The Roman Ghetto

 

Today was dedicated to spending time (and some money) in the Roman Ghetto.  Such a fascinating place.  There are parts that are quite ancient and the history of the place is remarkable, poignant, terrifying.  When one remembers that the deportation of the Jews out of this ghetto and to concentration camps happened only 80 years ago…. That level of inhumanity is so very recent.  What humanity is capable of both in terms of wretchedness and courage.  I don’t know. 

In order to see the synagogue, you have to sign up for the guided tour.  The area surrounding the synagogue is policed 24 hours a day, every day.  So these are just snippets of what I remember from our guide.  It is the home of Europe’s oldest Jewish community, the first Jews coming here from the diaspora in the 2^nd century.  The Roman Ghetto was established via a Papal Bull by Pope Paul IV entitled Cum nimis absurdum (and I looked this up) which translates as “Since it is absurd and utterly inconvenient that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal slavery….” (what a schmuck)  What Pope Paul IV decreed was that Jews were to be subjected to various degradations, restrictions on owning property and practicing medicine (among Christians), the wearing of yellow hats and scarves to identify themselves, only being allowed to do unskilled jobs (pawnbrokers included) and they had to live within a walled section of the city, next to the Tiber which flooded constantly.  Thousands stuck in a few square miles of icky real estate.  AND there was to be a wall built around this slum that the Jews had to pay for. 

The word ghetto most likely comes from the Italian word gettare, which means ‘to pour’ and was a verb used in foundries.  The earliest usage of this word for a segregated area comes from 16^th century Venice, the home of another chapter of Jewish history in Europe.  The word evolved to mean, ‘slum’ or a place that is apart.

As you walk through this extraordinary place, you just ponder many things:

I had lunch at a kosher restaurant Ba'Ghetto, which was a real joy, a fabulous and delicious moment. 

I started with an artichoke prepared alla Judea (?) :) and then had lamb with perfect roasted potatoes and a salad of puntarelle with anchovy paste and then a pistachio torta for dolce. 

The synagogue is splendid, so beautiful and every single part of it has meaning:

After the tour of the synagogue I visited a tiny museum dedicated to the deportation of the Jews during the 40's.  Sobering.