No one thought it could happen here. Yet, eighty four years ago today, the Jewish community of Massena, New York was accused of ritually murdering a non-Jewish child.
On September 22, 1928, just two days before Yom Kippur in the rural town of Massena, NY, four-year-old Barbara Griffiths disappeared. After a long and fruitless search by state police, a rumor began to circulate that the non-Jewish girl had been kidnapped and killed by the town's Jews for a religious ritual associated with the upcoming holiday. An angry mob gathered in the town square as the state trooper approached the local rabbi’s home just hours before Yom Kippur…
The Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) has produced a short video describing these events and their astonishing outcome.
