JEW BAITING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 223, 20 September 1938, Page 7

JEW BAITING.

ANCIENT PRACTICE.

ITALY PUTS CLOCK BACK.

PROPHETIC CURSE RECALLED

Italy, the latest country to persecute the Jews, was also uie first country to persecute tfiem. It was the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 which brought about the disappearance of the last vestige of Jewish national independence, and started the wanderings of a people without a country.

Sixty-five years later the Roman rulers of Palestine, following persecution of a futile revolt, drove the few remaining Jews out of the city, razed it to the ground, and on its site" created a new capital.

They even changed the name of Jerusalem, and pagan temples were erected everywhere, including one to Venus on the Sepulchre of Christ. Jews were forbidden to come within the ei"ht of the walls of the city. " Thue the Romans were the original creators of the Jewish problem which through the centuries has been the cause of great bitterness, intolerance, and cruelty. In Middle Ages. Yet, on 4he whole, the Italians have been more hospitable and tolerant to this race without a country than any other people on the Continent of Europe. When, in the Middle Ages, the Jewe were expelled from Spain, Portugal, France and Germany, they turned to Italy. There for a time they teemed, and their shrewdness and ability contributed in great part to the intellectual awakening which was glorified in the age of the medieis.

There were timee, however, when they were the victims of intense persecution and intolerance. Claudius passed an edict that all Jews should be expelled, but, owing to their numbers and importance, it wae impossible to carrv out the order.

Then Justinian, in A.D. 537, proclaimed Jews ineligible for anv honours 'whatsoever, and they were regarded as

a lower order of beings, a community which was a godless and dangerous sect, their religion a euperetition, and their assemblies a blasphemy and a contagion. The general object of their repression was to prevent inroads of Jewish influence into the State religion.

In the time of Dante there was the dawn of a new civilisation, and, in consequence, a feeling of tolerance. Many of the Popes proved to be the chief protectors of the Jews against the fanaticism of the mob. j • First Crusade. This was particularly noticeable at the time of the First Crueade, when there were maseacree of Jews by vicious bands of roguee, who, under the guise of crusading, seized the chance of appealing to the lower instincts by rapine and the loot of defenceless people. The Pope preached in vain against the slaughter that went on.

There were Popee who were not soj tolerant. Paul IV. wae one who was consumed with a hatred of the Jews. He forbade any Jewish phyeician to attend a Christian. He made Jews wear a special badge and yellow cap. The Jews were nojt allowed to associate with Christians, nor could they own real property, and the only business ]>ermitted to them wae to deal in old clothes.

He even, in a fit of fanatical madness,, ordered his nephew to set fire to all Jewish homee, but hie order wae not carried out, writes Lance Colman in the "Daily Despatch."

His successor, Pope Pius IV., recalled most of these harsh measures, but the following Pope, Pius V.. surpassed even the brutalities of Paul IV. He issued a Bull in A.D. 1569 which insisted on the expulsion of all Jews from Italy, and any who remained were reduced to a state of slavery.

It looked as ttiough Christian Europe would no longer know a Jew. Hatred, persecution and expulsion were the order of the day, the object being that no vestige of Jewry should remain in the Occident. In order to dee-troy the foundation* of their faith everv copv of the Talmud / was ordered "to be destroyed. i

[ The Inquisition helped in the bitter war against the Jews. When a Jew was required to take an oath he was girded with thorns, made to stand in water holding a scroll of the Torah in his hand, and then had to invoke on his l

body the leprosy of Xaaman, the curse of Eli, and the fate of Korah'e sons. Death followed if he perjured himself. Rights Established. It was the revolutionary year of 1848 which saw the turn of the tide. But it was not till 1859, with the emancipation of Italy caused by the success of Italian arms against Austria that the Jews again eaw real freedom. Many of them joined the Sardinian and Italian armies as officers and privates, and a number fought under Garibaldi. In Sicily the rights of the Jews were established as soon as the land was freed from Austrian domination.

When Venice was ceded by the Austrians in 1866 a Jew, P. Mavrongonato, was elected a member of Parliament and became vice-president of the Chamber. At that time there were 43,000 Jews in Italy—about the same to-day. There followed a great outburst of spiritual life and literary development.) Yet the old city of Rome remained opposed to the new order, for it still I retained the temporal power of the Papacy. The authorities still held' medieval ideas of intolerance, and the walls of the Ghetto stood firm and erect. Jews could not enter the Holy City without a special permit.

It was not till 1870 that the Ghetto was destroyed and freedom came. By an irony of fate one of the early Mayors of Rome was a Jew. There followed a period of hospitality to the Jewish race, for it was gratefully remembered that their services had been of great value in the country's hour of need.

There wae no objection against the Jew being entrusted with the hio-hest offices of State.

Now this state of affairs is being changed. The Italian Jew is again toj become an outcast, and he must call to! mind the prophetic curse of Mo ,es: "The sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them."