Today we received a tour of the Jewish Synagogue and the former Ghetto. Our guide, Gabriella, took us around the area, which extends for about 4 blocks. It is hard to imagine 5000 people living in the Ghetto for 300 hundred years (from 1555 to 1870), confined in a space of 250m by 200m, experiencing constant floods in the winter and allowed to go out of the gate only during certain times of the day and returning before curfew each night… Gabriella emphasized that the Roman Jews have a strong connection to the land, and has a unique identity, because they have lived in Rome even before the Diaspora; it is the oldest surviving Jewish community in the Western world. Only in 1870, when the Kingdom of Italy was established and the political power of the Pope was taken away, did the Jews gain citizenship. This lasted only for 68 years however, until 1938 when Mussolini stripped their citizenship away. The tour took a darker turn when we were shown the museum. The Nazis demanded the Jewish community produce 50kg of gold within 36 hours, or else they will seize the Ghetto. The whole community and outsiders came together and produced enough gold, even in such difficult times. We were shown all the receipts of collected items, and there were hundreds of them. Their effort was worthless however, because days later, Nazis rounded up the Jews in the Ghetto and began their deportation to Auschwitz. Although a total of 2091 Jews were sent to Auschwitz from the Jewish Ghetto, the Catholic community in Rome saved more than 8000 Jews. Italy came in second in the number of Jews the country saved.
Our guide Garbriella
Our group walking through the former Ghetto
The Synagogue
Our museum guide also showed us the great Synagogue, which has fabulous ornamentations inside, with a rainbow colored ceiling and significant symbols painted everywhere. It stands out as the only square-based dome in all of Rome; you can easily distinguish the synagogue dome from the hundreds of circular-based domes of churches. We learned that there are 14000 Jewish people living in Rome today, out of 5 million citizens. Roman Jews are Orthodox Jews, and each family gives money to the Jewish community which supports the 15 synagogues, rabbis and rabbinical schools, festivals, etc. I love that every Jewish person belongs to the entire community, not just to a synagogue, and he can attend any synagogue in the city that he wishes to. Today, television stars and notable journalists inhabit this fancy area and few Jews live here. However, it remains the cultural center for the Roman Jewish community.
Ciao for now,
SiJia
Excellent synopsis of the tour.
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