By Emma Kessel
Visiting the Jewish ghetto had been a bucket list item of mine before even coming on this trip, as I wanted to immerse myself in the culture of my faith while being in a city I had never been to. It was hard to find time to visit the area while the sites were still open, so I decided to make a trip over during class time. As Dr. Julia says, “It is better to ask for forgiveness than for permission”, so when I apologized to Dr. Burghart for skipping his class that day, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that he was extremely glad I was able to have this experience. I visited the Jewish Ghetto with three other students, and during our little field trip, we stopped by a little museum dedicated to the Italian Jews of the Holocaust. It was a small exhibition, and mostly in Italian, so all I could base our experience on was the pictures shown. A couple of minutes into looking around, an employee of the museum came up to us and offered to give us a tour around the exhibit, free of charge.
His name was Aldo, and we learned he was a descendent of Roman Jews who lived during the Holocaust, with most of his mother’s and father’s family perishing during the German occupation. Aldo also told us that all the artwork shown throughout the exhibit were drawn by Italian Jews. His English wasn’t great, but I had let him know that I was also Jewish, and was able to help translate the events he talked about to my friends with the knowledge I had about the Holocaust. This man is the epitome of a mensch, which is a Yiddish term used to describe a truly good, selfless, and loving person. Aldo lead us through every room in the museum and even made the security team wait to close down the museum for the day, ensuring that I was able to understand the events of what happened in Italy during the Holocaust. We stayed 30 minutes past closing time, and when Aldo had finished his tour, he refused to take any of the money I offered to thank him for this opportunity. Growing up in a Jewish family, I was taught that it is my duty as a Jew to make sure the events of the Holocaust do not get lost in history. The only way to do this is to inform anyone and everyone who wants to listen, so having Aldo, a Jew who lives halfway across the world embodying the ideals I was taught as a child, was extremely emotional and empowering. This experience made my time in the ghetto even more special, and I had never been prouder to be a Jew.
Visiting the Jewish ghetto had been a bucket list item of mine before even coming on this trip, as I wanted to immerse myself in the culture of my faith while being in a city I had never been to.
History
Throughout the Middle Ages, it was commonplace for citizens in Italy to live in separate groups according to their place of origin and occupation. For Jewish residents, it was easier to live this way to be close to family, friends, and common/religious services. Living in close proximity was also a method of defense and safety, as the populations surrounding the Jews were Christian missionaries who often led anti-Jewish uprisings. In the 1500s, leaders of many cities throughout Italy decided to confine the Jews into ghettos, also known as prison neighborhoods. These areas were enclosed by walls and gates, and Jews were forbidden to live freely. These gates were opened at dawn and locked one hour after sunset, and the number of gates surrounding the neighborhood increased from 2 to 8 between the 16th and 19th centuries. They were restricted with prohibitions of every kind, including what kind of jobs they could have and where they were allowed to go.
Jewish life in Rome changed dramatically on July 14th, 1555, when Pope Paul IV established the Roman/Papal States ghetto, which became the largest prison neighborhood in the country. As Jews were forbidden to live in most parts of Italy and were annexed to the Papal States to ensure separation of the Catholic Church and Judaism.
Many different groups of Jews from different regions were forced to pray in a singular synagogue, even though they all practiced the religion in different ways. It is extremely common within the Jewish faith to have specific rituals and traditions depending on the geographical location of the Judaic group. For example, the Sephardic Jews of northern Africa and the Middle East have a completely different way of worshiping than the Ashkenazi Jews located in Central and Eastern Europe. When faced with this challenge in the Roman ghetto, the Jews separated the synagogue into five separate rooms/portions. Each section was designated to a different religious group to pray and practice Judaism in their traditional geographic practices. In Rome, Jews had to wear yellow clothing to symbolize their faith when outside the ghetto, as yellow was the color of shame. Jews were also required to attend Church every Saturday and listen to the sermons given by the Catholic preachers. This was especially cruel, as Saturday is the holiest day of the week in the Jewish religion, where Jews attend synagogue to worship. The Jews were not allowed to enter the churches because they were not seen as “pure” Catholics, and had to listen to each service on the other side of a wall outside of the church.
On September 10, 1943, the Nazi regime occupied the city of Rome, despite it being declared an “open city” that should have remained autonomous and free of military units. On September 25th, Herbert Kappler, the chief of police of the German occupation, called upon the president of the Jewish ghetto and demanded they hand over 50 kilograms (110 lbs) of gold within 36 hours. If they were unable to meet these demands, 200 Jews were to be deported to concentration and death camps. The gold was delivered as requested on September 28th. Ten days later, a community library and rabbinical college inside the ghetto were robbed, and an inestimable value of books, volumes, and texts were gone.
On October 16th, 1943, the first Italian roundup of Jews in Rome commenced at dawn, gathering 1022 Jews to be arrested and await deportation. Jews were given 20 minutes to pack their suitcases and leave their homes. The group consisted of a high percentage of women, elders, and children, as Jewish men attempted to flee days before as there were rumors of possible arrests of men to be sent to labor camps. The group was imprisoned for two days at a military college, and on October 18th, the victims were loaded onto freight trains headed for Poland. The Jews were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, an infamous facility of concentration camps, work camps, and extermination camps. Auschwitz was responsible for the murder of over 1.1 million Jews during the Holocaust and killed the most Jews out of all the concentration camps in operation.
Of the 1022 Jews sent to Auschwitz, only 149 men and 47 women were registered in the labor camps. The rest were loaded into trucks and taken to the gas chambers to meet their ends. Only 16 Jews, survived the first roundup and returned home to Rome, and over the next few months, 700-800 Jews were captured and arrested by the Italian police, where they were first transferred to the national concentration camp, then deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau to be sent to their deaths.
As of today, there are 15,000 Jewish residents in the city of Rome, and their presence is prouder and stronger than ever. As I walked through the streets of the ghetto, I was overwhelmed by the sense of Jewish pride that remains in this area, despite this almost being erased completely not even 80 years ago. This community reminds me of my own back at home in California, as it highlights the theme of Jewish resilience that is embedded into the blood of Jews. No matter what may come our way, the Jewish religion is a stubborn one and its presence will continue to remain on this earth despite any challenges we may face.
Jewish Culture in Rome
During the Imperial age, illustrious rabbis lived and taught in Rome, some even meeting with delegations of rabbis from the land of Israel. The Jews of Rome were described as a group with a developed intellectual life, proud of their own identity yet still integrated into the society surrounding them. Among the Jewish community were many men of culture(yes mostly men, as ancient and current orthodox Jewish values were/are inherently sexist), that were involved in a variety of disciplines, such as philosophy, biblical exegesis, and astronomy, medicine, and mathematics.
The Jews also knew several languages and had great skill in mediating the diverse cultures putting them in contact with the papal court. Roman Jews were also excellent translators and were able to translate medical, scientific, and philosophical treatises from Arabic, allowing them to become valuable resources in the transmission of culture across the Mediterranean. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the first printed Hebrew book was published in Rome, and the development of the study of Kabbalah was founded here as well.
Kabbalah is known as the discipline that analyzes the structure of the visible world in relation to that of the invisible world, and the relations between these diverse worlds and God. In order to establish these relations, which connect people, objects, symbols, and concepts that seem unrelated, Kabbalah uses the instrument of numerical equivalents that is based upon the fact that each letter of the Hebrew alphabet also has a numerical value. I was astonished to learn that Kabbalah originated in Italy, because this study is essential to Judaic culture, and I have witnessed this tradition being practiced today in Jewish settings.
Tempio Maggiore de Roma
Also known as the Great Synagogue of Rome, Tempio Maggiore was constructed in 1870, shortly after the unification of Italy. The Jewish ghetto was demolished, and the Jewish people were granted citizenship. The building was previously the ghetto synagogue, where five different sects of Judaism were practiced under one roof, but was destroyed with the rest of the ghetto. The synagogue was finished in 1904, and in addition to serving as a house of worship, Tempio Maggiorate serves as a cultural center for the Jewish community of Rome.
Pope John Paul II made the first known visit of the pope to the synagogue in 1986, where he prayed with the Chief Rabbi of Rome. He proclaimed that the Jewish people are the “elder brothers” of the Catholic Church, and Pope Francis made the same remarks when visiting the synagogue in 2016. Pope Francis also denounced all the violence committed in the name of God and joined in the diaspora as a sign of interfaith friendship.
On October 9, 1982, the synagogue was attacked by Palestinian terrorists during a Saturday morning Shabbat service, where 37 people were injured and a two-year-old boy was killed. As sad as it is to say, I am so grateful that this was the most extreme form of violence committed against this community in recent years. As a Jew, I have learned to understand that antisemitism is something I have to learn to live with, especially with the immense amounts of antisemitic acts committed every day in the United States. I have become so accustomed to my neighborhood synagogues being vandalized, to local high schools using Nazi propaganda for drinking games, and to being stereotyped and isolated in my own town. It is terrifying to see how normalized it is to hate Jews in the world, and it gives me comfort to know that there are places where Jews can live safely(for the most part) and with their own people.
As a proud Jew myself, I have been to many beautiful temples throughout my life, but none compare to the Tempio Maggiore. The architecture, design, artwork, and significance of this temple were absolutely breathtaking, and I immediately felt at home when I walked in. Everything in this building has a purpose, and I felt extremely lucky to have been able to be inside. The roof of the temple has a special significance to Roman culture and architecture. The roof of the synagogue is a square dome, which alludes to the circular domed roofs of the Catholic Churches within the city, but differentiates the religions. The architecture still reflects its Roman roots but signifies the Jewish presence that proudly remains in Rome.
My experience in the Jewish ghetto was one I will never forget. The immediate sense of community, familiarity, and Jewish love were overwhelming and empowering.
The Jewish community in Rome centers around preserving the history of the area, which is very different from the community I grew up in. Living in California meant that I was surrounded by a very modern take on Jewish life, with my temple creating activities and events for our youth population that they knew would appeal to our generation. Through these programs, I learned so much about my heritage, my faith and personal beliefs, and my place as a Jewish woman in this world. My synagogue prepared me for the future, but it wasn’t until I walked through the Jewish Ghetto and Tempio Maggiore that I could physically feel a connection to the past, intertwining the two and creating a seamless connection that pulled me closer in towards my faith. Walking through both museums in the area allowed me to learn about a Jewish community I did not know much about before and furthered my connection to both my Jewish heritage and to Rome. I felt the most at home here, and my experience with Jewish life in Italy has sparked my interest to travel and continue to learn about Jewish communities all over the world.
About the Author
Hi! I am Emma Kessel, a third-year undergraduate student at Colorado State University, where she studies Health and Exercise Science with a concentration in Sports Medicine. I am also a part of the school’s Honors College, where she has furthered her academic experience through the program’s opportunities, like studying abroad in Rome. I have loved traveling throughout Italy on this trip, but have found a love for Rome in the time spent there. The culture, energy, and history of the city are unlike anything I have ever experienced, and
I will miss the day-to-day life I have gotten so accustomed to over the past month. Drinking coffee and cornetti’s at the coffee place below my apartment, walking up the 290 steps to AUR, and making sure Dr. Julia doesn’t yell at me to correct my sitting position are things I never thought I would miss so much. I will truly miss this adventure, and the memories I have created from this trip will last a lifetime.
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