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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
The Jews of Venice
By Simon Kimon
(A Seven Arts Feature)
VENICE, Italy—You reach the
ancient Jewish ghetto in Venice
best by disembarking from your
gondola or vaporetto at San Mar-
cuolia, not too far from the rail
road station. From there it is a
short walk indeed, but even
Jewish tourists seldom take it,
perhaps because by other routes
through tortuous alleys it is not
easy to find. This is a pity, since
the Venetian Ghetto Nuovo is
important in Jewish history.
While it is not the oldest Ghetto
in Europe, it is the one that gave
all such contained communities
their name—the word Ghetto or
“Gheto” means ironworks, and
there is still a foundry on the site.
“The modern world,” writes Cecil
Roth, “can furnish examples of
larger, richer and perhaps more
cultured (Jewish) communities,
but none of them today can vie
with the one in Venice during the
period of itfc greatest splendor for
Jewish sentiments, human
warmth or pictorial fascination.
Pare nthetically, the Ghetto
Nuovo, or new Ghetto, is actually
the old Jewish community, while
the adjoining Ghetto Vecchio,
which means old Ghetto, belongs
to a more recent period, and is
less interesting. The confusion is
doubtless due to the tact that the
terms refer to the foundries, and
may have further served to dis
courage visitors.
Compared to the exhi^xerance
of St. Mark’s Plaza, or the ornate
ness of the palaces along the
Grand Canal, the Ghetto Nuovo’s
architecture seems severe and
presents a run-down appearance.
In fact, although Venice as a
whole has a population of 700
Jews, only about ten Jewish fam
ilies reside in the ancient Ghetto.
Nevertheless, there is still much
of Jewish interest to be found
there—-for example, a museum of
ancient Jewish ceremonial objects,
including lavish rabbinical vest
ments and a number of fine
atorot or crowns for the scrolls
of the Torah as well as many
books and incunabula of great in
terest to scholars. Above the
museum is the most recent of the
Ghetto’s six synagogues, an Ash
kenazi house of worship built in
1828. The other five were built
in the sixteenth century, and
they constitute probably the
finest group of synagogues in the
world. The richest of them, the
Sehola Levantina, was built in
1538, redesigned by the famous
Venetian architect, Baldassare
Longhena, in 1654. and contains
carvings by Brustolon.
The wall that contained the
Ghetto has since been torn down,
but oddly, the area still retains its
ancient aspect. Some passageways
which were once closed at night
still connect the area with the
rest of the fity. The Campo di
Ghetto, or public square, is large
by Venetian standards, with a
well in the center, and the build
ings around it are six stories high;
space was at a premium in the
fast growing city of the Venetian
Republic.
The first record of Jews ar
riving in Venice dates back to
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s M IP m
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serve Manischewitz, the traditional wine for Passover.
Accept no substitutes. Certified Kosher for Passover by
the Manischewitz Hoard of Rabbinical Supervision, headed
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1373, and they were originally
supposed to have settled on the
large island of Giudecca—hence
the name. They were tolerated as
in -lie., -lenders and merchants
and on the whole not badly
treated. However, with the large
itulux of Jews lleeing Spam and
Portugal in 1492 and 1497, res
trictions grew tighter, humilia
tions were frequent and in 1516
they were confined within the
gates of the present Ghetto.
Nevertheless, Jews in Venice
fared better in Venice than in
most parts of Europe, and there
was a period, in fact, when Ve
netian Jews enjoyed special pres
tige, and were consulted in mat
ters ox law and scholarship by
people from all over Europe.
Perhaps their most useful func
tion was as printers during this
period, but they contributed
some notable names to Jewish
history, the most important of
which was rabbi Leon de Modena
(1571-1648) preacher, poet, mu-
s ...an and scholar. In more mod
ern times, the Jews of Venice
have furnished notable warriors
and statesmen to Italy, the most
revered of whom was Daniele
Manin (1804-1857) who led the
heroic resistance of the Venetians
against Austria in 1848 and whose
family name is the same as that
ot the last Doge of Venice, Lud
ovico Manin. However, Daniele’s
father was born Samuel Medina,
and apparently adopted the name
of Manin when he converted to
Catholicism. Luigi Luzzatti (1841-
lu27), president of the Council of
Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy,
was also a Vatican Jew.
No Jewish traveler to Venice
should leave without visiting the
ancient Jewish burial ground on
the Lido, which vies with the
more famous cemetery of Prague
in sombre beauty and romantic
interest. The titled stones and the
carvings and inscriptions are gen
uine works of art, and the names
are evocative of history. On Sep
tember 25, 1386, the Venetian
authorities granted to Salomone,
resident of Santa Sofia and t'o one
Cristante, resident of Sant’ Apon-
al, and to all the Jews of Venice
a piece of ground at San Nicolo
on the Lido in which to bury their
dead.
With another deed in 1389, the
same Magistrature authorized the
surrounding of the land by a
fence to protect it from the in
sults to which it was subjected
("propter anormia quae fiebant
ad corpora Judeorium”). In 1578
the cemetery was enlarged by the
addition of a plot of ground ob
tained from the monks of San
Nicolo in return for the sum of
eight ducats together with a cere
monial candle.
Leon da Modena lies buried
there, and also Samuel Aboab, an
illustrious name; Elia Levita, the
Friday, April 21, 1967
grammarian (d. 1549); the poetess
Sara Copia Sullam (d. 1641); and
members of the Saravel, Cara-
vcaglio, Jesurum, Franco de’Al-
meida, Dal Medigo, Alfarin, Ca-
miz, Fonseca, Cividal, Calinani
and Lombroso families.
Book Fair Opens
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The
third International Book Fair,
with some 80,000 books from 25
counrties on display, was qpened
here by President Shazar. More
than 1,000 publishing houses from
both eastern and western coun
tries took part.
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