A child custody case gone wrong more than one way TB Ketubot 102

A manuscript variant of the story on daf TB Ketubot 102 concerning child custody claims sheds light on the precarious life Jews have lived from ancient times to the 21^st century.

“As it is taught in a baraita: In the case of one who died and left a minor son to the care of his mother, and the heirs of the father say: The son should grow up with us, and his mother says: My son should grow up with me, the halakha is that one leaves the child with his mother, and one does not leave the child with one who is fit to inherit from him, i.e., the father’s heirs. An incident occurred, and the boy lived with his father’s heirs, and they slaughtered him on the eve of Passover. So too, a minor girl is not left in the care of those who are obligated to sustain her and who have a financial interest in her demise.

“The Gemara answers: If that is so, let the mishna teach that the husband must bring the sustenance to the place where she, the daughter, is located.” (Sefaria.org translation)

There are manuscripts that have a different version of the story. Instead of “They slaughtered him on the eve of Passover”, these manuscripts read “They slaughtered him on the eve of Rosh Hashanah-מַעֲשֶׂה הָיָה וּשְׁחָטוּהוּ ער"ה!” How do we account for these two different versions and which one seems to be the more correct one?

I believe that this horrific story took place on the eve of Passover because the Gemara dafka uses the verb ritually slaughtered “שְׁחָטוּהוּ” which immediately brings associations with the korban Pesakh, the Paschal lamb sacrifice. I think that the text was purposely changed because of Christian blood libel accusations.

“Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation)^[1][2] is an antisemitic canard^[3][4][5] which falsely accuses Jews of murdering Christian boys in order to use their blood in the performance of religious rituals.^[1][2][6] Historically, echoing very old myths of secret cultic practices in many prehistoric societies, the claim as it is leveled against Jews, was rarely attested to in antiquity. It was however, frequently attached to early communities of Christians in the Roman Empire, re-emerging as a European Christian accusation against Jews in the medieval period.^[7][8] This libel—alongside those of well poisoning and host desecration—became a major theme of the persecution of Jews in Europe from that period to the present day.^[4]

“Blood libels typically claim that Jews require human blood for the baking of matzos, an unleavened flatbread which is eaten during Passover, although this element of the accusation was allegedly absent in the earliest blood libels in which then-contemporary Jews were accused of re-enacting the crucifixion. The accusations often assert that the blood of Christian children is especially coveted, and historically, blood libel claims have been made in order to account for the otherwise unexplained deaths of children. In some cases, the alleged victims of human sacrifice have become venerated as Christian martyrs. Three of these – William of Norwich, Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, and Simon of Trent – became objects of local cults and veneration; and although he was never canonized, the veneration of Simon was added to the General Roman Calendar. One child who was allegedly murdered by Jews, Gabriel of Białystok, was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

“In Jewish lore, blood libels served as the impetus for the writing of the Golem of Prague by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel in the 16th century.^[9] According to Walter Laqueur:

“Altogether, there have been about 150 recorded cases of blood libel (not to mention thousands of rumors) that resulted in the arrest and killing of Jews throughout history, most of them in the Middle Ages. In almost every case, Jews were murdered, sometimes by a mob, sometimes following torture and a trial.^[10]” (for the full article go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel)

 

To prevent this story on daf Ketubot 102 from being mis-quoted as proof that Jews slaughter Gentile children for their blood, some manuscripts changed the timeframe from the eve of Passover to the eve of Rosh Hashanah.