Walk around Venetian Ghetto

ARTHUR WOLAK

Venice is among the world's most picturesque cities. Famous for its meandering canals, innumerable gondolas, bridges, ornate architecture and colorful carnival masks, Venice was home to many famous and influential Jews, including rabbis, physicians, poets, mystics and politicians. One Venetian, Luigi Luzzati, was even elected, in 1910, as Italy's first Jewish prime minister. Venice is also recognized for a less admirable achievement – the establishment of the world's first Jewish ghetto.

Although prohibited from residing in the city itself, at least not for extended periods of time, Jews have a documented presence in the territories around Venice from at least the 14th century. The Venetian Republic needed Jews because they were permitted to lend money, while Christians were forbidden by church decree. Indeed, since the Middle Ages, the occupation of money-lending became common to Jews because it was among the few occupations in which they were legally permitted to work.

Excluded from public office, the military and numerous other professions, Jews could earn a living as textile traders, physicians and money-lenders. For many people, therefore, Venice conjures up notions of Shylock, the Jewish character from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, an unfortunate, negative stereotype that, for centuries, reflected policies imposed by Christian rulers throughout much of Europe. The Venetian Republic was not unique in this respect. But there is much more to Jewish Venice than its association with the money market and Shylock.

The Venetian Ghetto, established in 1516, allowed Jews to reside in Venice, but only within the restricted area of a former copper foundry, or ghetto (from the Italian, gettare, but with a soft "g" sound in the Venetian dialect). Because the first Jews to settle in Venice were central European Ashkenazim, they tended to pronounce the word with a hard "g" sound. As a result, in Venice and elsewhere in Europe – most notoriously during the Nazi era – the word ghetto became synonymous with enclosed quarters where Jews were forced to reside. In addition to the connection with the Venetian word for foundry, some scholars suggest that the word ghetto may have also derived from the Hebrew word get (divorce), as its meaning represents a form of separation.

The first area in Venice where Jews (primarily Ashkenazim) settled was called Ghetto Nuovo (New Ghetto). Expansion soon followed. The growing population of Sephardi Jews – known as Levantini (Levantines), due to Spanish and Portuguese merchants (many former Marranos, or forced converts) having passed through Greece and Turkey prior to arriving in Venice – led to the construction, in 1541, of Ghetto Vecchio (Old Ghetto). The words "new" and "old" refer to the original foundries, not the subsequent Jewish districts. In other words, the oldest area of the Venetian Ghetto, Ghetto Nuovo, was established at the site of the newer foundry but the first foundry to be abandoned, and, hence, where the Jewish ghetto was first built. Ghetto Vecchio, the old foundry, was the second foundry to be abandoned and where the second part of the ghetto was built. By 1633, as the Jewish population rose, Ghetto Nuovissimo (Newest Ghetto) was added.

The Venetian Ghetto was surrounded by canals and three gates. These gates were closed all night, preventing the Jews from escaping, and were patrolled by Christian guards whose salaries, ironically, were required to be paid by the Venetian Jewish community. Any Jew found outside the ghetto during the night faced severe punishment ranging from financial penalties for the first two offences, to two months' imprisonment for the third. As a consequence, Jews could only exit the ghetto during the day – and not without wearing public markers of their Jewish identity. Over the centuries, such demeaning symbols included yellow badges, yellow hats and red hats.

The Venetian Ghetto remained enclosed until 1797, when Napoleon arrived in Venice, demolished the gates and ended the legal segregation of Jews from their Italian Christian neighbors.

During the Venetian Ghetto's most populous period – the 17th century – perhaps as many as 5,000 Jews resided there. Aside from some small private family synagogues, five major public synagogues served the population in Ghetto Nuovo and Ghetto Vecchio. None were built within Ghetto Nuovissimo. Venice's synagogues were established along distinct ethnic lines and were historically led by rabbis from each community. Three of the original synagogues can be found in Ghetto Nuovo. To find them, visit Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, a large, open square, and head towards the entrance of the contemporary Jewish Museum at 2902/B Cannaregio. Opened in 1955, the museum features exhibits of unique Venetian Jewish ritual objects. These doors are also the common entry point to three of Ghetto Nuovo's historic synagogues, located in the upper floors of adjacent buildings.

The Venetian synagogues, as those elsewhere, were used for prayer, study and as a meeting place – in Hebrew, beit knesset (house of assembly) or, in Italian, scuole (schools), likely derived from the Yiddish, shul. They were intentionally constructed with low-level ceilings so that more floors could be built. These buildings – often referred to as "Venetian skyscrapers" – rise as high as eight floors, an elevation most unusual for Venice. The synagogues were constructed on the top floors, high above the city, to conform to Jewish law, and also so that they would not be easily recognized from the outside, in accordance with Venetian law. Indeed, from the exterior, without the aid of signs, it is virtually impossible to tell that such beautiful synagogues exist there.

In Ghetto Nuovo, the first synagogue, built in 1528, was the Grand German Synagogue, reflecting the German-Ashkenazi tradition, and the Canton Synagogue, built in 1531-32, followed French-Ashkenazi rite. The Italian Synagogue was built in 1575 by Italian Jews who arrived from the southern parts of the Italian peninsula and it retained the Italian, or Italki, Jewish custom. To varying degrees of opulence, each is richly decorated with wooden columns, carvings of marble and other stones, colorful fabric curtains and elaborate chandeliers. While they remain ornate and impressive, these synagogues are no longer in regular use (except one day per year, when the German Synagogue hosts Hoshanah Rabbah, the service on the seventh day of Sukkot). The Jewish Museum offers tours of several of the synagogues (interior photography is prohibited).

Venice's two largest synagogues were constructed in Ghetto Vecchio, located on the other side of Campo del Ghetto Nuovo. Both are ground-level buildings, hinting at this community's historically greater wealth. Services originally kept the Sephardi rite, because of the significant population of Sephardim who settled in Ghetto Vecchio. First, the Levantine Synagogue was built in 1541, followed by the Spanish Synagogue in the 1580s, across Campiello delle Scuole, a small courtyard.

The Sephardi synagogues are lavishly decorated with marble and cherry wood and, unlike the Ashkenazi synagogues in Ghetto Nuovo, both continue to function today, serving the entire Venetian Jewish community. However, the synagogues alternate seasonally: Levantine is used in fall and winter because it is the only synagogue in Venice with central heating; the Spanish is used in spring and summer because it is the largest of all the Venetian synagogues. Both are open during the High Holidays.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, more than a thousand Jews were in Venice. Of some 200 sent to concentration camps, fewer than 10 survived. While the contemporary Jewish community is comprised of about 450 Jews, residing mostly in the suburbs, the Venetian Ghetto remains the focal point of Venetian Jewish life. This area is where the synagogues are located, the holidays are celebrated and kosher restaurants and bakeries are found. In Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, there is also a Jewish retirement home, as well as Jewish gift shops and bookstores. Venice also has a Chabad House and yeshivah, just down the block from the historic Ashkenazi synagogues.

Arthur Wolak is a freelance writer in Vancouver.

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