The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-06 00:00:00

PERSECUTION OF THE JE WS

IN THE EAST.

' TRANt,LATION of •r HEBREVr LETTER wri:ten b)
ABULAFIA, father of the individual W ,o is ruportc,,
by M. Pieritz to have embraced Mahomneedanism
• whilst under torture.
" Concerning the calumnies at Damascus, a plot was
batched, and they agreed to send away a priest, who
belonged to the French quarter, in order to accuse us
of having murdered him.
" They alleged-Ist, That the priest entered the
Jlws' street the day he was missing (die street was a
thoroughfare), and was not seen to leave it.
" The Jews answered, that he left the street certainly
on she other side—but this would not satisfy them.
" Toe Jews assembled in synagogue, and decreed,
under pain of excommunication, that any one who
knew of or had seen the priest, should declare it.
" A Jew who feared God, answered directly, that he
was a dealer in tobacco, and lived in the suburbs of the
city, one hour's distance frdm the Jews' quarter, and
near to dusk he saw the priest and his servant leaving the
city, passing near him toward: the fields ; and he said
to the servant of the priest, ' Come here, and buy some
tobacco, as you usually do.'
" The servant answered, ' I am busy now : another
time I will.'
" This evidence reached the French consul, who im-
mediately caused this Jew to be scourged till he ex-
pired (God will avenge him), so that he should not re-
late this, lest it should be proved that he (the priest)
left the city that night.
" He also got hold of a prisoner (a Turk), who was
in prison for a sum of money due to the Pacba, and
who, to get himself out of prison, offered to prove the
Jews guilty, so that they would set him free.
" This Turk had already tried to get the money of a
Jew named David Arari, under threat that if he did not
give it he would accuse him of murder.
" Arari thought that if he did give it, it would be a
proof of guilt, and refused to give him anything.
" Then this Turk seized a Jewish barber, who had
already been severely tortured, and said to him,
' They will torture you more and more ; why should
you die ? Say David Arari invited you to his
house to kill him (the priest), and then you will
receive money and honours.' And he, by these
means and by threats, persuaded him till he was com-
pelled to say that David Arari called him to his house,
and he found there six others of the chief men of the
city, and David said to him, ' Come here and kill this
priest,' who was bound before him, and they paid him
his reward.
" Now, one of the seven persons denounced by the
barber as being of those present at the murder with
Arari, was a good and upright man named Joseph
Leniado : they seized and imprisoned him.
" He answered, ' On the very night the barber states
that I was at David Arari's house, I have two Christian
witnesses that were with me the whole night, and I never
left them. They were travellers lodging at my house,
and left two days after for their own city.'
" But these' wicked accusers would not wait till the
witnesses arrived, although a courier was sent to fetch
them, to have their evidence. But they smote and
scourged him till he died under their hands. Oh
Lord, behold thy servant's blood poured out, and
avenge it on them !
" All this was done that the two witnesses might not
appear, and falsify the barber's evidence.
" This suborner above named, suborned and en-
ticed, with promises and threats, the servant of David
Arari to confirm the barber's statement ; and they
scourged and punished their victims with blows, and
fire, and water.
" They then began to search the houses, search after
search, hut they found nothing. Now the Jews were very
tearful lest some bones should be brought and disposed in
some Jewish premises, and as they suspected so it was, for
the Jes s told the watchman who watched in the Jews'
quarter, that he should be vigilant to look to this, and he,
therefore looked well after all the Christian passen-
gers that went near the conduits. When the Chris-
tians saw that this watchman hindered them from
their evil purpose, they imprisoned him, and smote
him til he died under the rod. See, oh Lord,
and behold thy servant's blood poured out l
" That night they did this wickedness, they deposited
bones in the conduits (there being no Jewish watchman),
and on the morrow they went and searched this conduit
and found the old bones, and caused a great cry, and most
of the physicians agreed that they were the bones of
quadrupeds ; but one physician doubted, and said, ' Per-
haps they are human bones, but they are old.' This is evi-
dent : they could not accomplish their wicked purpose till
they had murdered the watchman ; and it is fully be-
lieved by many persons that they got the priest to go
away in order to accuse the Jews, and when the truth
and a fair trial is bad, all will be proved. I will no
longer dwell on this matter, but will relate what has
to occurredte psate
otliieDoarmdearscoufs, the Pacha aicilr
should
domnmo TodnA,elri
torture or question the Jews ; and this he has obeyed.)
" But as this Pacha of Damascus has been the in-
dividual through whose authority the evil has been per-
petrated, he endeavours to sustain the falsehood by
artifice.
" And as soon as the edict came from Egypt, the
Christians, all being incited by their leaders, rose against
the Jews with reproaches, smiting both men and women
with their fists. They blasphemed our holy law in the
streets and market-places, took from our synagogues
the Taleth* and Tephlin, and put them on the dogs,
and spoke against the holy Talmud.
" Till at last the consuls at Damascus wrote the
Pacha, ' Why do these proceedings go on, and you be
silent ?' He answered, ' How can I oppose such a mul-
titude of Christians ?—I have nF, power.' When the
consuls wrote this answer to the Consul-general Neomsi
at Alexandria, he made it known to Mohammed Ali,
who decreed that no Christian should henceforth molest
a Jew.

" But the truth is, the Pacha here of Damascus is
an enemy of the Jews, otherwise he would not have
answered thus when called on for protection ; for all
the Christians arc considered by him as dogs, but he sets
them on, and they depend on him, and do as they think
fit in this matter.
" Such is their enmity, that one night they made a
Christian strong man drink wine, and armed him and
sent him to the Jews' quarter. He went into one court-
yard quite furious, with a drawn sword in his hand, and
said, • I come to kill many Jews, who are all blasphe-
mers and villains.' The Jews cried bitterly for help.
The guards who patrolled the city heard it, and the cry
of murder ; they were going to seize him, but he said I
saw this Christian assaulting you ; it is not my fault ;
the French Consul, the associate of the Governor of the
city, cent me.'
" They then sent him away free, and the intention of
this troubler of Israel, this Consul Beaudin, through
whose means all this affair was brought about, is, that
the Jews should kill this Christian, and be accused of
another crime.
" Atter this the Christians went to an old cemetery,
which belonged to the Jews since A.M. 5,408, and
violated the graves, and strewed about the bones, and
took one of their corpses there and buried it. The
Jews bitterly complained of this, but received no re-
dress. They went away with anguish of soul.
" But still the Paella is inciting the accused to sign
a confession to what they had admitted under torture,
for he tells them he is certain they killed the friar.
But (hey all answer, ' All that which we have spoken
and confessed was in consequence of the blows and
and tortures, and far be it from us to commit murder.'
Aad they asked my son (who is considered as a Ma-
hommedan, which God forbid) ' What do you say re-
specting this matter ?—You have already admitted you
killed him.'

" He answered, and said, We Jews neither have
murdered, nor do we murder any one, and blood is an
abomination and horror to us, and all we have confessed
was only to escape torture.'
" The Pacha answered, ' Why do you include your-
self among the Jews—you belong to us.'
" My son answered, I am a Jew, the son of a Jew,
and all that I have said has been for fear and dread of
the cruel treatments you inflicted on me ; and I en-
treated of you to kill me, to be released from your
bands ; and through pain have the.evil words come from
my mouth.'
" And of the Haham, the chief Rabbi of the city, he
requested him to sign the confession, saying, You
surely killed him.'
(Here follows the answer of the rabbi, refusing to
confess to a falsehood, which was published in the ex-
tracts which appeared in 'Jibe Sun.)
" The Pacha then said, At least sign to this, that
by your law the prorerty of the Gentiles is allowed to
you.'
" The Rabbi answered, ' It is false.'
n f:r
mT
eh P
de ) i at c
isa
said
Habakkuk,
ha Talmud k
uk, H He saw
(saaswl
andam
spoiled the nations.'
" The Rabbi said,' This verse refers to the heathen,
idelators, and the despoiling the Gentile is a heinous
" They then were taken back to prison, till the or-
der of the Pacha arrives, as to where and before whom
they are to be tried.
" But those who are still alive are mutilated, as they
suffered tortures of a horrible nature, and they were so
injured that they were all like the dead, from the ex-
cruciating anguish.
" 0 thou jealous and avengeful God, pour out thy
wrath on those evil doers.
" Now we have heard the Consul-General of France
in Alexandria, has sent his vice-consul to Damascus, at
the request of his Government, to investigate this mat-
ter ; but they have written from thence that this man
is also an enemy of the Jews, and they fear there that be
will incline to the evil practices of the French consul,
and to the leaders of the Christians in Damascus ; and
they write thence
thate (Alexandria) .
a)the that
confessions Aloh a
oefd
Ali
had already y advised
the
Jews, and that all that has been written against them
tillAhis day, are void, and investigation is to be renewed
without any torture whatever.
And we also hear that the English Consul there ha
received an order from his Government that he should

go himself to Damascus to try this matter ; and they '
wrote also that nearly all the Consuls are friends
of the Jews, except the French, who is still an
enemy ; and the advice of many of the heads
here is, that I should myself go to Paris to de-
mand that the case should be tried by them, and
to demand reparation for the blood of the murdered
men that have been tortured, and for those that they
have smitten, men and women, and for those that the)
have despoiled. But truly lam feeble and aged, and
I wish to know the issue of the proceedings of those
persans who are to investigate, and then I shall know
how to proceed. My heart bleeds for this trouble, and
I am old , and all the great of the city (Constantinople)
leave their propeity and home for the deliverance of
Israel. In the affair of Rhodes they do their best, with
the help cf God, and with the assistance of the powers
of Israel, and the help of Messrs. Rothschilds, judgment
has been pronounced, in truth, in the Turkish courts
here ; and it is proved that it is all false and a calumny.
And now the Jews demand justice cn their murderers
and despoilers for those that died under torture, and for
the women that they afflicted, and for 150,000 piastres
damages they suffered in the affair ; and now they are
trying to discover who is to remunerate them—whether
the French Consul, who is stated to have been the chief
instigator, or the Pacha of Rhodes, who decreed all the
evil. At all events, we trust that both will be displaced,
in order that the Jews snail have peace, for they are
all a holy congregation fearing God.
" A letter has been received from the estimable as-
sembly of London (God preserve it), in answer to the
appeal made by us, and they write us that they will,
with all their might and main, assist their brethren ;
and they have applied to the Government, and no doubt
thereupon it proceeds that the English Consul goes
to Damascus to try this matter, and through him the
Consul of Rhodes will be displaced, so that the wicked
may cease from troubling, and not afflict any more.
" But I am now going to Alexandria to see the end
of this affair, and to assist my son. Look down and
behold if there are any wounds like our wounds, ye
chief men among the mighty, in the help of God, and
may the Lord fight for you, and return this trouble to
our enemies ; and may fear and dread pursue those who
rise up against us.
(Signed) " H. M. ABULAFIA."
Constantinople, 17 Sivan (19th June) 5t300.
" To Mr. H. Lehren, Amsterdam."
* Sacred garments.
j- The original text has here been departed from, since
the details were unfit for publication.

CIRCULAR OF ABD-EL-KADER.

EXTRACT OF A LETEER DATED GIBRALTAR, 16TH
JULY, 1840, ACCOMPANYING THE ANNEXED DOCUMENT.
" 1 send you a document which I consider curious.
It is a translation of a circular recently issued by Abd-
el-Kader, giving some account of himself and his pro-
ceedings. It is not dated either as to time or place, as
you will see ; but the original reached this on the 13th,
by express, via Fez, in thirteen days, from Abd-
el-Kader's camp. This said original, sealed
with Abd-el-Kader's own seal, equivalent to
ur sign-manual, I saw myself in the hands of a
most respectable Moor, and from it I made the trans-
ation in this way. The address itself is written in pure
Arabic, very different from and much more refined than
the patois generally spoken by the Moors. The Moor,
who is a scholar, first put it into this patois to Balenzi
who was with him, Balenzi into Spanish, and I into
English, all of us, by my direction, stickie as near to a
literal translation as possible. You may, I think, safely
rely on the genuineness of the document itself, as well
as the general fidelity of the translation, and I dare say
it Ilia be acceptable, as I do not suppose it will find its
way to you through France, and it is as recent as any
news from the Moorish side of the question can be.