I’m visiting Israel at the moment and just went to the holocaust museum in Tel Aviv. Obviously one reflects on the appalling Nazi holocaust – but I also thought about those many centuries of pogroms and persecutions that Jews faced across Europe. In the Templar period, Jewish people were massacred during the frenzy whipped up by the crusades. They often had few defenders but Bernard of Clairvaux demand they be protected.
Bernard of Clairvaux was the great spiritual force behind the Templars – the Cistercian ascetic who promoted the Order in its early years and is believed to have largely authored the Rule. As I’m in Jerusalem and have just visited the museum commemorating the Holocaust – an emotionally draining experience – I thought it was worth recalling what Bernard thought about the Jews.
Jewish people find an unlikely defender in Bernard of Clairvaux
In the twelfth century, anti-semitism was on the rise as the Crusades often swept up the Jews in the role of infidels – also, often being money lenders it was a chance for gentiles in debt to hit out at their creditors. Bernard was a man of his time and could have been a vicious anti-semite but on purely theological grounds, he argued for a cessation of violence towards the Jews. Why?
Well, Bernard of Clairvaux believed that the Jews had to be present on Judgment Day to see that the Christians had been right about Jesus as Messiah and they had been wrong. That’s a crude summing up. So his support for Jewish people came with theological strings attached.
Bernard wrote: “The Jews must not be persecuted, slaughtered, nor even driven out”. He believed that Jews were “living words of Scripture,” reminding Christians of the Passion of Christ, and that their dispersion was a form of punishment for their role in the crucifixion, making them “living witnesses of our redemption”.
Bernard held that Jews would ultimately be converted, believing their suffering would lead them to recognise the truth of Christianity. When a fanatical monk, Radulf, incited violence against Jews during the Second Crusade, Bernard traveled to Germany to silence him and return him to his monastery.
Despite his efforts to protect Jews, Bernard also made demeaning comments about Jews and Judaism, which is a reflection of the complex and sometimes contradictory nature of his views. There is a compelling argument for saying that despite his calls for non-violence towards the Jews, the theology that he advocated actually led to the complete opposite outcome: more violence.
Here is an unbelievably touching and poignant image in the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem which I had to photograph even though visitors are not supposed to take any snaps. It made me terribly sad and I wanted to share it with you. These are people who died in the Nazi concentration camps.
If you would like to know more about the Knights Templar, then get your hands on a copy of my book: The Knights Templar – History & Mystery. Published by Pen & Sword and available on Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, and WHSmith. Don’t miss out on your copy!
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