Your primary reference source for anything about Judaism or Jewish history should be Encyclopedia Judaica (1972–). Copies are located in both McKeldin and Hornbake.

1. What is the difference between the ritual murder libel and the accusation of Host desecration?

2. What does Hsia mean when he says (p. 5) that he is less interested in the veracity of ritual murder than with “reconstruct[ing] and interpret[ing] the elusive reality, the motives and function behind [it]…real enough to send hundreds…to their deaths.” What does he mean when he says that his task is to analyze “different interpretations of reality” and “to elucidate the production of social knowledge”? A good way to think about this question is to try to examine what Hsia does not want to discuss. Think about what kind of knowledge might be “social” and what kind not.

Make sure you know the meaning of the following terms:

[Christian] Host
eucharist
matzo
pogrom