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Page Twenty-Two
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
April 5, 1963
The History of the Ghetto
The Walls Built Around J ews
by Dr. Ernest Philip
(Standard Feature Syndicate)
In the narrow lanes and by
ways of the old Jewish quarter
of many a town, there grew up
that beautiful Jewish home-life
which, though its story is seldom
recorded, is more important than
the outer events and misfortunes
that the historians have made
note of. As we look upon the
unsightly houses, the wretched
exterior seems to float away
and the touching home-scenes of
joy and love and religious con
stancy shine brilliantly forth—
perpetual lamps—and explain
how, in spite of misery and woe,
such as have fallen to the lot
of other people, the Jews have
found strength to live and hope
on.
Stories of Jewish martyrdom
hold an important place in the
checkered history of the Jewish
people. The darkness and misery
of Jewish life in the Middle
Ages is best characterized by
the ghetto in which they were
compelled to live. The institu
tion of the high-walled ghetto
with its entrance gates locked
at 6:00 p.m. with its low crumb
ling houses, is most closely asso
ciated with the cruel isolation
of the Jews. It was a severely
restricted district within a city
outside of which the Jews were
not allowed to live. “The out
look of the ghetto divided the
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Nearly Right Won’t Do”
Universe into two: this world for
the Gentiles the hereafter for
the Jews," said Ben Gurion in
a speech delivered on August
18th 1940.
But in those gloomy, tumble-
down houses, intellectual en
deavors were at white heat. The
torch of faith blazoned clear in
them. In the abject, dishonored
sons of the gheto were hidden
intellectual giants.
The origin of the word "Ghet
to” is obscure. Many are the
etymological suggestions. The
Jews of former days, however,
explained it with bitter humor
by tracing it to the Hebrew
word ‘get’ which means ‘sepra
tion’ or ‘divorce.’
Why Was the Ghetto
Instituted?
Even before the days of the
compulsory ghetto, the Jews na
turally gathered together since
they felt more at ease among
their own people and could more
easily carry through their so
cial fuctions. Thus they avoided
cruel insults and dangers which
would be inevitable had they
lived scattered in a hostile com
munity.
lished in the earlv Middle Ages
in many cities. The Spanish
in many citiies. The Spanish
towns of Toledo and Cortez in
stituted their own ghettos in 1480.
The 16th century, however, was
the “Ghetto Century.” It spread
from city to city, from province
to province and there was
scarcely a spot in all Europe
where Jews were not herded to
gether like cattle, marked to live
in the filthiest and most unsani
tary parts of the town. They soon
were incredibly crowded, suffer
ing illnesses and plagues and
frequently from devastating
fires. “Congestion,” says Israel
Zangwill, in “The Voice of Jeru
salem,” was the characteristic
even of the ghetto graveyard,
as is still to be seen at Prague,
where the tragic huddles of
countless gravestones in every
stage of decrepitude and deface
ment and at every angle of de
clension, almost suggest a strug
gle for a place not in the sun,
but in the earth.”
The ghetto of Rome was the
physical symbol of all that was
foul in papal bigotry. Another
typical ghetto was established in
Frankfort-on-the-Main. It con
sisted of a narrow Jews’ Street
(Judenstrasse), only 12 feet wide
in which were thrust 4,000 per
sons, distributed through 190
houses. When the terrible fire
of 1711 spread, the worst ever
in medieval German history, the
ghetto was completely destroyed.
Great difficulties had to be
overcome before the homeless
Jews were permitted to build it
up again. On top, there were
issued further restrictions.
The ghetto in Prague was the
most famous and least restricted
of them all. In their own section
of the beautiful, ancient city,
the Jews enjoyed an autonomous
life. They had many beautiful
synagogues, their own townhall
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and guildhalls.
Wealth In the Ghetto
Every ghetto had a few fami
lies who managed to escape
poverty. Some were physicians
often called by well-to-do Chris
tians, despite the veto of the
Church. A small number, well
versed in business, became ad
visers to nobility. Others were
able to lend large sums to
princes and Gentiles of the
upper classes. And did not to
mention only two examples —
Amsel Mayer Rothschild of the
Rothschild financial dynasty
come from Frankfort’s Jews’
Street?—’then there was Morde-
cai Meisel of Prague who loaned
considerable sums to the em
peror. But when he died child
less, the emperor confiscated
Meisel’s wealth.
Evaluation
No other medieval institution
molded the Jews better than
ghetto life. In summary, how
ever, the darkness of Jewish
life in the Middle Ages was not
without relief. Political and eco
nomic restrictions were often
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not enforced. Sometimes a year
passed without any storm to dis
turb the Jews’ peace; the Sab
bath and the holidays, the en
gagements and marriages, the
Fair days and the Brith—they
all brought their joys and made
life happy behind the high
ghetto walls.
Despite outer gloom, the Jews
succeeded in retaining their op
timism regarding their own and
mankind’s future. The modern
scholar, Israel Abrahams, said:
“A merry spirit smiled on Jew
ish life in the Middle Ages
joyousness forming, in the Jew
ish conception, the coping stone
of piety.”
A Street in the ancient ghetto of Prague.
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