"Brit-Am Now"- 6
4/27/02

1.>
"Brit-Am Now"-6
Contents:
1. King David had red hair??
2. Tom Alt: "red-headed devils"

In a message dated 4/26/2002 1:47:08 PM Central Daylight Time, RFermenich writes:

Subject: Re: "Brit-Am Now"- 5: Gog...
>>The Lost Ten Tribes were called "Red Jews" and were
>>described as all having Red Hair. Red Hair in the Middle Ages especially in
>>Germany was considered a negative characteristic and associated with the
>>Jews and with Judas. The Anti-Christ and Judas were depicted as both
>>having red hair and as both coming from the Tribe of Dan. The Jews also believed
>>the Lost Ten Tribes to be in Scythia, in the region by the Caspian
>>Sea.  This belief was widespread and lasted up to ca 1600 ce. Gow quotes
>>David Kaufman (1892): The legend of the Ten Tribes as future deliverers
>>of Israel was "a faith that was slumbering in the popular Jewish
>>consciousness all through the Middle Ages" (JQR, iv, 503-508).Passau Anonymous (1330):
>>  It has been said that King David had red hair.  Was it recorded that he
>> had red hair?  Also, Judas was  of the tribe of Judah, not  Dan.

Answer:
  [1-Samuel 17:42] AND WHEN THE PHILISTINE LOOKED ABOUT, AND SAW DAVID, HE
DISDAINED   HIM: FOR HE WAS BUT A YOUTH, AND RUDDY, AND OF A FAIR COUNTENANCE.
"AND RUDDY" in Hebrew "Admoni" ("Reddish") usually understood to mean red-haired or golden-haired.
"Also, Judas was  of the tribe of Judah, not Dan." -the source is telling us how popular tradition (especially of  Germany) in the 1500s and earlier saw the situation not how it may or may not have been.
Historically what do I care what tribe Judas belonged to or if he even ever existed? If someone says he had  ? fingers on each hand (or something like that) can I prove him wrong?
In the Middle Ages in Europe Judas was popularly considered to have had red hair and red hair was attributed to Jewish blood.
This is what the situation was. It is what the sources say. It is worth taking into account but no-one is saying that it is an opinion worth defending.



2.
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 13:51:42 -0500
From: Tom Alt-CompuCom
Yair,
Chinese friends of mine have told me that westerners, presumably British
and Americans, are referred to in China as "red-headed devils".
Yom tov, Tom


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