What reigious belief helped jews from obtaining the black death/plague?....(theres more)..........?

Question

How was this different than many christians in society? Why were teh jews persecuted during this time period.

Answer 1

The mikva, or ritual bath was probably what saved most Jews from plague. The black death was a hygene thing. It was spread by rats, or more specifically, the fleas they carried. If you bathed regularly, you were less likely to have fleas and therefore less likely to contract the plague. Jews in urban areas who had access to communal baths bathed every day before morning prayers. Even Jews in rural areas would bathe once a week, on Shabbat (the sabbath), even if they didn't bathe any other time. That put them far ahead of most gentiles at the time who bathed seldom if at all. Believe it or not, most Christians in medieval times consider bathing unhealthy.
As for why Jews were persecuted during this time, it was because their hygene gave them widespread immunity from the plague. As a result, Christians who never seemed to miss an opportunity to scapegoat Jews in those days, took that immunity as a sign that Jews either started the plague to get rid of their Christian neighbors, or else were in league with the devil (and the devil was protecting his own).

Answer 2

The Jewish prohibition against being around a dead body, as well as their cleanliness habits as decreed in the Torah (which by the way is the same thing as the first 5 books of any Bible), and later, their practical isolation from mixing with other people all contributed to them being nearly free of the plague.

The common thought was that the Jews must be getting poison from the devil and pouring it down the wells of Christians (or throwing it into the air) to kill them all off.
To be fair, the Church said this was not so, but the masses didn't hear it. The Church's message that the Jews killed "god" but meant no harm to the Christian world just didn't add up.
Remember also that lepers were persecuted as bringers of the plague too. Leprosy was not seen as a disease, but as a result of a corrupt soul.

Answer 3

In the first place, that "the Jews" did not get the plague is not at all a fact. In the second place, during the Black Death times, Jews were ghettoized, and may not have been as exposed to the filth that Christians lived in, so they may have been perceived as not getting the plague, and so since they were perceived as "not getting the plague," naturally resentment set in, and they were hated for still another "reason." And as always, since Jews were hated, whether they got the plague or not, they would be blamed for causing it, just as they are blamed for everything that people don't like - wars, floods, tsunamis, your brother-in-law's hang nail...

Answer 4

not that i know jews that much but the spread of the disease was thought to have been airborne, which was wrong, the jews beliefs probably come in where the Europeans, after catching the plague and die, would have their clothes taken since they were of no use to the dead. The cause of the plague was the fleas who got it from rats. Jews have always been persecuted, the main thought was to christians jews killed jesus, and retain the holy land.

Answer 5

There were several waves of plagues of Black Death in Europe. You need to be a bit more specific. But the Jews are not any healthier than we are. There also were not that many Jews in Europe at the times, so a lot fewer would have to go though it.

Answer 6

the primary theory is they were less likely to 'catch' the plague do to religious law which required frequent hand washing and bathing rituals. Today we know this would kill germs. Back in the dark ages however, no one knew about germs. One frequently the cause of sickness and death was thought to be a moral/religious deficiency.

Because the Jewish population suffered fewer deaths then the rest of society, a popular theory was that they were devil-worshipers... they made pacts with Satan, and so were protected from the plague. In some instances they were accused of spreading the plague.