-1940s, Jews during this time were treated with brutality. Manchester describes it as, “Jewry was luckier - slightly luckier - than blacks. If the pogroms of the time are less infamous than the Holocaust, it is only because anti-Semites then lacked twentieth-century technology” (35). In the year 1492, the Spanish had regained control of Spain. The rule of Spain was now under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. They were not fond of Jews in their nation. The Jews in Spain were given three months to convert to christianity or to leave. After seeing what the Spanish were doing in Spain, the king of Portugal ordered the expulsion of all Portuguese Jews. Any Jews who wouldn’t leave or were slow to leave were massacred. Around four thousand Lisbon Jews were killed during a single night in 1506. Only three years later persecution of Jews in Germany began. Jews throughout history have been treated badly but during the medieval period it was especially hard if you were a Jew.

Relations between the Christians and Jews of medieval Europe were always influenced by their unequal social and economic statuses and the religious competition that existed between them. While the Jews served a purpose in the Christian religion, this purpose meant that the more populous Christians that had come to dominate Europe only tolerated the Jews. No premise of equality existed, and the Jews came to depend on relationships with lower-level rulers to secure their relative safety. Rumors persisted that Jews had poisoned wells, and the Jews were often the targets of violence that the Christians seemed exceedingly willing to deliver. Overall, life was better for the Christians and worse for the Jews, although this would be of no

According to the text of the Old Testament, Jewish authorities treated Jesus and his followers with hostility. Many Christians to this day, even though it has been proven not to be true, believe that Jesus’ crucifixion was a direct result of the Jewish people. Christian antisemitism was born from a misconception by Jesus’ followers that was then eternalized by being written in their bible. Christian antisemitism would continue onward through the Crusades in which the persecution of the Jewish people reached an all-time high in Europe, where communities were destroyed, Jewish people were killed, and others were expelled from their lands. Many stereotypes for Jewish people arose from this period because they were restricted to specific “inferior” occupations by the Christian authorities such as tax collectors and moneylenders. This early on compulsory requirement to wear a yellow star began in certain parts of Europe.

By the year 1000 B.C.E the Jews had founded Israel as their national state (“Jews”). They actively practiced a very distinctive religion, Judaism. Israel was conquered several times and eventually came under the rule of the Roman Empire (“Jews”). During this time, Jews were legal citizens of the Empire. However, the Jews and Christians diverged quickly; the Jews were marginalized for being different and strange. They rejected the belief that Jesus is the Messiah and other christian laws. Eventually the Jewish revolt in 135 C.E. drove the Jews out of Jerusalem (“Jews”). They then lived throughout the Roman Empire and the materializing medieval states. They lived in their own communities called ghettos because they were not allowed to own land

Jewish immigrants have been treated very harshly, but somewhat “fair” in the 1800’s when Judaism became really popular. Jewish immigrants started migrating to different countries. Jews began migrating to America since 1820 all through today and still continuing, but in the 1600’s about 23 adult spanish-portuguese jews came to New Amsterdam where they had arrived. In 1655 more jews came from Holland. Nine years later, the British came and attempted to take over New York, but failed in the process of doing so . Although, making less than 1 percent of the population, they still made a pattern of Jewish life in America. They lived in the main port cities and had many leaders of the jewish religion who had impacted America positively. America then

The peace the Jews experienced during this era after the exile continued for three hundred years. After this their problems were minimal up to the time of the Crusades. Because of the conflict between Christianity and Islam Jews suffered immeasurably, leading ultimately to two long centuries of persecution and expulsion. In the year 1095 a sermon was preached telling the Christians to regain control of the holy lands. Gangs would attack the Jewish communities, destroying their cities and torturing the people who lived in them. The Jews were such a threat because they did not believe in Jesus Christ a s the Son of God and were therefore non-Christian believers. A second wave of crusades emerged in 1146 and 1189. Riots against Jews even began to emerge through England. The crusades thus lead to Jews becoming the hated religious sect and they were cast out of almost every country throughout Europe. (2) Jews thus began to move and were forced into other countries, countries where they were also not wanted.

The Ottomans and the Jews have a historically been seen as living in harmony and welcoming of each other. The Ottomans captured Bursa in 1324 relieving the Jewish community there from centuries of Byzantine rule in which they had been persecuted (Jewish Communities 1). The Ottomans became known for welcoming persecuted Jews from Christendom. Sultan Orhan even gave the Jews permission to build the Etz-ha-Hayyim synagogue. In 1492, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand placed an edict on all Jews either forcing them to convert or die. Approximately 150,00 of these Sephardim Jews escaped (Burke 2). Other groups of Jews from Europe migrated to Europe in the face of persecution. In 1477, there were 1,647 Jewish households in Istanbul. By 1527, there were 8,070 Jewish houses in Istanbul (Guleryuz 3).

Their devotion and loyalty to churches were very high that they had very low religious tolerance. As a result, entire Jewish communities were destroyed in Europe with inhabitants killed and some slaughtered.

Jewish people were tortured, abused, and subjected through horrific unfathomable situations by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Despite all of the unpragmatic hardships Jews all over Europe faced, many stayed true to their faith and religion. There are numerous stories in which Jewish people tried to keep the roots of their religion well knowing the risk of torture and death. The never ending fear of Jewish people living in the Ghettos and trying to survive concentration camps was difficult, but not impossible for the Jews to keep religion.

Throughout the history of the world, the Jewish people have been persecuted and oppressed because of their religious beliefs and faith. Many groups of people have made Jews their scapegoat. Jews have suffered from years of intolerance because people have not understood what the religion really means. They do not understand where and why the religion began, nor the customs of it's people. For one to understand the great hardships, triumphs, and history of the Jewish people one must open-mindedly peruse a greater knowledge of the Jewish people and faith.

In the late 15th century, Spain gained its freedom from the Moors. They were Islamic North African people that were and controlled much of Spain. The wealthy, educated Jewish population financially assisted the monarchy to regain Spain from the Moors. Large prosperous Jewish communities existed in Spain. They were respected, unlike other areas of Europe where the Jews were persecuted and victims of organized massacres. In Spain, they remained the financial and scientific leaders in the 15th century. Many of Jews married into Catholic families, consequently, many of Spain’s Christian leaders were of Jewish descent. As Spain became a unified country, many Hispanics forgot the services from which the Jewish had provided them. The economy plummeted, and to many, the Jews became a scapegoat. They became targets for bigotry. Stories were created to lessen the Jews image. These stories included Jews murdering innocent Christian children. Such legends fueled the expulsion of the Jews from