This week in Jewish history: Blood libels are not new

Tishrei 23, 3828 (67 CE): 

A Roman force captured Gamla, a fort in the Galilee, after having been defeated on their first attempt (Josephus, The Jewish War 4:1). Thousands of Jewish inhabitants were slaughtered, while others chose to jump to their deaths from the top of the cliff rather than be enslaved.

Oct. 26, 1407: 

Jews tried to defend themselves against the Krakow accusations, one of the first blood libels to be recorded in Poland. They ultimately took refuge in a church, which was surrounded by a mob and set afire. Any children left alive were forcibly baptized.

Oct. 27, 1994: 

Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty clarifying the borders of the two countries and their water rights, pledging that neither would allow a third country to use its territory to stage an attack on the other, and opening official diplomatic relations, borders, and free trade.

Oct. 28, 1914: 

Birthday of Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the first successful polio vaccine (1955). Through his efforts and those of Albert Sabin, polio – which had killed or crippled hundreds of thousands of people – was almost entirely eradicated. For instance, within 10 years, polio cases in the US dropped from 35,000 to just 161.

Oct. 29, 1956: 

Israel’s eight-day Sinai Campaign (Operation Kadesh) began in order to reduce attacks from Gaza by the Egyptian-backed fedayeen (suicide) units. The campaign was coordinated with France and England, whose forces were supposed to concurrently occupy the Suez Canal Zone, which had been nationalized by Egypt under president Gamal Abdel Nasser. Massive American and Soviet pressure forced the British and French armies to withdraw from Sinai back to the original ceasefire line. More than 170 Israeli soldiers died, and 800 were wounded.

Oct. 30, 1991: 

The Madrid Conference, co-chaired by US president George Bush and Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, opened with the goal of reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. All the parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict gathered to hold direct negotiations – a historically unprecedented event – but it was felt that the symbolic significance of the Madrid Conference far outweighed its accomplishments, which were deemed thin.

Tishrei 29, 5269 (1508): 

Yahrzeit of Don Isaac Abarbanel, Portuguese philosopher, financier, statesman, and biblical commentator, who interceded many times on behalf of his fellow Jews. His attempt to persuade King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to cancel their edict to expel the Jews from Spain in 1492 was blocked by Torquemada, the ruthless grand inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. Despite his position and influence, Abarbanel joined 200,000 of his fellow Jews in exile. 

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