The Blood Libel and the Blood of Circumcision: An Ashkenazic Custom That Disappeared in the Middle Ages

Discusses a custom which appears in a book on laws and customs of circumcision by R. Jacob ha-Gozer (ca. 1230, in the region of Worms or Mainz), written by his pupil. The book relates that the cloth on which the "mohel" wipes his hands and mouth, sullied by blood, is spread over the synagogue entrance to publicize the commandment. This book is the only source relating this custom. Queries why the custom disappeared, suggesting that the chronology of the custom's decline accords with the rise of the incidence of blood libels in 13th-century Ashkenaz and the beginning of the Christian association of Christian blood with the circumcision ceremony. Therefore, apparently, a historic factor caused the demise of the custom rather than the usual rabbinic decree.