Eleventh Plague

Jeremy Brown, a physician and a historian of science and medicine at the National Institute of Health, traces the less familiar ways epidemics have shaped Jewish life. The ten plagues of the Bible, which strike Egypt from a downpour of frogs to the death of the firstborn, are only the beginning.

The Talmudic Sages saw infectious illness as woven into the created world. In later centuries, many people came to blame sickness on harmful spells and incantations, and a counter-magic emerged in response, including amulets and sought-out miracle workers. Brown also shows that Jews at times visited Christian shrines and asked the saints there for help.

When the Black Death reached Europe in 1348, Jews suffered twice: they died of the disease, for which they were blamed, and they faced the anti-Semitic violence that followed. Brown records that at least 235 Jewish communities were persecuted, even though Pope Clement IV decreed excommunication for anyone who joined in or authorized the persecution.

The book covers premodern and early modern plagues, rabbinic responses to smallpox and cholera, and the particular vulnerabilities that prejudice created for Jewish immigrants in the United States. It also examines the practice of "Black Weddings," in which two orphans are married in a cemetery. The custom became popular during the 1918 influenza pandemic and was revived during Covid-19, showing that the connections between Judaism and infectious disease still matter today.