York, England

October 2, 2006

It was very interesting that I was with a group from Driffield, England on the Day of Atonement. 

We went to York, England and wound up at Clifford’s Tower, which is  the central stronghold of York Castle.  The castle was first built by William the Conqueror to secure his hold on the north of England.  Over a century after its construction, in 1190, the Jews of York took refuge from a murderous mob in this tower.  This episode is called York’s Blackest Day.

The county militia arrived to eject the Jews by force at the request of the castle constable.  The mob surrounding the castle believed the green light had been given and proceeded to attack.  On the night of Friday 16^th March, the Jewish feast of Shabbat ha-Gadol, the Jews had exhausted their reserve and feared the mob would soon succeed in entering the castle.  Rabbi Yomtob of Joigney called upon the community to commit suicide rather than be murdered or baptized.  Many followed his advice.  The father of each family killed the women and children of his household.  The Rabbi then took his own knife to those who remained before killing himself.  The Jews determined to take their chances with those outside were greeted in the morning with false promises of mercy.  On leaving the castle, they were killed by the crowd outside.

A fire inside the castle burned the bodies of those Jews who died in the mass-suicide.  The massacre wiped out the city’s entire Jewish population, estimated at 150 men, women and children.  The mob then proceeded to York Minster to destroy the bonds documenting the amounts owed to the Jews.  On news of the massacre, Richard II sent instructions for punishment, but all that resulted was a fine and a number of dismissals.

As we walked the ramparts of the castle, the Lord began to show me that the city had been besieged and was being held captive by this.  We began to speak to the spirit of besiegement and command it to let the city go after much repentance had been done for what took place there.  It is interesting to note that all the papers forged by Britain by which they betrayed Israel were forged in Yorkshire, such as the Balfour Agreement, The Sykes-Picot Agreement, The White Paper, etc.

As we left the castle and walked down the street, a picture of a newspaper was displayed in front of one of the stores that provided confirmation.