The Damascus Affair: "Ritual Murder," Politics, and the Jews in 1840 (review)

Jonathan Frankel has written the first book length study of the Damascus Affair. The book is divided into five parts. Parts one and four contain narrative descriptions of the 1840 blood libel in Damascus and of another which occurred in Rhodes at the same time. Part two shows how the Damascus Affair was transformed into a world-wide cause celèbre and how it became intertwined in the struggle of the European powers for influence in the East. It also describes how the Western public perceived the affair and analyzes the extensive press coverage it received in France, England, and Germany. Part three, a thematic section, explores the vast literature spurred by the affair. Here Frankel discusses how the Jewish world understood the affair, which prompted American Jewry to petition the United States government to intercede, and the place of the affair in the history of blood libels. He also analyzes how contemporary Jewish messianic expectations surrounding the year 1840, and especially Christian millenialist views, influenced and were influenced by the affair. This very rich section shows how the affair stimulated an upsurge in Jewish nationalist and proto-Zionist sentiment. In part five Frankel analyzes how historians and publicists, both Jewish and non-Jewish, have dealt with the affair. In the conclusion he presents his views on its long-term significance for modern Jewish history.

Frankel's major contribution is his analysis of the multi-dimensional nature of the affair. The alleged murder of Father Thomas and his servant in Damascus in 1840, the charge that Damascus Jews committed the murder for ritual purposes, and the confessions extracted under torture from prominent members of the Damascus Jewish community became entwined in the diplomatic intrigue surrounding the struggle of Muhamed Ali, viceroy of Egypt and ruler of Syria, to assert virtual autonomy from the Ottoman Empire. The European powers sought to use this dispute to extend their influence in the East. France, which hoped to establish a protectorate over Mount Lebanon backed Muhamed Ali. As part of their plan, the French hoped to gain the support of the Christian community in Syria. They used the blood libel charge against the Jews of Damascus as a means to achieve this. Count Ratti-Menton, the French consul in Damascus, played a major role in fostering the blood libel. On the other hand, England and Austria, which supported the Ottomans, opposed the blood libel, and the Austrian consul Anton Laurin became the leading diplomatic figure supporting the Jewish cause.

Delving beyond the diplomatic factor, Frankel discusses how European public opinion viewed the affair. He makes extensive use of newspaper coverage by major English, French, and German journals. As the affair dragged on, newspaper coverage shifted from the sensationalist and macabre aspects of the case to larger issues. The nature of Judaism and whether or not it sanctioned ritual murder and how Jews viewed non-Jews now became the subjects of widespread public discussion. Over time it became evident that a final vindication or condemnation of the Damascus Jews would impact the debate over Jewish emancipation and the role that the Jews were to play in European life.

A peculiar, but important, twist in the public discussion about Jews and Judaism took place in the summer of 1840 when rumor had it that the British government would undertake a plan to restore Jews to the Holy Land. English Christian millenialists took a leading role in advocating the restoration of the Jews. They believed that the restoration of the Jews to Palestine would result in the mass conversion of the Jews. Leading members of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews were among the most prominent defenders of the Jews against the blood libel charge. Alexander McCaul , who wrote the most effective theological refutation of the blood libel charge, and George Wildon Pieritz, who wrote the...