The Crusade massacres endure in Jewish custom and liturgy until today. Many elegies were written by contemporary scholars, some of which have been incorporated into the Tishah B’Av kinnot. One example is Mi Yiten Roshi Mayim (“O that my head would be a fountain of tears!”), composed by Rabbi Klonimus ben Yehuda.
The Av Harachimim prayer, beseeching G-d to avenge the blood of those killed to sanctify His name, is recited on Shabbat mornings before the Musaf prayer. It is skipped, however, on Shabbat Mevarchim, the last Shabbat of the month, when we “bless” the upcoming month—an occasion more attuned to positive sentiments. However, it is not skipped on Shabbat Mevarchim Sivan (and in some communities, Shabbat Mevarchim Iyar), the month(s) in which most of the Jewish victims of the First Crusade met their deaths.
Additionally, the 20th of Sivan is a non-obligatory fast day kept to commemorate the martyrs of the Crusades (among other reasons).
FOOTNOTES
1. Rabbi Eliezer bar Natan, Kuntres Gezeirot Tatnu.
2. For a discussion on the halachic permissibility of doing so, see Tosafot and Ritva to Avodah Zarah 18a. Daat Zekeinim MiBaalei HaTosafot to Genesis 9:5. Beit Yosef, Yoreh Deah 157 (Bedek Habayit). Responsa Maharam M’Rotenberg, Machon Yerushalayim ed., vol. 2, pp. 726–727.
3. Rabbi Ephraim of Bonn, Sefer Hazechirah.
4. Ibid.
5. Code of Jewish Law, Orach Chaim 284:7. See Magen Avraham and Machatzit Hashekel ad loc.
