Who Knew? Read online

  As Jewish history now unfolds before our eyes in the twenty-first century, the reader can appreciate how this amazing people adjusts and prospers in all kinds of serious, and sometimes comical, circumstances. As the title suggests, these stories are unusual in their own right. Each has been included in the book because the story is something unexpected, even surprising. In other words, “Who knew?!”

  I would like to thank Gefen Publishing House and my editor, Kezia Raffel Pride, for the opportunity they have given me to share these stories in the unbroken chain of Jewish history. I am grateful to my son Kenny for being the driving force behind the concept and direction of the publication; to my son Neil for suggesting the title for the book, his editing, and for guiding me to source material; and to my daughter Rhonda for her computer expertise.

  This book could not have happened without the continuous inspiration of my grandchildren Jamie, Tara, Carly, Shelby, Josh, Mitch, and Zack. I am especially thankful to Shelby, Josh, Mitch, and Zack for letting me read these stories to them for their “stamp of approval” and for the many hours they spent on this book. Finally, I am grateful to all of the “people of the book” who lived the stories I was fortunate to write about.

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  1. Mark Twain, “Concerning the Jews,” Harper’s Magazine 99, no. 592 (September 1899).

  NEAR EAST:

  Early Times

  ...a biblical mistranslation gave horns to Jews

  When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets bearing the Ten Commandments, the Bible describes the scene: “And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses; behold the skin of his face sent forth beams: and they were afraid of him” (Exodus 34:30).1 Although the English translation seems to be straightforward, the Vulgate, which is the Latin translation of the bible, confuses karan (“sent forth beams” or “was shining”) with keren (horn) – both of which are spelled the same way in Hebrew – and translates karan or panav (the skin of his face was shining) to read cornuta esset facies sua, “his face was horned.”2 It is this reading which most probably gave rise to medieval artists – including Michelangelo in his now-famous sculpture – portraying Moses with horns protruding from his forehead.

  There may be another explanation for Moses’ horns. Medieval Christians generally associated Jews with the devil.3 Jews were obliged to appear in public with a distinguishing horn somewhere on their garb. In 1267 the Vienna Council decreed that Jews wear a horned hat, and Jews in medieval Germany were forced to bend the brim into a grotesque shape depicting horns.4 Phillip III of France required the attachment of a horned figure to the regular Jew badge. In case there was any doubt, in at least one instance, the horned Jew was identified with the legend, in bold letters, “This is the Jew Devil.”5

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  1. Rabbi Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, ed., The Pentateuch and Haftorahs (London: Soncino Press, 1952), 368.

  2. Exodus 34:29. In verse 30 the Vulgate translates the same phrase as cornutam Mosi faciem, “the face of Moses [was] horned.”

  3. Israel Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1896), 298.

  4. Joshua Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jew and Its Relation to Modern Anti-Semitism (New York: Harper and Row, 1943), 44.

  5. Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews, 44, 46.

  ...Scriptural narratives added words to the English language

  Each year during the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), services are held in synagogues all over the world and the description of the atonement is repeated. During the days when the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing, the high priest would engage in an elaborate ceremony to “cleanse” the congregation of their sins, so that they could start the New Year afresh.

  As part of the ceremony prescribed in Leviticus, the high priest would lay his hands on a goat, symbolically transferring the sins of the people to the goat. The goat was then sent into the desert.1 Today, in our everyday speech, we generally refer to somebody who takes the blame for somebody else as a “scapegoat.”2

  Another biblical narrative that has contributed to our vocabulary is the story of Abraham’s nephew Lot who is visited by three men (really disguised angels) who have been sent by God to rescue him and his family from the destruction that is about to overtake the city of Sodom.

  While the men are in Lot’s house, an unruly mob gathers outside the house demanding that he surrender his guests “so that we may know them” (Genesis 18:5). The phrase “so that we may know them” is interpreted as the intention of the mob to commit homosexual rape on the three males in the house. Since the intention of God was to destroy the city of Sodom because of their licentious behavior, the city deservedly earned association with the word “sodomy.”

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  1. “Azazel,” Illustrated Dictionary and Concordance to the Bible, edited by Geoffrey Wigoder (Jerusalem: Jerusalem Publishing House, 1986), 140.

  2. The Greek translation interpreted “scapegoat” to mean “goat that departs,” i.e., (e)scape goat.

  ...a person’s name is a mirror to his soul

  A name is very important. People once believed that “a man’s name is the essence of his being.”1 One Hebrew text says that “a man’s name is his person”; still another saying is that “his name is his soul.”2 Acting on these beliefs, people had to carefully consider what was involved in choosing a name for their newborn infant.

  According to biblical evidence, giving a child the name of a deceased relative or ancestor “would destroy and obliterate the soul and the remembrance of the departed and cause his soul to forsake its peaceful abode in heaven.”3 In those times, it was impossible for two family members to have the same name.

  Another factor in limiting the naming of a child after a living person had to do with spirits or angels. When the spirits were engaged in their earthly interventions, they were just as likely as not to fail to distinguish one of the people bearing the name from the other. In order to eliminate the possibility of error, no two people in the family had the same name.4

  However, by the time of the Talmud, the belief had shifted. By “giving a child the name of an ancestor, the memory would be preserved and kept alive.”5 Moreover, “the personality of the new-born infant would be protected from demonic assault by being ‘screened’ or ‘covered’ by the name of the older or distinguished ancestor.”6

  Another feature of naming babies was to make a careful study of the life of the person whose name the child was to bear. It would be imprudent to saddle the child with the name of a person who had been particularly unfortunate.7

  Among more traditional Jews, whether the naming of a baby hearkens to the more ancient customs or to the more modern applications, the possibility of supernatural intervention is not to be discounted.

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  1. Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion (New York: Behrman’s Jewish Book House, 1939), 78.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Benzion C. Kaganoff, A Dictionary of Jewish Names and Their Origins (New York: Schocken, 1977), 97.

  4. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition, 79.

  5. Kaganoff, A Dictionary of Jewish Names, 97.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition, 78–79.

  ...Friday-night challah is reminiscent of a pagan custom

  The Friday night Sabbath table in Jewish homes traditionally has two loaves of braided bread called “challah.” The practice of setting out two loaves hearkens back to the biblical narrative of the Israelites being miraculously fed by God in their desert wanderings with the “manna” seemingly fallen from heaven. Each day they would gather their sustenance for one day. However, on the sixth day, the Israelites gathered twice as much so they would not violate the Sabbath by gleaning their food on the day set aside for rest (Exodus 16:5).

  The question remaining is, why are the loaves braided? The
answer is most likely to be derived from a pagan ritual. In ancient times the Teutonic goddess of fertility Berchta or Perchta was widely worshipped by women. As part of the ceremonies, the women would offer their hair to the goddess. After a period of time, the custom of offering the goddess their hair was discontinued. It was replaced by a symbolic offering of hair in the form of a loaf of bread fashioned from braided dough, the Perchisbrod.1

  This cross-cultural sharing does not necessarily imply that the Jews were consciously practicing a pagan ritual. It merely represents adaptation through exposure. Some contemporary Jews will punctuate their conversation with the phrase “Knock on wood,” derived from the Christian custom of touching a wooden cross for good fortune. It does not follow that the Jewish people employing the phrase are accepting Christianity.

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  1. Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion (New York: Behrman’s Jewish Book House, 1939), 40.

  ...Yom Kippur was a day of fasting, prayer, and courtship

  For Jews who observe Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement), the day is devoted to lengthy prayer sessions accompanied by a twenty-five-hour fast. This was not so in ancient days. The Talmud tells of an additional custom widely practiced on Yom Kippur.

  Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said: “There were no festivals in Israel like the fifteenth of Av1 and Yom Kippur. On those days the young women of Israel went out in borrowed white dresses [everyone borrowed a dress in order not to embarrass someone who did not have her own]...and danced in the vineyard” (Mishnah Taanit 4:8). As they danced, some of the young women advised their prospective husbands on the criteria for choosing a bride. Some stressed piety (Proverbs 31:30); others praised accomplishments (Proverbs 31:31); others stressed the suitability of a young woman to bear children (Taanit 31a); then there were those who posited beauty as a reason for choosing a mate. The Talmud goes on to say, “Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself “ (Taanit 4:8).

  The question arises as to why Yom Kippur was chosen for this practice. The Talmud offers an answer: “A bridegroom has his sins forgiven” (Bikurim 3:3).

  Although the custom of courting on Yom Kippur has, except for very rare instances, been abandoned, Jewish customs still call for the bride and groom to fast on their wedding day, recite the Yom Kippur confession, and wear white garments.2

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  1. After the sadness of the ninth of Av, which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, the fifteenth of Av offers a hope of renewal in its focus on young romance.

  2. A traditional Jewish wedding is described at http://www.aish.com/jl/l/48969841.html.

  ...there was a synagogue inside the Temple in Jerusalem

  There is a widely held belief among many contemporary Jews that the establishment of synagogues was a direct result of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 CE. While the destruction of the Temple put new and greater emphasis on the synagogue as a house of prayer and study, it does not follow that synagogues were unknown to the people before that time.1

  During the rein of King Josiah (640–609 BCE) animal sacrifice was specifically prohibited (II Kings 22 and 23). However, the people continued to worship without sacrifices. Scriptural readings and sermons taking place within the Temple are described by Friedlander in his History of the First Temple.2

  There is archeological evidence that a synagogue was dedicated in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy III, 246–221 BCE. Indeed, one of the many synagogues in Alexandria during this time was so huge that the voice of the precentor was inaudible to those in the rear of the synagogue, and signal flags had to be waved to indicate to the worshipers when they should make the appropriate responses.3

  Rabinowitz gives the number of synagogues in Jerusalem at the time of the destruction of the Temple at 480.4

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  1. Gerson D. Cohen, “Talmudic Society,” in Leo W. Schwarz, ed., Great Ages and Ideas of the Jewish People (New York: Random House, 1956), 162.

  2. Louis Isaac Rabinowitz, “Synagogue,” Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-ROM Edition (Jerusalem: Keter, 1997), 2–3.

  3. Ibid., 2.

  4. Ibid., 2–3.

  ...the ritual murder slander against Jews is a pre-Christian concept

  The ritual murder accusation against the Jews is most commonly associated with medieval Christians accusing Jews of killing Christians for various religious rites. However, the earliest accusation that Jewish ceremonial practices require human sacrifices was first reported by the Greek philosopher Democritus (460–360 BCE).1 Democritus alleged that the Jews captured a stranger every seven years and sacrificed him in the Temple.2 About three centuries later, Ptolemy Apion (c. 116–196 CE), ruler of Cyrenica,3 a Roman province of North Africa, reported the same story but reduced the time between sacrifices to one year and named Antiochus Epiphanes as one of the alleged victims.4 Antiochus would be a logical “victim,” since it was he who despoiled the Temple in Jerusalem and instituted pagan rituals.5

  During the second century, ritual murder accusations were traded between Christians and pagans. Sometimes the allegations were directed at one sect of Christians by other Christians. As far as the Jews were concerned, the ritual murder charge came to be associated with the celebration of Purim,6 when the villain of the story (Haman) was often burned in effigy.

  It was in the Middle Ages that the ritual murder accusation against the Jews began to experience wide popularity.7 By then the most common allegation was that Christian blood was required in the baking of the matzos for Passover. It is interesting to note that some rabbis enjoined their congregants not to use red wine for the Passover feast. This was so as to avoid any allegations that the wine included Christian blood.

  The irony in the blood libel accusation is that the Bible specifically prohibits Jews from ingesting blood in any form whatsoever (Leviticus 12:10–14).

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  1. “Democritus,” Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, vol. 4, 15th ed. (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1990).

  2. Joshua Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jew and Its Relation to Modern Anti-Semitism (New York: Harper and Row, 1943), 126.

  3. “Ptolemy Apion,” Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, vol. 4, 15th ed. (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1990).

  4. Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews, 126.

  5. Isaiah Gafni, “Antiochus,” Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-ROM Edition (Jerusalem: Keter, 1997).

  6. Purim is the holiday commemorating the saving of the Jews of Persia from a courtier who duped the king into giving him permission to kill all the Jews in the realm.

  7. Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews, 127–28.

  ...there is a Cairo-based Purim

  The holiday of Purim commemorates the deliverance of the Jews from extermination at the hands of the Persian King Artaxerxes (Achashverosh) in about 300 BCE. In the story, the grand vizier of the Persian Empire, Haman, wishes to do away with the king’s Jewish subjects. The king foolishly gives Haman permission to do so before he learns that a certain Jew has recently saved his life. Unable to reverse his own decree, the king does the next-best thing by allowing the Jews to defend themselves. A battle ensues during the month of Adar, the Jews emerge victorious, Haman and his sons are hanged, and the remembrance of this event becomes an annual, joyous celebration among Jews all over the world.

  Unknown to most of the Jewish community, there is a similar story which emanated from Cairo, Egypt, in the year 1524.1

  Ahmed Shaitan (Jews see this as a play on words and read it Satan) usurps the throne of the kingdom of Egypt, which is bound to Suleiman’s Turkish empire. Shaitan’s intent is to plunder the Jews of their possessions and use the money to finance his rebellion against Suleiman.2 The usurper approaches the master of the mint, Abraham deCastro (a Jew appointed by Suleiman himself), to have his name stamped on the coins. DeCas
tro requests the order in writing, secretly escapes from Cairo, and presents the order to Suleiman in Constantinople.3

  Suleiman marches on Cairo, defeats Shaitan’s army, and executes Shaitan. The Jews are saved. The twenty-seventh of the Hebrew month of Adar is set aside in Cairo as a Jewish fast day, and the twenty-eighth of Adar is given over to feasting and rejoicing.4

  The style of writing in recording the story, the advent of a Jew who is close to the king, and the fast day preceding the celebration are strongly reminiscent of the Persian Jewish holiday of Purim.

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  1. Jacob R. Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World: A Source Book, 315–1791 (New York: Atheneum, 1938), 61–65.

  2. Professor Heinrich Graetz, History of the Jews, vol. 4 (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1894), 393.

  3. Graetz, History of the Jews, 393, 396.

  4. Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World, 65.

  ...Hellenist Jews caused outlawing of Judaism

  During the early part of the second century BCE, a serious rift was developing in the Jewish community of Palestine. On one side were the Hellenist Jews who wished to incorporate more of the Greek culture into their everyday living. Ranged against them were the Hasidim,1 those traditional Jews who resisted the encroachments of Greek living.

  On a more superficial level, many of the Hellenist Jews were changing their names to be more Greek-sounding or were using two sets of names, one for the Greek society and one for the Jewish community and synagogue. Some wished to join the Gymnasium, which meant participating in the nude, something frowned upon by the Hasidim. The Hellenist Jews had come to the conclusion that Torah Law did not originate from the prophet Moses. They believed that the Torah as now written was “full of fables and impossible demands and prohibitions.”2