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Friday, September

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

15, 1944

:- Judaism Revived in Italy

By MABEL LYON

(Reprinted from Liberal Judaism)

"The synagogue of the Eternal
City has reopened its doors, re-
moving the bars placed upon it
by the Nazis."—News item.
The first definite appearance
of Jews in Italy was in about
the year 140 B.C.E., when Sim-
on, the brother of Judas Macca-
beus, sent an envoy to Rome to

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secure an alliance against the
Syrians. There must have been
previous settlements, however,
for these envoys were welcomed
by their coreligionists, a number
of whom may have emigrated to
Italy as merchants from Egypt
and Asia Minor.
When the two rival claimants
to the High Priesthood called in
Pompey (about 62 B.C.E.) to
decide between them, they laid
the foundation for the complete
subjugation of Judea by Rome.
Pompey executed a number of
the patriots who opposed him
and took a great number of
prisoners to Rome. Many of
these were ransomed by their
coreligionists and were called
Libertini, the Freed Ones.
The Judaean quarter in Rome
lay to the right of the bank of
the Tiber on the slope of Mount
Vatican, and a bridge leading
across that river to the Vatican
was known for a long time as
the Bridge of the Judaeans or
Pons Judaeorum.
The Roman Judaeans, by the
weight of their numbers, were
often able to turn the scale, to

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a certain extent, in some impor-
tant decision, for the original
immigrants as well as the ran-
somed captives were allowed to
vote in public assemblies. Their
power was so effective that the
anti-Semitic Cicero was afraid
of stirring them up against him-
self.
Julius Caesar was benevolent
to the Jews; he protected them
against their enemies and respect-
ed their religious observances.
The Roman Jews were inconsol-
able at his death and spent sev-
eral nights mourning beside his
tomb. His nephew, Octavius, lat-
er the Emperor Augustus, also
granted the Jews the right to
observe their own religious cus-
toms, to build synagogues, and
to transmit their yearly contri-
butions to the Temple at Jeru-
salem, alhough in general it was
not permitted to send large sums
of money out of Rome. The
Roman Jews received their por-
tion of the grain that was dis-
tributed among the populace; if
the distribution happened to take
place on the Sabbath, the Jews
were to receive their portion on
the following day:
The first real persecution of
the Jews in Rome took place in
the reign of the Emperor Tiber-
ius. At first he lightened their
tax burden, but later he expelled
them from Rome on penalty of
becoming slaves for life unless
they abjured Judaism within a
specified time. Thousands of Jew-
ish youths were sent to Sardinia
during his reign to fight against
the hordes of brigands infesting
that island.
Caligula, his successor, violent-
ly persecuted those who refused
to acknowledge him as a god.
His successor, Claudius, at first
granted full religious freedom to
the Judaeans of the Roman Em-
pire. Subsequently, however,
when those who had been ex-
pelled by Tiberius returned to
Rome in great numbers, he de-
cided to banish them again, but
was deterred because they were
so numerous that he feared their
power.
Although it was in the reign
of the Emperor Nero that the
rebellion in Judaea against Rome
was reaching its height, the
Jews in Rome were well treated
under his government—probably
because his wife, the Empress
Poppaea, was interested in the
Jewish reilgion and showed her-
self friendly to its adherents.
Later, under Vespasian, the Jew-
ish community in Rome was made
to answer for the rebellion in
Judaea, and it was no longer
permitted for them to send mon-
ey for the Temple at Jerusalem.
After the conquest of Jeru-
salem by Titus, son of Vespasian,
those Jews who had been friend-
ly to Rome were richly reward-
ed, among them Berenice, the
sister of King Agrippa.
Josephus, the historian, an-
other collaborationist, lived lux-
uriously in Rome. Later he tried
to redeem himself by writing the
history of the Jews, in which he
defended them against their de-
tractors.
There were many conversions
to Judaism in Rome during the
first century after the conquest
of Judaea in the year 70 C.E.,
among them a relative of the
Emperor Domitian who, though
he had previously treated the
Jews with a measure of fairness,
now began to persecute them.
In direct contrast to this cruel
ruler was his successor, the Em-
peror Nerva. A coin, struck to
commemorate his humane acts,
is still preserved. The close of
his reign marked the end of the
period of favor shown the Jews
for many years to come.
Fifty years after the destruc-
tion of the Temple at Jerusalem,
because of the revolt against the

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Jewish religion on an equal foot-
ing with the other forms of Ivor-
ship existing in the Empire, but
his attitude became more and
more intolerant as the influence
of Christanity over hint became
intensified.
His nephew, Julian, call ed by
the Christians "The Apostate,"
(luring his reign of only two
years, in every way manifested
his kindly feelings toward his
Jewish subjectsand he even
planned to rebuild the Temple
at Jerusalem. His death in 363
marked the end for many cen-
turies of freedom from persecu-
tion of the Jews. There were

brief intervals of relief under
his successors, but oppression be-
gan in earnest in the fifth cen-

tury.
The Jews of the western part
of the Roman Empire lived in
comparative peace under pagan
rule, but when the hordes of
Goths and Slays invaded Italy
and embraced Christianity, they
were quick to learn intolerance
from their mentors. Rome did
not remain the political center
of the Empire. The western Em-

See JUDAISM—Page 4

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Emperor Hadrian by Bar Koch-
ba and Rabbi Akiba there was
inaugurated an era of terrible
persecutions with the express
purpose of eradicating the Jew-
ish religion.
From the time of Hadrian, all
connection between Jews and the
early Christians ceased. The
Jewish Christians, as they were
then called, abandoned the Mo-
saic and Talmudic laws which
they had hitherto scrupulously
observed, and the Jewish Chris-
tian and heathen Christian sects
united.
Marcus Aurelius (175 C.E.),
whose philosophy is so often
quoted, and who was considered
the best and most moral of the
Roman Emperers, had a special
aversion for the Jews, and not
a single one of his laws was
favorable to them. On the other
hand, Caracalla, who ruled in
the early part of the third cen-
tury, C.E., and who was notor-
ious for his vices, gave the Jews
full rights of citizenship with
all the inhabitants of the Empire.
The Talmud contains many
references, undoubtedly authen-
tic, concerning the friendship of
Alexander Severus for the Pat-
riarch at Jerusalem and for the
many marks of favor this mon•
arch showed his Jewish subjects.
Like Caracalla, his predecessor,
Alexander Severus was Syrian.
The Emperor Diocletian, who
reigned in the latter part of the
third century, was not unfavor-
ably disposed toward the Jews,
but he hated and persecuted the
Christians.
Under the rule of the Emperor
Constantine and that of his son
and successor, Constantius, Chris-
tianity became the dominant re-
ligion in the Roman Empire un-
der a decree framed at the Coun

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