Jews have had a long history with cleanliness. We ritually wash our hands before eating bread (or, in this case, matzah); we sanctify our dishes before first use by dipping them in the mikveh, the ritual bath; and we regularly immerse in the  mikveh.  

Yet Jews have historically been blamed for plagues. While the Black Plague wiped out 30-60% of Europe's population, Jewish communities were disproportionately spared-- likely because of our emphasis on cleanliness and ritual hand-washing. In medieval Europe, Jews were blamed so often, and so viciously, that it is surprising it was not called the Jewish Death. During the pandemic’s peak in Europe, from 1348 to 1351, more than 200 Jewish communities were wiped out, their inhabitants accused of spreading contagion or poisoning wells.

Dr. Martin J. Blaser, a historian who is chairman of medicine at New York University’s medical school, offers an intriguing hypothesis for why Jews became scapegoats in the Black Death: they were largely spared, in comparison with other groups, because grain was removed from their houses for Passover, discouraging the rats that spread the disease. The plague peaked in spring, around Passover.

Unfortunately, even today, alt-right groups blame Jews for the spread of the coronavirus. 


haggadah Section: Rachtzah
Source: "Finding a Scapegoat When Epidemics Strike" by Donald G. McNeil Jr.