Venetian Ghetto


The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice in which Jews were compelled to live by the government of the Venetian Republic. The English word ghetto is derived from the Jewish ghetto in Venice. The Venetian Ghetto was instituted on 29 March 1516. It was not the first time that Jews in Venice were compelled to live in a segregated area of the city. In 1552 Venice had 160,000 inhabitants, including 900 Jews, who were mainly merchants.
In 1797 the French Army of Italy, commanded by the 28-year-old General Napoleon Bonaparte, occupied Venice, forced the Venetian Republic to dissolve itself on 12 May 1797, and ended the ghetto's separation from the city on 11 July 1797. In the 19th century, the ghetto was renamed the Contrada dell'unione.

Etymology

The origins of the name ghetto are disputed. The following theories have been proposed:
The Oxford University Press etymologist Anatoly Liberman suggested in 2009 that all four theories are speculative, but the first is by far the likeliest to be true.
Donatella Calabi, faculty member of IUAV University Venice, Architecture, Construction and Conservation, argued in the documentary Venice and the Ghetto that ghetto comes from the Italian word gettare which means "throw away", because the area was before then a waste dump for foundries. The first Jewish arrivals were German and they pronounced the word - the spelling followed. The same opinion was published in her book Venezia e il ghetto. Cinquecento anni del "recinto deli ebrei". Likewise, the author of Ghetto: The History of a Word, Daniel B. Schwartz, argues that the term ghetto did not emerge as a result of Jewish resident segregation, but rather, that the word is a relic of a history that preceded the arrival of the Jewish residents. Schwartz states that the strongest argument in support of this is how the original area to which Jews were restricted was called the Ghetto Nuovo, and not the Ghetto Vecchio. "Were it otherwise, one would expect that the first site of the Jewish enclosure would have been known as the 'Old Ghetto' and the subsequent addition as the 'New Ghetto.'"

Location and geography

The Ghetto is an area of the Cannaregio sestiere of Venice, divided into the Ghetto Nuovo, and the adjacent Ghetto Vecchio. These names of the ghetto sections are misleading, as they refer to an older and newer site at the time of their use by the foundries: in terms of Jewish residence, the Ghetto Nuovo is actually older than the Ghetto Vecchio.
The ghetto was connected to the rest of the city by two bridges that were only open during the day. Gates were opened in the morning at the ringing of the marangona, the largest bell in St. Mark's Campanile, and locked in the evening. Permanent, round-the-clock surveillance of the gates occurred at the Jewish residents' expense. Strict penalties were to be imposed on any Jewish resident caught outside after curfew. Areas of Ghetto Nuovo that were open to the canal were to be sealed off with walls, while outward facing quays were to be bricked over in order to make it impossible for unauthorized entry or exit.

Culture

Though it was home to a large number of Jews, the population living in the Venetian Ghetto never assimilated to form a distinct, "Venetian Jewish" ethnicity. Four of the five synagogues were clearly divided according to ethnic identity: separate synagogues existed for the German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, and Levantine Sephardi communities. The fifth, the Scuola Canton, was possibly built as a private synagogue and also served the Venetian Ashkenazi community. Today, there are also other populations of Ashkenazic Jews in Venice, mainly Lubavitchers who operate a kosher food store, a yeshiva, and a Chabad synagogue.
Languages historically spoken in the confines of the Ghetto include Venetian, Italian, Judeo-Spanish, French, and German. In addition, Hebrew was traditionally used on signage, inscriptions, and for official purposes such as wedding contracts. Today, English is widely used in the shops and the Museum because of the large number of English-speaking tourists.

Ghetto today

Today, the Ghetto is still a center of Jewish life in the city. The Jewish community of Venice, that counts about 450 people, is culturally active, although only a few members live in the Ghetto because the area has become expensive.
Every year, there is an international conference on Hebrew Studies, with particular reference to the history and culture of the Veneto. Other conferences, exhibitions and seminars are held throughout the course of the year.
The temples not only serve as places of worship but also provide lessons on the sacred texts and the Talmud for both children and adults, along with courses in Modern Hebrew, while other social facilities include a kindergarten, an old people's home, the kosher guest house Giardino dei Melograni, the kosher restaurant Hostaria del Ghetto, and a bakery. Along with its architectural and artistic monuments, the community also boasts a Museum of Jewish Art, the Renato Maestro Library and Archive and the new Info Point inside the Midrash Leon da Modena.
In the Ghetto area there is also a yeshiva, several Judaica shops, and a Chabad synagogue run by Chabad of Venice. Although only few of the roughly 500 Venetian Jews still live in the Ghetto, many return there during the day for religious services in the two synagogues which are still used.
Chabad of Venice also runs a pastry shop and a restaurant named "Gam Gam" in the Ghetto. Sabbath meals are served at the restaurant's outdoor tables along the Cannaregio Canal with views of the Guglie Bridge near the Grand Canal. In the novel Much Ado About Jesse Kaplan the restaurant is the site of a historical mystery. Every year for the festival of Sukkot a sukkah is built on a canal boat that tours the city, a large menorah tours the city on a canal boat during Hanukkah.

Notable residents

Notable residents of the Ghetto have included Leon of Modena, whose family originated in France, as well as his disciple Sara Copia Sullam. She was an accomplished writer, debater, and even hosted her own salon. Meir Magino, the famous glassmaker also came from the ghetto.

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