Tzafrir Barzilay wins the Salo Baron Prize 2023

Congratulation to Tzafrir Barzilay for winning the Salo Baron Prize 2023 for his book Poisoned Wells: Accusations, Persecution, and Minorities in Medieval Europe, 1321-1422 (University of Pennsylvania Press).

In Poisoned Wells, Tzafrir Barzilay engages his readers in a fascinating and multi-layered discussion of how the myth of poisoned wells emerged and developed in medieval Europe. Jews and other minority groups were often accused of poisoning wells with the supposed aim of harming their neighbors, saving their own lives, or both. Barzilay sets on to study the origins of the story of well-poisoning, the mechanism by which it spread through Europe, and the reasons why the accusations directed at minorities emerged. Meticulously researched, and beautifully written, the book is based on sources that are both difficult to find and analyze, among them chronicles, official correspondence, and interrogation records in four languages, from archives of France, Spain, Germany, and Switzerland. The book pays close attention to the context of the Black Death as the turning point for the persecution of Jews in Europe, but focuses, for the first time in scholarship, on the content of the actual accusations. 

The American Academy for Jewish Research (www.aajr.org) is the oldest professional organization of Judaica scholars in North America.  Its membership consists of senior scholars whose work has made a major impact on their field.

The Baron Prize honors the memory of the distinguished historian Salo W. Baron, a long-time president of the AAJR, who taught at Columbia University for many decades.  It is one of the signal honors that can be bestowed on a young scholar in Jewish Studies and a sign of the excellence, vitality, and creativity of the field. 


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Andreas Lehnertz (June 20, 2023). Tzafrir Barzilay wins the Salo Baron Prize 2023. medievalJewishStudiesNow! Retrieved March 10, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/ri42


About Andreas Lehnertz

As Juniorprofessor of medieval history with a specialization in Jewish history at the University of Trier, Andreas Lehnertz studies the social, cultural, and religious history of Europe. His academic pursuits focus on the nuanced dynamics of everyday Christian-Jewish relations, the study of marginal Hebrew and Yiddish deeds, the study of Jewish and general sealing practices, and the in-depth study of Jewish craftspeople. He wrote a book on "Jewish Seals in the Medieval German Empire: The Authentication and Self-Representation of Jewish Men and Women". His expertise has been further honed through his roles as a postdoctoral fellow in the ERC project "Beyond the Elite - Jewish Daily Life in Medieval Europe" at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and as a member of the Martin Buber Society in the Humanities and Social Sciences, also at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Currently he writes a book about "Jewish Craftspeople in Medieval Germany". Through his research and publications, he aims to make a meaningful contribution to the academic discourse surrounding medieval history and to provide valuable insights into the rich tapestry of European history during this pivotal period.