Italian Jewry Documents Found
NEW YORK — Roughly
250 years before Jews in the
new world began con-
tributing dollars to
something called the Jewish
National Fund. the Jews of
Venice, Italy, were old
hands at sending ducats to
Israel. How much they
raised from 1642 to the
beginning of the 19th Cen-
tury and how they did it
without telethons or bond
campaigns, is recorded in a
detailed ledger newly un-
covered in the library of the
Jewish Theological
Seminary.
The rare account was
_found in what appeared to
- be a volume of rules for a
charity organization started
by Ashkenazi Jews in 17th
Century Venice. That hand-
somely engraved volume
bore a title describing it as
the organization's rules,
opened to about 20 pages of
rules, and closed with an
index to the first 20 pages.
However, sandwiched
between the rules and the
index — in fact, occupying
most of the book — was the
ledger which went un-
noticed until the book was
read by a visiting expert in
Italian Jewish history.
Dr. Daniel Carpi, who
made the discovery, is a
Milan professor and former
dean of the humanities
faculty at Tel Aviv Univer-
sity. Arriving in January,
this year he spent seven
months teaching Jewish
history at the seminary and
doing research in the
seminary library's archives
of rare manuscripts.
Dr. Carpi said the chari-
ty organization dis-
appeared after a short
time and the book was
stored in a synagogue for
perhaps as many as 20
years until a caretaker
needed a book to record
the sums sent to Israel.
Hence, the confusing title
and filing of the volume as
the charity organization's
minute book in the library This time the populace
here.
joined the conquerors to
"In the beginning Venice attack local Jews, killing
was a very rich community. 13 in the synagogue and
The Jews were rich and looting most of the Jewish
could give a lot," Dr. Carpi homes. This continued for
relates. "But in the 18th several days and the com-
Century Venice lost its posi- munity would have been
tion in international trade massacred had the
and naturally the Jews lost Russians and Turks not
too. The couldn't give as left by sea when a small
much."
group of French soldiers
Nonetheless
con- returned to Senigallia.
tributions continued to be
A third seminary collec-
recorded through the
-French Revolution, the tion of rare Italian
money going not to plant manuscripts is still being
trees or build hospitals, but studied by the professor.
to support poor religious There are about 25 letters
communities in Jerusalem written in Hebrew by
and Safed. Not unlike yeshiva students in
today's Diaspora, the Vene- Conegliano, near Venice, at
tian Jews were confronted about the middle of the 17th
with organizational Century. They were used as
problems — whether to run examples of how to write
the campaigns themselves letters, and Dr. Carpi is
or turn the ducats over to trying to discern which
shlikhim from Israel. They letters actually were
prefer-red to do it written by students to their
themselves and each year families and which were
the name of the "Parnass written for classroom pur-
Eretz Yisrael," the com- poses.
munity leader elected to run
Although there no longer
the campaign, is recorded is a yeshiva in Conegliano,
along with the sums.
the Jewish community sur-
Prof. Carpi plans to vived until World War I.
publish a report of the ac- About 20 years ago, the syn-
count book after he returns agogue was moved and
to Israel. He also has reconstructed in Jerusalem
prepared for publication in where Dr. Carpi reports it is
this country a chronicle used by Italian Jews today.
similarly found in the
The professor, who im-
seminary library, of riots
migrated to Israel in 1945,
against 600 Jews in the
small Adriatic port of came to the seminary in
search of original Hebrew
Senigallia, Italy, in the year
source material on Italian
1800.
Jewry. Until this century,
As Prof. Carpi describes
most of the research had
the slender volume, it was
been culled from Italian and
written in Hebrew by a
Latin documents which, he
Jew in nearby Ancona and
explained, told how the gen-
starts with the Napoleonic
tile world saw the Jews, but
conquest of Italy
not how the Jews lived
liberating the Jews from
among themselves.
the ghettos in '1799. The
Jews received their civil
rights, only to have Medical Training
Napoleon continue on to by Agudath Israel
Egypt and Palestine
NEW YORK (JTA) —
leaving Senigallia open to
Agudath Israel of
conquest by the Russo-
America has reported
Turk Army a year later.
that 13 of 25 girls who re-
ceived diplomas as medi-
cal assistants in a unique
DON'T BE
group educational prog-
ram have been placed in
OLD FASHIONED!
jobs in that field and that
the Orthodox organiza-
tion expects to place the
other 12.
GO BACK
TO SCHOOL
IN STYLE!
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Denim Headquarters
2313 W. 12 MILE RD. • Berkley
1/2 BLOCK EAST OF COOLIDGE
Master Charge Accepted
Special financial scho-
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Three New Guides
Put Out by JWB
Three publications listing
189 speakers, 95 performing
artists, and 83 films of
Jewish interest offered to
local communities by the
JWB lecture bureau were
issued this month in time to
make it possible for those in
charge of programs to plan
for the coming year.
All three publications are
available free of charge
from the JWB Lecture
Bureau, 15 E. 26th Street,
New York, N.Y. 10010.
"Learning for Jewish
Living: 1976-78" lists 189
personalities selected on the
basis of their effectiveness
as lectures and participants
in forums, debates, recitals,
symposia, institutes, con-
certs, and courses. There
are more than 200 major
subject areas included, with
a list of the experts under
each subject. The back-
ground of each lecturer and
artist is included.
"The Jewish Arts" is a
directory of 95 performing
artists represented by the
JWB Lecture Bureau.
Included are theatrical
acts and personalities,
humorists, dancers,
singers, ensembles, a one-
man band, children's per-
formers, and exhibits.
"Selected Full-Length
Feature Films of Jewish
Interest" is a catalog of 83
films which the JWB Lec-
ture Bureau makes
available for rental to local
communities.
Friday September 3, 1976 23
Dr. Dean to Direct Doctors Academy
Dr. George A. Dean,
family physician for the
past 20 years, is the new
president of the Michigan
Academy of Family
Physicians.
Dr. Dean is a clinical in-
structor in the depart-
ment of family medicine
at the Wayne State Uni-
versity School of Medi-
cine and is a member
of the Society of Teachers
of Family Practice.
He also is a charter dip-
lomat of the American
Board of Family Practice
and is a charter fellow
of the American Academy
of Family Physicians. A
member of the medical
staffs at both Harper and
Grace hospitals, Dr. Dean
also is a member of both
the Wayne County and
Michigan State medical
societies.
•
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Remember
KOLAR
Consider three things
and thou wilt never sin:
remember whence thou
comest, whither thou
goest, and before whom
thou wilt have to render
an account for thy doings.
—Talmud
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Dinitz to Speak
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NEW YORK — Am-
bassador Simha Dinitz and
Histadrut treasurer Israel
Kessar will be among the
top speakers at the 53rd
annual convention of the
National Committee for
Labor Israel to be held -Oct.
22-24 at the New York
Hilton.
At least 2,000 delegates
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Committee Focus
MONTREAL (JTA) —
A newly-formed syna-
gogue committee on the
aged and aging will
begin next month to or-
ganize groups in several
Montreal synagogues . in
an effort to integrate the
elderly into the
mainstream of Jewish
communal life. The com-
mittee was formed by the
National Religous Affairs
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dian Jewish Congress, the
Montreal branch of the
Rabbinical Council of
America, and several day
schools.
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