(1 of 4) The Blood Libel Then and Now: The Enduring Impact of an Imaginary Event

October 9, 2017
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research | Co-sponsored by American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Center for Jewish History, Leo Baeck Institute, and Yeshiva University Museum
Conference
Welcome:
Jonathan Brent, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Session 1:
"The Origins of the Blood Libel in Medieval Western Europe (1150-1500)"
E.M. Rose, Harvard University
"Political Uses of Spain’s Blood Libel Myth: Queen Isabel and her Successors"
Barbara Weissberger
Discussion / Q&A
The blood libel, the accusation that Jews committed ritual murder, has been the basis for some of the most hateful examples of organized antisemitism around the world since its fabrication in the Middle Ages up to the present day. This conference explores the impact of the blood libel over the centuries in a wide variety of geographic regions with a focus on how cultural memory was created, elaborated, and transmitted. Scholars presenting include Elissa Bemporad, Raphael Israeli, David Kertzer, Hillel Kieval, E.M. Rose, Magda Teter, and Barbara Weissberger. Talks examine well-known incidents and accusations, and address questions about motivations and the historical and cultural contexts of individual accusations. They address the sources for the accusations, their impact on affected Jewish communities both in the short and the long term, and they consider how these accusations have been treated in popular culture and learned commentary.
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