thought to be medicinally efficacious. Under the stress of forced conversions, expulsions and massacres, Toaff thinks it possible that in certain Ashkenazi groups dried human blood came to play a magical role in calling down God's vengeance on Christians, the historic persecutors of the Jews, and that this reaction may have affected certain forms of ritual practice among a restricted number of Ashkenazi Jews during Passover. See also Kashrut References Studies Sabina Loriga, "The Controversies over the Publication of Ariel Toaff's "Bloody Passovers"," Journal of The Historical Society, 8,4 (2008), 469-502. External links Commentary (German) by Johannes Heil of the University of Heidelberg Commentary on Toaff's Book on Blood Libel (Haaretz) Article on Toaff and the Jewish-Italian Community (Haaretz) A blood-stained version of history (Haaretz) Toaff fights for his good name (Haaretz) MKs demand the author of blood libel book be prosecuted (Haaretz) Professor's Claim Of Truth To 'Blood Libel' Plays Into Hands Of Anti-Semites—from the ADL 1942 births Living people 20th-century Italian Jews Italian emigrants to Israel Judaic studies Blood libel Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University