{"id":562,"date":"2022-12-02T09:30:56","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T09:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Louvre\/?p=562"},"modified":"2023-02-08T06:16:42","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T06:16:42","slug":"the-jewish-ghetto-of-venice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/the-jewish-ghetto-of-venice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jewish ghetto of Venice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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CAPTION Carpaccio’s Miracle of the Relic of the True Cross on the Rialto Bridge (15th<\/sup> Century)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Jewish ghetto of Venice <\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Cannaregio district of Venice lies the Jewish ghetto; the first of its kind in Europe, whose very name today still connotes a place of segregation and poverty.\u00a0\u00a0 This quiet part of the city separated by canals and connected by bridges has preserved the religious traditions of a mixed community of Jews for over 500 years. The ghetto had five synagogues representing each diaspora and would eventually stretch across three areas of the city.<\/p>\n

Merchants and Moneylenders<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Jewish population of Venice dates back to the 10th century, when Jewish merchants and moneylenders did business in the city, although they were forbidden from living there.\u00a0 Welcomed by the Catholics during the time of the crusades the Jewish community would play a vital role in the Viennese economy.\u00a0 A maritime empire like the Venetian Republic needed hard cash, but according to the catholic church, usury<\/em> or lending money for interest was illegal.\u00a0 So, the Republic of Venice used Jews for their financing and money laundering operations.\u00a0 Unwilling to let the population mix with the catholic venetians, from the mid thirteenth century, the Jews were settled on the island Spinaulunga<\/em>, known today as Giudecca<\/em>.<\/p>\n

By the 1400s Jews had to wear a distinguishing mark, a yellow hat or scarf, later a red hat. Anti-Jewish laws were passed including the prohibition against owning land (1423) and from building a synagogue (1426). On occasion, Jews were forced to attend Christian services or be baptized, but it was not as a systematic policy of forced conversion as in Rome.<\/p>\n

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The ghetto<\/strong><\/p>\n

The word ghetto<\/em><\/strong> as a place of segregation has its foundations in Venice.\u00a0 Although scholars disagree on the exact etymology, the most popular theories come from \u2018giotto\u2019 or \u2018geto\u2019, meaning \u2018foundry\u2019 as the first Jewish quarter was near a foundry that made canon. Or perhaps it comes from getto, which is the action of pouring molten metal into a mould, or it could derive from \u2018borghetto\u2019 meaning little town.<\/p>\n

In 1516 the ghetto nuova<\/em> or new ghetto was created \u2013 the population moved to a small, dirty island near the iron foundry where many of the Ashkenazi Jews worked.\u00a0 The only access was by two bridges, which were subsequently blocked by gates that were locked from 6pm until mid-day and the canals were patrolled at night.\u00a0 Over time, the buildings became high tenements as more people arrived in the city.<\/p>\n

The ghetto nuova<\/em><\/strong> housed Jews of Italian and German origin.\u00a0 In 1541 the Sephardic Jews from the Levant moved into the ghetto Vecchio<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 In the late 16th century Spanish and Portuguese Jews came to Venice; they were the strongest and wealthiest community in the ghetto.\u00a0 The ghetto\u2019s boundary was extended again and the nuovissimo <\/em><\/strong>(very new) ghetto<\/strong><\/em> was opened to house wealthy Jewish residents. The German, Italian and Levantine communities were independent, with their different rites, yet lived side by side.<\/p>\n

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CAPTION INTERIOR SCOLA SPAGNOLA<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Synagogues of the ghetto<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the ghetto was established, one of the conditions, was that the they were allowed to worship, but it had to be in a way that would not offend the Christians. The law forbade synagogues to be built from the ground, so they had to be created within an existing building. Even today, three of the five synagogues are almost invisible from the outside.<\/p>\n

The Ashkenazi Jews built two synagogues on the top floors of the ghetto building, the Scola Grande Tedesca<\/em><\/strong> in 1528-29 and the Scola Canton<\/em><\/strong> in 1531.\u00a0 The Levantine Jews, had more money and built an extravagant synagogue in 1575 in Ghetto Vecchio<\/em>.\u00a0 The Spanish Jews built a synagogue in 1584.<\/p>\n

Each scole<\/em> or synagogue represented a different ethnic group that had settled and obtained a guarantee of religious freedom: the German and Canton scole practiced the Ashkenazi rite<\/strong>; the Italian, the Italian rite<\/strong> and the Levantine and Spanish, the Sephardic rite<\/strong>. Despite a few later interventions, these synagogues have remained intact over time and testify to the importance of the Venetian ghetto.<\/p>\n

Despite the cramped living conditions, Jewish community life continued to grow inside the ghetto. Life centred around Jewish ritual and customs and the celebration of the Sabbath. Although they were segregated and lived in relatively simple buildings, some Venetian Jews grew rich; (unlike those in the ghetto of Rome, many of whom who lived in abject poverty). \u00a0\u00a0The Venetian Jews had fewer restrictions and suffered less humiliation (than in Rome), they were able to build their own free school, the only one in Venice. Christians came to the ghetto to visit Jewish banks, doctors or shop for spices, jewellery and fabrics.<\/p>\n

The end of the ghetto<\/strong><\/p>\n

The years of segregation came to an end in 1797 when Napoleon\u2019s troops reached Venice and tore open the ghetto gates, many Jews volunteered for Napoleon\u2019s army in gratitude. Venice became part of the Hapsburg empire in 1798 and some of the restrictions were reintroduced, however, the ghetto years were over. Many Jews chose to continue to live in the ghetto, but the wealthy Jews left to live in other parts of the city.<\/p>\n

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CAPTION Campo De Gheto Novo<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ghetto today<\/strong><\/p>\n

Venice still has an orthodox Jewish community of around 500 who are prominent in business and medicine.\u00a0 The small Venetian Jewish community that remains, maintains its customs and traditions and the ghetto is still the heart of the community housing all of the city\u2019s Jewish institutions as well as a social centre, nursing home, bookshop and publishing house and several kosher restaurants.<\/p>\n

At the Calle del Forna<\/em><\/strong>, you will find a bakery making Matzah using the same oven of the ghetto still today. There is a small Jewish museum<\/strong> housed with many ritual objects and fine examples of goldsmith and textiles manufacture of the 16th<\/sup>-19th<\/sup> centuries. There are five Synagogues in Venice<\/strong>, you should book ahead if you would like to visit as they are only accessible by guided tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CAPTION Carpaccio’s Miracle of the Relic of the True Cross on the Rialto Bridge (15th Century) The Jewish ghetto of Venice In the Cannaregio district of Venice lies the Jewish ghetto; the first of its kind in Europe, whose very name today still connotes a place of segregation and poverty.\u00a0\u00a0 This quiet part of the….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1064,"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions\/1064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev1.kindlebit.com\/Development\/Venice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}