The Blood Libel of 1757 Translated by Regina Spirn In order not
to leave these pages blank, I will present the story of a NOBLE
DEED, about which I heard yet in my childhood, performed by Reb
Yoske (Reb is a honorific like Mr. - does not mean Rabbi) may
this tzaddik rest (righteous one) rest in peace, the man
everyone calls Reb Yoske Kodosh (martyr) from Dzikow (Kodosh
means holy) but it is also used to refer to people who died for
the sanctification of G-d's name - i.e. they refused an offer to
avoid execution in return for converting to another faith. It is
used here in this sense. How my father wrote me from Jerusalem
the whole story, as he heard it from his father, the illustrious
Rabbi Note (Noh-teh) Shlomo, who had heard it from his father
Reb Leibesh ( or Leybush, a variant of the name Leyb, meaning
lion in Yiddish), son of Hanna, the daughter of Reb Yoske Kodosh
(martyr). This is the story as narrated in my father's letters:
our forefather Reb Yoske Kodosh (martyr) was a shohet in the
town of Dzikow.