The 110th Anniversary of the Beilis Case

One hundred and ten years ago, a young Kiev boy named Andrei Yushchinsky was murdered. The subsequent investigation and trial came to be known as the "Beilis Case," a prosecution directed against Menachem Mendel Beilis, a clerk from Kiev, who was accused of the ritual murder of a Christian child. Initially, the incident did not attract significant public attention; however, when the trial commenced in Kiev in 1913, the Russian Empire witnessed a massive campaign of antisemitism, which in turn triggered a global wave of public protest. 

"Beilis swoops down like a hawk; the children scatter like sparrows, but he continues to pursue two of them. One, Zhenya Cheberyak, manages to escape, while the other, Andryusha Yushchinsky, is captured. Splendid. In broad daylight, in the presence of workers hauling clay (fully documented!), Beilis calmly drags the boy toward an empty kiln, like a housewife carrying a freshly caught chicken: the matter is apparently urgent. Is it indeed possible to prosecute, arrest, and try an individual on the basis of allegations rooted in such assumptions?" writes Vladimir Korolenko. Korolenko attended almost all court sessions and authored the appeal "To Russian Society (Regarding the Blood Libel Against Jews)," which was endorsed by prominent writers and public figures.

Ultimately, following intense deliberations, the court acquitted Beilis, rendering the "Beilis Case" the most prominent trial in Imperial Russia. 

Vladimir Jabotinsky's essays "Instead of an Apology" and "Cases Without Beilis" retain a remarkably contemporary relevance today. In these works, he argues against the tendency of Jews, both then and now, to justify themselves against false accusations. Jabotinsky wrote:

"There is no ritual murder among us, nor has there ever been... why then should we put ourselves on the defense—we, who heard these slanders long before today's civilized nations even existed? We owe an account to no one, we take exams before no one, and no one has achieved the standing required to call us to account."

Both then and now, the burden of proof does not lie with the Jewish people to establish their innocence. Rather, those who maintain the belief that Jews consume the blood of Christians must prove the validity of their assertion—an assertion that can only be characterized as sheer ignorance. 

In alignment with Jabotinsky's view, we regard it as beneath our dignity for Jews to spend centuries defending themselves against claims of using Christian blood for Pesach matzo, or, as became fashionable in the early 20th century, seeking forgiveness for the revolution and various other unsubstantiated grievances.

Dr. Haim Ben Yakov