The Rephael Society, the Medical-Dental Section of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, has urged its members to “flood” the New York State Medical Society with protests over its publication of an article on an alleged blood libel. The appeal was signed by Yashar Hirshaut, chairman of the Rephael Society. The article in question, “Strange Murder of William of Norwich, 1144,” appeared in the November issue of the New York State Journal of Medicine.
In it, Dr, William D. Sharpe of New York described the alleged incident as “sadistic murder by a Jewish psychopath, followed by a united Jewish community attempt to avoid the possible bloodshed which might follow.” Rabbi zevulun Charlop, director of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, called the article “little more than an ingenious rehashing of one of the basest canards invented by medieval Christianity to hold the Jews at bay.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
