Jewish Ghetto Research Paper Topics

The word ghetto is derived from the Venetian word "geto" indicating the place where metal was cast: there was an iron foundry here for making cannons until 1390 when it was transferred to the Arsenal. The word ghetto is subsequently used to refer to isolated Jewish communities in other cities. From which the word "Ghetto" derived, the Jewish ghetto of Venice is the world's oldest. Jews from the East, Northern Europe, Spain and Portugal had been coming to Venice for short periods, in which they were sometimes tolerated or persecuted. In 1252, Jews were not allowed to settle in the main part of the city, so they settled on the island of Spinaulunga, which later became Giudecca. Until 1385, when the first Jews began to settle in Venice , Jews were only allowed to come to Venice for money-lending
purposes. But, in 1385, when the city was involved in a war with nearby Chioggia , they needed loans from Jewish money-lenders to finance their campaign and so they allowed Jews to move into the city. But it was not until 1516 that the Maggior Consiglio gave the Jews permission to inhabit part of this city.
Where, at night, all routes leading in an out of the Ghetto were guarded and sealed by locked gates. The Jews had limitations set on their economic activities in Venice. They were only allowed to have pawn shops, trade textiles and practice medicine. Whenever the Jews left the Ghetto area the men had to wear a yellow circle stitched on the left shoulder, while the women wore a yellow scarf. The first Jews to settle in the ghetto of Venice were central European Ashkenazim, constructed two synagogues. In 1528, the Scola Grande Tedesca was built, and later in 1532, the Scola Canton. They are still intact, and occupy the rooms above and adjacent to the Jewish museum. In an area where space was limited, the Jews had no real choice but to build their synagogues in the attic stories of buildings as Jewish law forbids that anything should come between the synagogue and the sky. The next group of Jews to arrive in Venice was the Levantine, who got their neighborhood granted to them in 1541, as part of an expansion of the Jewish ghetto. The Levantine practiced Sephardic
traditions. The Spanish and Portuguese moved into the same area not long after in the late 16th century. This area today, is known as the "new ghetto," Ghetto Vecchio. The Levantine Jews were rich enough to build their synagogue on the ground, and the rich red and gold interior of the Levantine synagogue is particularly special. The Sephardic Jews built the Scola Spagnola. The Spanish Synagogue is a four-story story yellow stone building, constructed in 1550, as the center for Spanish and Portuguese Jewry. The building was restored in 1635. Its interior is more ornate than the Levantine Synagogue and contains three large chandeliers and a dozen smaller ones, as well as a huge sculpted wooden ceiling. This synagogue may be the only in the world that has held services continuously from 1550 until the present day. Mixed in with the Levantine and Ashkenazim Jews, were Italian Jews who migrated north to Venice from the central and southern parts of the peninsula, mainly coming from Rome where they were faced with anti-semitism . In 1575, the Italians built their own synagogue, the Scola Italiana, which was built on top of apartments. The structure features a cupola which is barely visible from the square below. Around 1650, the Ghettos population reached a peak at 4,000 inhabitants. A feat hard to believe as you wonder around today, an area no bigger than two and a half city blocks. The German, Italian and Levantine communities were independent, yet lived side by side to one another. A hierarchy existed among them, in which the Sephardic (Spanish and Portuguese) and Levantine Jews were at the top of the scale, Germans in the middle and Italians at the lowest rung. Everything changed in 1797 when Napoleon's troops reached Venice and tore open the ghetto gates. Swept up in the fervor, many Jews volunteered for Napoleon's army. Venice became part of the Hapsburg empire in 1798 and some of the restrictions were reintroduced, however, the ghetto was not officially reestablished. Many Jews chose to continue to live in the ghetto, but the wealthy Jews left to live in other parts of the city. Before the second world war, there were still 1300 Jews living in the Ghetto. Of those, 289 were deported by the Nazi's, and only seven returned. On a wall in the campo, opposite the museum, bronze reliefs were set up in 1979 n memory of Jewish war victims, many of who were deported to concentration camps in Germany. A hospice for the elderly here was founded in 1890. Venice is the only Italian city where one can find an intact ghetto that has remained unchanged since its founding. The site is so prominent in the city's history that there is a water taxi stop that lists the ghetto, in Italian and Hebrew, as one of the nearby sites and, at night, a neon sign with Hebrew letters is turned on above the dock.Venice has five synagogues, a Jewish bookstore, a Jewish publishing house, a social center, a rest home, a museum, a yeshiva and a kosher restaurant. Today, along with neighboring Mestre on the mainland, Venice boasts a population of 500 Jews. Even though the ghetto continues to be the centre of community activities for the Jewish community, very few Jews continue to live in the ghetto. With the opening of Chabad of Venice's Rabbinical Yeshiva seven years ago, an active daily Jewish life is once again visible in this historic area. At almost any given time of day, a Jewish tourist can proudly see young, vibrant yeshiva students in the ghetto, helping visitors and neighbors. The daily Venetian newspaper stated that "Chabad of Venice is the thriving source of Judaism in Venice today."