Many who were fainthearted and weak by nature saw the instruments of torture and couldn’t withstand the trial. In their distress, they crossed over to the other faith. Some then turned against their former brethren, drawing their bows and preparing their arrows to strike whomever they wished with deadly accusations.

The people of Israel have therefore fallen upon difficult times. Unless we act immediately, danger may come upon the entire community. It’s our duty to take counsel and save ourselves and our people before the evil arrives.

Murders and riots have already occurred in various places, yet no effective protest has been made. If the communities were united in a single association with a common treasury, they would be able to defend themselves and obtain punishment for those who attacked them.

What value would our money have if our lives were in danger? Since there’s no leader who has accepted responsibility for protecting the flock of the Lord, the representatives have assembled at the invitation of the Jewish community of Barcelona to consider this dangerous situation.

The matter can’t be left to each community separately, since each is too weak to meet the danger alone. Our only means of saving ourselves is to use our financial resources. If one community doesn’t assist another, we’ll be unable to bring the annual taxes assessed upon us into the king’s treasury, and we’ll appear ungrateful in the eyes of the king and his princes.

We’ve therefore agreed to establish an organization responsible for these funds. Commissioners shall be appointed for five years. They shall approach our lord the king and seek his approval for the union of the communities and for the ordinances adopted by this council.

The commissioners shall ask the king to intercede with the king of nations, the pope, either by letter or through worthy ambassadors. They shall request a decree forbidding Christian crowds from attacking Jews whenever a natural disaster, such as plague or famine, occurs.

Instead, Christians should seek the Lord’s favor through charity and acts of kindness. They shouldn’t add transgression to their sins by destroying the Jews whom, according to their own faith, they’re required to preserve.

The commissioners shall request a papal decree forbidding Christians from attacking Jewish communities because of an alleged desecration of the host. Anyone accused of such an offense should be properly tried and punished if found guilty, but the pope should prohibit any general attack upon the Jews under penalty of excommunication.

The pope should also reject the alleged miracles associated with accusations of host desecration, which are used to incite crowds to violence. He should declare that anyone who believes such stories acts contrary to the Christian faith and its laws, which command Christians to leave a remnant of Israel in the land.

The commissioners shall seek a decree forbidding Christians from laying siege to the Jewish quarter around Easter. Jews shouldn’t be subjected to suffering beyond the legal requirement that they remain inside their houses behind closed doors on the appointed day.

They shall also seek limitations upon the authority of the Inquisition. A Jew should be judged guilty of heresy only when he denies a principle of his own religion, such as the existence of God or the divine origin of the Torah. A Jew shouldn’t be charged with heresy for holding an opinion that is heretical according to Christianity but consistent with Judaism.

If the commissioners can’t obtain this provision, they shall seek a decree requiring the Inquisition to give an accused Jew a written statement of the charges against him and permit him to receive legal counsel.

They shall further obtain a declaration that when a Christian wishes to return something stolen or violently taken from a Jew, he must return it to that Jew, either directly or through a priest. He won’t be released from his obligation by giving it to one of the Jew’s creditors.

Because we know our own needs and because the heart knows its own bitterness, we’ve decided to send wise and understanding men to oversee this work. They shall seek the decrees required for all the matters described above, insofar as they’re able to obtain them.

The commissioners shall have authority over these matters and everything connected with them. They may appoint advocates and agents in any place or kingdom and seek assistance from our lord the king, any prince or ruler, or any other person in the world.

Although we can’t enforce every part of Jewish law, particularly where capital punishment is involved, every informer found in any city should be removed. The commissioners may punish him according to his wrongdoing, declare him an informer and expel him.

This shall apply when the denunciation concerns a public matter that could, Heaven forbid, bring harm upon all our people. It won’t apply to a private denunciation from which no general harm can result.

The communities shall maintain a common fund to oppose anyone who incites the population to violence against them, for evil of this kind spreads. Private disputes between individual Jews and Christians shall receive no attention unless they threaten harm to the wider community.

The commissioners shall seek a decision from the Cortes declaring that anyone who kills a Jew or attempts to incite others to violence against the Jews may find no refuge in the territory of any noble or prince. Every ruler must expel such a person from his lands.

Whenever the nobles and princes assemble in the Cortes of the kingdom, the commissioners shall send agents to protect the interests of the communities. The commissioners themselves may attend if necessary, and they shall continue this work throughout their five-year term.