Friday, September

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

8

JUDAISM

(Continued from Page 6)

Jewish communities in Italy, in
which the Chief Rabbi and prom-
inent Jewish officials took part.
Delegates from Italy participated
in the preliminary congresses
held in Geneva and Paris pre-
paratory to the meeting of the
World Jewish Congress. The
Union of Italian Jews started a
Central Relief Committee to aid
the German Jews after Hitler
became the head of Germany,
and established agricultural train-
ing schools for young German
Jews near Rome and Genoa.
Unfortunately there are those
among us prone to vaunt our
accomplishments in literary and
artistic realms, as if that con-
stituted our chief merit. But if
we are worthy to survive at all,
it will not be because of these
achievements but because of our
loyalty to our religious faith.
It must be confessed that the
modern Italian Jews as a class
did not respond to Judaism as
did those of many other nations,
in spite of the antiquity of the
Jewish religious institutions of
Italy and of their historic past
throughout the ages. From the
time of the Roman conquest and
the subsequent founding of the
schools and congregations, the
synagogues in Italy were the

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centers of Jewish qommunity
life.
In the early days of Rome
there were well-organized syna-
gogues, and inscriptions and pic-
tures in the Jewish catacombs
of Rome give us an idea of what
these institutions were like. These
catacombs were not discovered
till the middle of the 19th cen-
tury. In the life of the ghetto,
religion was the only comfort
of its inhabitants and it was this
consolation that enabled them to
survive.
After the Spanish expulsion
the refugees who fled to Italy
grouped themselves into congre-
gations according to nationality.
The del Tempio Synagogue was
the hondsomest building in the
Jewish quarter. The Roman rit-
ual was used; this was akin to
the older German ritual and to
that of some of the countries in
the neighborhood of Italy.
In 1808 the papal rule was dis-
solved by the French and, for
the first time in 1,500 years, the
Jewish religion was recognized
by the state as possessing equal
rights.
By a decree of the Emperor
Napoleon a Jewish consistory was
formed composed of the Chief
Rabbi and several other rabbis;
it was opened with appropriate
ceremonies.
As early as 1796 some people
suggested Reform, but the only
Reform eventually introduced
in the Roman Synagogue was
the introduction of a choir and
harmonium. -It remained for
Samuel Alatri, a banker and a
deeply religious man, and for
Angelo Ferrari to revitalize the
spiritual life of the community.
When the final emancipation
came to the Jews of Italy in
1870, it was too sudden, and the
Jews were dazzled by their new
freedom. They became indiffer-
ent to all things Jewish and they
wanted to be nothing but Italian.
They failed to support their con-
gregations and religious schools
and the religious education of
their children was neglected. It
was the old story of the Jews
under Greek rule who wanted to
be like the Greeks; of the Ger-
man Jews who wanted to be

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2

Germans above everything else. or of those who had been decor- of thanks for the deliverance of
There were even several ab- ated in the First World War, the the,,TIbtealisaancrecd Torah,
the br ass
ortive attempts in the 1880's to Ethiopian and the Spanish wars, bound
.
candelabra and the prec-
found rabbinical colleges before but their children were sent to
they finally succeeded in estab- separate ghetto schools. There ious altar ornaments were re-
e e m o n tg b tt, o 0 k t heir hidin
15. g 19:laces
lishing a seminary in Italy. Since were only 57,422 native Jews in covered
ng Sabbath
the 80's, interest in religion in- Italy, besides 16,000 foreigners. cFriday nigh t, a nd
e
ceremony
p
il ' l a
place—the
e first
creased among the Italian Jews. Many of the native Jews had
one since the poverty-stricken,
In 1900 the corner-stone of a lost all contact with Judaism.
The outbreak of the present looted Jewish population was for.
magnificent synagogue was laid
on the site of the old ghetto in war intensified the anti-Jewish bidden by the Germans to keep
Rome and in 1904 it was dedi- campaign, but with a few excep- open its house of worship be.
tions there was little actual vio- cause they were unable to
b o the
cated.
pay
the,,Th tribute
te l egedesmthanne temple on
A tablet with an inscription lence against the Jews.
Nazis
for
that
privileee.
The Vatican offered protection
commemorates a visit of Victor
large,
Emanuel III. In 1918 he visited to those who became converted
the synagogue and was received to Catholicism; about 5,000 ac- the Tiber was thronged for the
by the then Chief Rabbi, Pro- cepted conversion. In the first
Jewish faith
foafith AiN i s i r i c e . aan mo s ni g .
fesso• Angelo Sacerdoti, who two years after 1940 approxi- discs
shoim
ppeerse.'0"
wore the gray uniform of a mili- mately 5,000 Jews emigrated theTbwe orR
rrespoudent of
tary chaplain beneath his vest- from Italy. In spite of all these
anti-Semitic laws, the Italian the New York Times cabled an
ments.
vin e
with
tdhe f P R r oefbehs i
A devoted Jewess, Signora Vit- masses were not won over to s u o it r erA
An ton (j Iu . ly Zo9 11) i,
toria Rava contributed generous- hatred of the Jews; in fact, all
ly of her time and fortune to classes were sympathetic to them of the Italian capital, in which
support religious schools among although the Fascists warned that venerable minister describes
the plight of Italian Jewry.
against this attitude.
the Jews in Italy.
Pope Pius XII recently con- Charging that the Nazis had for-
R a bb i Sacerdoti succeeded
Chief Rabbi Vittorio Castiglione, tributed a large sum from his cibly carried off nearly half of
a former teacher in Trieste. Al- own private funds to pay a fine the city's Jewish inhabitants, he
though a Zionist, Sacerdoti was levied by the Germans against declared:
"Out of Rome's total Jewish
an ardent Fascist. He died sud- the Italian Jews.
In the regions of Italy con- population of about 11,600, fully
denly in 1935, in the prime of
life, and David de Prato became quered by the United Nations, 4,500 and probably more have
the Chief Rabbi. He in turn was the restrictive anti-Jewish laws been deported. Of that number,
we know, at least 100 have been
succeeded (1939) by Prof. An- have been abolished.
On the 18th of June, 1944, the killed. The Germans never gave
ton Israele Zolli, the present in-
Associated Press wires carried us any indication where they
cumbent.
Anti-Semitism in Italy started the following dispatch from were taken.
"During my 30 years as Chief
with the Abyssinian War. From Rome:
"The Jewish Synagogue of the Rabbi in Trieste I had seen in
now on, Italy began to pose as
the protector of the Arabs, and Eternal City has reopened its miniature the whole martyrdom
the Fascists accused the Jews, doors, removing for the first time of a Jewish community, so I
Free Masons and international in nine months of occupation knew what Rome had to expect
bankers, of trying to starve the the bars placed upon it by the ., . . I was always anti-Fascist
Italian people. They seemed to Nazis. The first complete service
and on the Nazi blacklist for
have forgotten that one of their
greatly admired citizens, Mayor in the temple since it was closed
See JUDAISM—Page 10
Ernesto Nathan of Rome, was was marked by a fervent prayer
both a Jew and a prominent
Mason.
The formation of the Pome-
Berlin axis put the final stamp
on the anti-Semitic attitude of
Best Wishes For A Happy and Prosperous New Year!
the Italian government. Books
on raceology, published by an
intimate friend of Mussolini, at-
tacked the Italian Jews because
of Zionism and charged them
with lack of patriotism. In 1938
the fate of the Italian Jews was
settled after an exchange of vis-
its between Hitler and Mussolini.
The Italians now became offi-
cially "Aryans."
MUTUAL BROADCASTING SYSTEM
Pope Pius XI denounced the
anti-Jewish policy of the govern-
ment, but Mussolini insisted that
Fascism must go ahead. One dis-
criminatory law after the other
was promulgated. Exemptions
from these laws were in some
ti
cases made in favor of those
who had renounced their religion

CKLW

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