Comunitá Ebraica di Italia
European history has been warped by anti-Semitism, even in the twentieth century—or especially in the twentieth century. So Ken and Diane thought it important to visit the synagogues and Jewish museums in the cities they visited.
The Jewish community in Rome dates back to 161 BCE when representatives sought help against Antiochus IV. Many Jews decided to move to Rome because it was a good trade center. After Titus destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the community expanded. Because they predate the division into Sephardic and Ashkenaz (those who went to Moorish Spain and those who went to northern or eastern Europe), the Roman Jews speak neither Landino nor Yiddish. They have their own language that is a mixture of Hebrew and Italian, and their own culture. Of course, when the Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain by the Catholics in the fifteenth century or when Ashkenaz Jews had to flee their homes, some went to Rome. The main synagogue we visited in Rome therefore has three copies of the Torah in the sanctuary, representing these three communities of Jews in Rome.
In 1555 the Pope issued a decree that forced all Jews to live in a ghetto next to the Tiber River. Not only were Jews restricted to this area and excluded from most jobs. Every Shabbat they had to go to a nearby Catholic church to hear a priest preach conversion at them. The photo of the Catholic church on the right is not good enough to see the inscription under the picture, which is in Hebrew and Latin. Hebrew was used because Jews were forced to go there, not because the church was ecumenical or humanist.
Only during the brief time that the citizens of Rome tried to set up a government separate from the Pope and when Napoleon conquered, were the Jews freed. When Italy was unified in 1870 the Ghetto was finally demolished.
Mussolini again enforced laws excluding Jews from schools and professions, but he did not carry out the genocide of German fascism. However, in 1943 the Germans occupied Italy. When the SS commander arrived in Rome, he told the rabbi that the community could be ransomed for 50 kilos of gold. The Jews frantically collected the gold from all their households and from Christian friends who would help. (The receipts are in the museum we visited.) Two weeks after the 51 kilos were delivered, the SS began its raids, sending about 2091 of the 9,000 Jews in Rome to the death camps.
How did the others escape the raids? I asked. "We hid in the ruins," the guide at the museum said, "in places like the Coliseum."
Synagogue in Rome
Catholic Church in Ghetto
Synagogue in Florence
Two Views in Florence
Etching from Venetian Studio
The Jewish Community
The community in Florence had a different background and experience. The famous Medici ruler and humanist Lorenzo the Magnificent invited Sephardic Jews to settle in Florence in the fifteenth century because he wanted to have international traders and bankers in the city state. The guide at the synagogue said that even when the ghetto existed, restrictions were not so rigorously enforced. When Napoleon opened the gates of the ghetto, she said, it was not such an enormous change as elsewhere. Again, in Florence the occupation of the Germans meant that about one-fourth of the community, including the rabbi, were sent to the death camps.
In 1872 David Levi, donated enough money to build a synagogue "worthy of Florence". Because the Florentine Jews were Sephardic, the design of their synagogue recalls the Muslim art of Moorish Spain. It was dedicated October 24, 1882.
The Nazi occupation used the synagogue as a warehouse and stable. When the fascists were driven out of Florence they mined the synagogue with explosives before they left. Fortunately, the partisans were able to diffuse most of the bombs so that only one gallery fell and could be replaced.
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Unfortunately, we were in Venice on a Friday and Saturday so could not visit the synagogue before we left on Sunday. However, Venice has the oldest Jewish ghetto in Europe. Today it is being restored as a community and cultural center. When we wandered to the area on Sunday morning and asked about the Synagogue, a man laughed and pointed out "There, and there, and there—there are four synagogues here." (Of course, this was done in Italian, but I can't quite write that out.) We did not get to visit the synagogue since our train was leaving soon, but did go into one of the many artist galleries and studio workshops to see the beautiful etchings.
Today there are about 36,000 Jews in Italy. All synagogues are Orthodox.