DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

in Florence before 1400 and
were at once granted many
rights and privileges. In 1414
Continued from Page 4)
the Florentine Republic sent a
Jewish banker to Milan as its
with this literary activity, until
representative. As Milan refused
a later date. In the middle of
to receive a Jewish ambassador,
the 11th century, Nathan ben
Florence declared war on that
Yechiel is the only Italian Jew
city.
whose name figures in Jewish
After the expulsion of the
literature. Kalonymos of Rome
Jews from Spain in 1492, many
is also mentioned as a Talmudic
of them found refuge in Italy,
authority.
among them Isaac Abarbanel and
While Jews contributed to the
members of his family, who set-
advancement of learning, not a
tled in various cities, the com-
single Hebrew poet appeared at
munal life of which they en-
this time. It was not until the
riched in the capacity of physi-
second half of the 13th and
cians, finance ministers, scien-
early part of the 14th centuries
tists and poets. The Spanish
that a literary awakening took
refugees, grateful for the hos-
place. Outstanding among liter-
pitality with which they were
ary personalities of this time
received, rendered great service
was the satirist Kalonymos ben
to the city of Florence. In 1859
Kalonymos, who had come from
the Jews of Tuscany, in which
France to Rome under the pat-
Florence is situated, were eman-
cipated; in 1861 they were grant-
ronage of King Robert of Sicily.
ed full citizenship.
His friend, Immanuel ben Solo-
The S'fardic synagogue in
mon Romi, called the Heine of
Florence has been considered the
the Middle Ages, was a brilliant
most beautiful in Europe. For
centuries, from as early as 1300,
the Jewish congregation of Pa-
dua was one of the most impor-
tant of Italy. The Jews were re-
Rosh Hashonah
spected, and they attended the
university in large numbers. Fer-
rara too, was one of the most
GREETINGS
important and flourishing Jew-
ish communities of Italy, but
later the most restrictive laws
were promulgated.
• J. RESSLER
In 1796, when the French un-
der Napoleon entered Ferrara,
O H. H. LEVETT
the gates of5 the ghetto were
torn down. Jews were admitted
to the municipal guard, in 1797,
at the instance of the French
authorities, and in a short time
Radios
several were promoted to the
Jewelry
rank of officers. During Rosh
Hashanoh, French civil and mili-
1401 BROADWAY
tary authorities visited the four
synagogues and were escorted
6314 W. McNICHOLS
back in triumph. Whenever the
French conquered these Italian
cities, civil rights of the Jews
were restored and the ghetto
abolished.
Leghorn was the youngest of
the large communities of Italy
and, for a time, the foremost
because of the wealth, scholar-
ship and political rights of its
members. The first traces of a
Jewish settlement in Leghorn
Wish to Extend to all their Jewish Friends and Patrons Sincere
date from 1583.
Wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year; May
The beloved sage, Sabato Mor-
the Lord Grant that the Coming Year Bring
ais, for many years rabbi of
Mickve Israel Congregation, Phil-
Relief to Suffering Israel . . .
adelphia, was a native of Leg-
horn. The Jews of that city nev-
er suffered persecution. In the
17th century, Venice had the
most important Jewish commun-
TOwnsend 6-9311-8.7862
ity in Italy. Its ghetto, celebrat-
3375 MONTEREY AVE.
ed in song and story, contained
SAM ESEROW• Manager
a synagogue which, though very
small, was a gem of beauty; jt
has bravely withstood the pass-
ing of the centuries.
The ghetto of Rome was a
place of gloom, and often inun-
New Year Greetings and
dated by the Tiber, which made
it a breeding quarter of disease
and death. It was instituted by
Best Wishes for Victory,
the violently anti-Semitic Pope
Paul IV in 1556.
Peace, and Happiness - - -
Restrictions against the Jews
of Italy were not relaxed with
the passing of the centuries. In-
deed in the 16th and 17th cen-
turies the laws became more
and more oppressive, and the In-
quisition became increasingly ac-
tive. Even the fanatic Solomon
Molcho, apostate Jew and friend
of David Reubeni, the pseudo-
Messiah and adventurer of the
8111 Tireman
16th century, finally became its
victim.
Many of the popes favored the
)
Jews and entrusted them with
In modern
important offices.
times, we find Pope Pius IX, the
last pontiff to hold temporal pow-
er, to be at first liberal, then
HAPPY NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS
intolerant. It was during his
rule that the infamous Mortara
AND BEST WISHES FOR LIFE, HEALTH,
incident occurred. A Jewish child
in Italy, named Mortara, was ab-
HAPPINESS AND PEACE TO ALL MANKIND

satirical poet and was acquaint-
ed with Dante.
Rome, however, was not Italy,
and until 1870—the beginning
of a united Italy—the history
of that country is one of indi-
vidual cities or states. So also
the status of the Jews of that
country varied with the localities
in which they lived.
Inscriptions give conclusive evi-
dence of early Jewish settle-
ments in Salerno, Capua, Naples
and Pompeii. There was a high-
ly developed community life in
Southern Italy, also in Syracuse
and Sardinia, but the date of
origin of these communities can-
not be established.
It is likely that the Jews set-
tled in Genoa even before the
destruction of the Second Tem-
ple. Misfortune and persecution
in later days, however, caused
them to emigrate, and in 1165,
the famous traveler, Benjamin
of Tudela, found only two Jews
left in that city. Jews settled

— •

SERLIN'S

Friday, September 15 1944

ducted and baptized without the
knowledge of his parents. They
never recovered the boy, for the
Holy See refused to give him up
and this occurred as late as
1858. Pope Pius IX even com-
manded the Roman Jews to be
shut up in a ghetto.
The Jews of Italy were eman-
cipated by Napoleon 'I, when the
French troops entered that coun-
try in 1797. Several Italian
rabbis were members of the San-
hedrin which he called in 1807
to meet in France.
The downfall of Napoleon and
the repartition of Italy ended
their short period of freedom.
Pope Pius VII immediately rein-
stituted the Inquisition. The pa-
pal states divested the Jews of
their rights and again shut them
up in ghettos.
The Revolution of 1848
brought another brief period of
freedom to the Jews of Italy,
but this was followed by a mis-
erable period of reaction.
With the advent of King Vic-
tor Emanuel II in 1859, the first
Jews in Italy to obtain equal
rights were those • of Sardinia.
Other states as they gradually
came under the rule of Sardinia
acquired these rights. When the
troops of General Cadorna en-
tered Rome in 1870, the last of
their restrictions disappeared.
The Italian Jews presented a
memorial to King Victor Eman-
uel II, expressing their loyalty
as Italian subjects. They began
to play an important part in the
public and intellectual life of the
country.
In 1870 the Italian army con-
tained 87 Jewish officers and
300 soldiers—a large proportion,
as the Italian army was quite

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DR. BRUCE H. DOUGLAS

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sin Iasla L ac Artom, patriot, diploma t
financier and author, wkhiongdhoamii
is bnteaf e l tuneesnmcsaeenc cta
eta n
.Nryourt,o cotnhteinuleibdertaol
e
policy after the
death of Cavour. He was the
tom, Jew in the new
to become a senator. Isaac Ar-
torn, and Guiseppe Finzi, soldier
and statesman, played an impor-
tant part in the growth of the
new Italy. Cesare Rovighi, who
later founded the first periodical
in Italy, was aide-de-camp t o
King Victor Emanuel.
Sansone d'Ancona a as Minis-
ter of Finance and Public Works;
General Guiseppe Ottolenghi was
Minister of War, and Luigi Luz-
zatti, called the "Grand Old Man
of Italy," was Prime Minister and
five times Minister of the Treas-
ury.
During the First World War
more than a thousand Italian
Jews were cited for gallantry.
There were 11 Jewish generals
in the army, and Victor Eman-
uel III, the present king, paid
tribute to their services.
Fascism found some adherents
among the Italian Jews, though
the great majority viewed the
movement with apprehension.
Mussolini at first ridiculed anti-
Semitism, and acknowledged the
antiquity of Jewish settlements
in Italy. During the first Si,
Years of Mussolini's rule, the
legal and moral position of the
Jews was unchanged, though
anti-Semitic articles began to ap-
pear in Italian newspapers.
Soon after the Concordat with
the Vatican, Mussolini appoint-
ed a commission to unify the

Rosh Hashonah Greetings

•

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EPSTEIN BAKING CO.

TOwnsend 8-4189

9936 Dexter Blvd.

