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It
is our painful task to record another instance of the revival of the
foul calumny against the Jewish nation, which, a few years ago, led to
the horrid scenes at Damascus and Rhodes, and appears still to be
fostered by ignorance and superstition, affording a ready pretext for
the most cruel persecution at the prompting of malice or prejudice. The
following particulars of the occurrences which took place at Tarnow, in
Gallicia, during the Feast of the Passover, have been communicated by a
member of the Jewish community who were the sufferers from these
disgraceful proceedings. The letter is dated Tarnow, April 16, 1844.
“A
lad about the age of ten or twelve years, in the service of a magistrate
of the name of Wladimir, knight of Dallemba, weary of the short
allowance and ill treatment he had been subjected to by his master,
absconded eight days before the Passover, and disapeared. Either malice
and hatred towards the Jews, or the superstition of the middle ages, or
(from a more probably motive) his being deeply indebted to the Jewish
merchants here, induced the knight of Dallemba to represent the
occurrence to the authorities, with the pressing request immediately to
make a diligent search in all Jewish houses, as, according to well-known
facts, he had not the slightest doubt that the boy had been decoyed away
by the Jews, and secreted in some obscure place, where he was reserved
for a pascal offering. Imagine to yourself now the boasted spirit of the
nineteenth century prevailing in Gallicia! The request is complied with,
and on the night of the same day all the avenues to the Jewish quarter
are shut up and surrounded by a powerful military guard. Several
magistrates, accompanied by number of policemen, sufficient to resist
defence, force an entrance into every house inhabited by Jews; every
thing is ransacked, chambers, cellars, garret, even boxes, cupboards,
&c. Nothing spared, but all in vain; nowhere is a clue to be found
to the blood of the Christian lad. The matter gaining extraordinary
publicity with every day, the minds of our Christian brethren and
countrymen (whose greatest virtue, by the by, does not consist in
Christian charity towards fellow-creatures) are more and more excited,
and nothing is spoken of but revenge against the Jewish vampires and
anthropophagi, so that with fright and horror we awaited the approaching
festival. Terribly roused by the common danger, from our, alas, usual
lethargic apathy, we, on our part, saved no pains or trouble to find the
lost boy, and at last, by united efforts, succeeded in discovering a
clue, and ultimately in finding him in a village not many miles distant.
He was brought from thence on the eve of the passover, and delivered up,
unmolested and in good condition, to the proper authorities. The
identity of the boy found, with the one missed, was fully established,
and evidence from his own lips put an end to all doubt of the sole cause
of his absconding having been the cruel, slavish treatment he was
subjected to by his master, Von Dallemba. The Messrs. Rothschild and
Lemel at Vienna, to whom we applied, now take the deepest interest in
the case, and in a few days the necessary steps and measures will be
taken for a process in the Imperial Court of Chancery.
“To
the reflecting spectator, the bustling groups of the Jewish community
here during the days of painful excitement, and afterwards, when by the
discovery of the lad they had been vindicated, were by no means
uninteresting. He might have seen those of our brethren here, who
heretofore were animated only by immediate selfish interests, whose
brotherly love was only moved when reflecting on their own self; yea,
whose self still calculates the fourth or eighth per cent which often
overbalances that love; he might have seen them, in common with those
whose devotedness, on the other hand, to their faith, and the ceremonies
connected therewith, borders on fanaticism, but who now willingly
disregarded many a ceremony scrupulously watched over in ordinary
times,—both parties might now be seen, setting aside all their
respective interests, animated by one common feeling of disdain at the
foul calumny, and impressed only with the one thought—of obtaining
satisfaction for the past, and security for the future, against the
stupid outrages of the mob; they could now really feel for one another;
they now rose like one man, each to contribute his share, to refute this
disgraceful charge. You may imagine what a struggle it must have cost
the thorough Talmudist, a heterodox, or a Chasid, to assemble in great
numbers on the seventh day of the Passover, to be ready to sign with his
own hand the memorial to His Majesty, which on the holiday had been
written by a Christian. At the same time, every Jew, present at the
assembly pledged himself not to be quiet and to rest till our cause is
vindicated and the truth brught to light.”—Jewish Intelligencer.
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