Jewish Ghetto

 Forgive me for tardy posting. I was falling asleep in the lecture last evening. No more prosecco at lunchtime. I then played ipad games rather than record the day. 

Yesterday it rained, which was good to experience. The umbrellas in the one-person-wide passageways, the puddles, the stories of the last 'aqua alta', the high tides of Venice. Kerry, who has been here now 7 times, remembered an aqua alta, when St Marks Square and some streets were flooded. She is our fashion icon. She remembers the galoshes with high heels (really?), and that people also wore above knee galoshes over their normal shoes (believable).

Lorenzo was our young Jewish tour guide of the two Shepardic Jewish synagogues - the Levantian and the Spanish ones. The other three non-functioning synagogues were undergoing restoration. A covid project. Which explains why so many buildings are currently under restoration - all started during covid when the tourists could not come to visit. 

The word ghetto comes from the original name of the Venice district when the Jewish people settled; it meant something like iron foundry. Here was also the existing Jewish synagogue of the Venetians. They were not locked in at night, but gates were installed for some controls. Napoleon burned the gates in the name of Liberty. Later of course, the word ghetto too on a darker meaning. However, because the Jews were required to live within a small defined area, they needed to build upwards, hence some of the tallest apartment buildings in Venice are here.

High rises in the Jewish Ghetto

We learned about the common layout of a synagogue - the holy cupboard (there is a special name) where the Torah (?) is kept at one end of the rectangular building, the pulpit (again another name) at the other end. I audiotaped him so will get these names. Women sat in galleries, until it was considered too hard for them to climb the high staircases. In the bigger synagogue there was a wooden screen for pregnant and aged women on the main floor. Now there is mingling of the congregation. The Catholic churches were segregated in Ireland within living memory, we were told in Ireland in 2024 by a man remembering his own experience.

Cupboard for the holy book

Wooden screens behind for the women, but not a seat as such

He was witty. We were finally led to the secret or hidden garden, which required a key to enter. Despite this there was no 'secret'. All members of the congregation have keys! But a little marketing to make the tour a bit mysterious. A very ancient looking fountain was installed during covid.

Covid fountain certainly looks older

There were some sad stories, of course. The Jewish population was about 1,200 during WW2. A 'hero', not the rabbi I think, burned the family records of the population, and then committed suicide; this prevented easy identification of the Jews at the time. Lorenzo said that only 246 people were taken away, and only 8 of those returned. It does say something about the acceptance of Jews in Venice. Which is why they had come in the 1500s in the first place, after expulsion from Spain, from Germany, the Levant, and Eastern Europe. Each place or origin had their own synagogues. There was an Italian synagogue as well for Jews who had live in Venice since BCE.

I caused a bit of a stir when I opened a small school-desk like lid. Horror, I had missed the sign saying don't touch the furniture, and I had missed that each had a little brass nameplate. These are the current 'pews' of the congregation, where they leave their books and other religious material. We moved on.

I learned that men need to cover their head with the little cap, keeper?, as a reminder to be humble; like God is pushing down on the head to bow it. In Istanbul mosques, I learned that all the Old Testament prophets - Moses, Abraham etc, and then Jesus and Mary etc, were all venerated as God's prophets, but that Mohammed was the last and truest prophet. We have a a lot of born-Catholics on the tour, and a couple of Anglicans. Quite a few attended boarding school!

Following the tour, the tour manager and the only male and practicing GP took the proud professor, to hospital. He was reluctant, but in all conscience Academy could not allow him to remain unassessed under their watch, as he became increasingly unwell. He was there overnight. We are all concerned.

Items for sale in a shop window. Another shop was 'David's' shop

Onto the vaporetto again, in the rain, for our next destination.

Dreary Venice