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The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 in which Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s were compelled to live under the Venetian Republic. It is from its name, in the Venetian language
Venetian language

Venetian or Venetan is a Romance languages spoken by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. The language is called v?neto in Venetian, veneto in Italian; the variant spoken in Venice is called venexi?n/venesi?n or veneziano, respectively....
, that the word "ghetto
Ghetto

A ghetto is described as a "portion of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure."...
", used in many languages, is derived.

name is derived from the "campo gheto" an area that iron foundries
Foundry

A foundry is a factory which produces metal castings from either ferrous or non-ferrous metals alloys. Metals are turned into parts by melting the metal into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and then removing the mold material or casting....
 located there in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries used for cooling slag
Slag

Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to purify metals. They can be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides; however, they can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form....
 (Venetian
Venetian language

Venetian or Venetan is a Romance languages spoken by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. The language is called v?neto in Venetian, veneto in Italian; the variant spoken in Venice is called venexi?n/venesi?n or veneziano, respectively....
 "gheta"; Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
 "ghetta"; from Latin GLITTU[M], GLITTUS).






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Jewishshopvenice
The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 in which Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s were compelled to live under the Venetian Republic. It is from its name, in the Venetian language
Venetian language

Venetian or Venetan is a Romance languages spoken by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. The language is called v?neto in Venetian, veneto in Italian; the variant spoken in Venice is called venexi?n/venesi?n or veneziano, respectively....
, that the word "ghetto
Ghetto

A ghetto is described as a "portion of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure."...
", used in many languages, is derived.

Etymology

The name is derived from the "campo gheto" an area that iron foundries
Foundry

A foundry is a factory which produces metal castings from either ferrous or non-ferrous metals alloys. Metals are turned into parts by melting the metal into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and then removing the mold material or casting....
 located there in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries used for cooling slag
Slag

Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to purify metals. They can be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides; however, they can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form....
 (Venetian
Venetian language

Venetian or Venetan is a Romance languages spoken by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. The language is called v?neto in Venetian, veneto in Italian; the variant spoken in Venice is called venexi?n/venesi?n or veneziano, respectively....
 "gheta"; Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
 "ghetta"; from Latin GLITTU[M], GLITTUS).

Location and geography

The Ghetto is an area of the Cannaregio
Cannaregio

Cannaregio is the northernmost of the six historic sestiere of Venice. It is the second largest sestiere by land area and the largest by population, with approximately 20,000 people....
 sestiere
Sestiere (Venice)

A sestiere is a subdivision of a number of Italian towns; for the origin and application of the word, and examples of these towns, see sestiere....
 of Venice, divided into the Ghetto Nuovo ("New Ghetto"), and the adjacent Ghetto Vecchio ("Old Ghetto"). These names of the ghetto sections are misleading, as they refer to an older and newer site at the time of their use by the foundries: in terms of Jewish residence, the Ghetto Nuovo is actually older than the Ghetto Vecchio.

Famous Venetian Jewry

Some famous Jews of the Ghetto include Leon of Modena
Leon of Modena

Leon Modena or Yehudah Aryeh Mi-modena was a Jewish scholar born in Venice of a notable France family which had migrated to Italy after an expulsion of Jews from France....
, whose family originated in France, as well as his disciple Sarah Coppio Sullam. She was an accomplished writer, debater (through letters), and even hosted her own salon
Salon (gathering)

A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, often consciously following Horace definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" ....
. Meir Magino, the famous glass maker also came from the ghetto.

The Ghetto today

Today, the Ghetto is still a center of Jewish life in the City of Venice, and is home to the aforementioned five synagogues, a yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
, a kosher restaurant, several Judaica shops, and a Chabad
Chabad

*Chabad is an acronym for Chochmah, Binah, and Da'at, the three levels of Sefirot related to cognition according to the Kabbalah.*Chabad-Strashelye, Strashelye is a branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism....
 synagogue. Although only around 300 of Venice's roughly 1000 Jews still live in the Ghetto, many return there during the day for religious services
Jewish services

Jewish services are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
 in the two synagogues which are still used (the other three are only used for guided tours, offered by the Jewish Community Museum).

Historical Jewish demographic of the Ghetto

Though it was home to a large number of Jews, the population living in the Venetian Ghetto never assimilated to form a distinct, "Venetian Jewish" ethnicity. Four of the five synagogues were clearly divided according to ethnic identity: separate synagogues existed for the German
History of the Jews in Germany

Jews have lived in Germany, or "Ashkenazi Jews", at least since the early 4th century, through both periods of tolerance and spasms of Antisemitism violence, culminating in the Holocaust and the genocide of the Jewish community in Germany and much of Europe, the subsequent division of Germany and reunification, and post-unification immigratio...
 (the Scuola Grande Tedesca), Italian
Italian Jews

Italian Jews can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in Italy or in a narrower sense to mean the ancient community who use the Italian rite, as distinct from newer arrivals who use the Sephardi or Ashkenazi rite....
 (the Scuola Italiana
Italian Synagogue (Venice)

The Italian Synagogue is one of five synagogues in the Venetian Ghetto of Venice....
), Spanish and Portuguese
Spanish and Portuguese Jews

Spanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the crypto-Judaism communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on....
 (the Scuola Spagnola
Spanish Synagogue (Venice)

The Spanish Synagogue is one of the two functioning synagogues in the Venetian Ghetto of Venice. It is open for services from Passover until the end of the High Holiday season....
), and Levantine Sephardi
Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews are a subgroup of Jews originating in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, usually defined in contrast to Ashkenazi or Mizrahi Jews....
 communities (The Scola Levantina). The fifth, the Scuola Canton, is believed to have been either French
History of the Jews in France

The Religions in France presently numbers around 600,000, according to the World Jewish Congress and 500,000 according to the Appel Unifi? Juif de France, and is found mainly in the metropolitan areas of Paris, Marseille, Strasbourg, Lyon, and Toulouse....
, or a private synagogue for the families who funded its construction. Today, there are also populations of Ashkenazic Jews in Venice, mainly Lubavitchers who operate one of two kosher foodstores, a yeshiva, and the aforementioned Chabad synagogue.

Languages historically spoken in the confines of the Ghetto include Venetian
Venetian language

Venetian or Venetan is a Romance languages spoken by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. The language is called v?neto in Venetian, veneto in Italian; the variant spoken in Venice is called venexi?n/venesi?n or veneziano, respectively....
, Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
, Judeo-Spanish, Judeo-Arabic, French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
, and German
German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
. In addition, Hebrew was traditionally (and still is) used on signage, inscriptions, and for official purposes such as wedding contracts (as well as, of course, in religious services). Today, English is widely used in the shops and the Museum because of the large number of English-speaking tourists.

In fiction

  • William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
    's play The Merchant of Venice
    The Merchant of Venice

    The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Although classified as a Shakespearean comedies in the First Folio, and while it shares certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedy, the play is perhaps more remembered for its dramatic scenes, and is best known for...
    , written ca. 1595, features Shylock, a Venetian Jew.
  • Geraldine Brook's 2008 novel People of the Book which traces the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah
    Sarajevo Haggadah

    The Sarajevo Haggadah is an illuminated manuscript that contains the traditional text of the Passover Haggadah which accompanies the Passover Seder....
     has a chapter whose action takes place in 1609 in the Venetian Ghetto.


Reception

  • Hugo Pratt
    Hugo Pratt

    Hugo Eugenio Pratt was an Italy comic book creator who combined his strong storytelling talent with extensive historical research on Corto Maltese and his other series....
    : Venezianische Legende. Corto Maltese
    Corto Maltese

    Corto Maltese is a comics series featuring an eponymous character, a complex sailor-adventurer. It was created by Italy comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967....
    . Bd 8. Novel. Carlson
    Carlson

    Carlson, a family name derived from the patronimic "Carl's Son", may refer to:* Carlson Companies, American conglomerate** Carlson Wagonlit Travel, subsidiary...
    , Hamburg 1985, 1998. ISBN 3-551-71669-2
  • Mirjam Pressler: Shylocks Tochter. Venedig im Jahre 1568. Novel. Alibaba Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1999, Bertelsmann
    Bertelsmann

    Bertelsmann AG is a transnational mass media corporation founded in 1835, based in G?tersloh, Germany. The company operates in 63 countries and employs 102,397 workers ....
    , München 2005. ISBN 3-570-30172-9
  • Rainer Maria Rilke
    Rainer Maria Rilke

    Rainer Maria Rilke is considered one of the German language's greatest 20th century poets. His haunting images focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety ? themes that tend to position him as a transitional figure between the traditional and the modernist poets....
    : Eine Szene aus dem Ghetto. in: Rilke: Geschichten von lieben Gott. Insel, Leipzig 1931, Argon
    Argon

    Argon is a chemical element designated by the symbol Ar. Argon has atomic number 18 and is the third element in group 18 of the periodic table ....
    , Berlin 2006. (div. weitere Ausg.) ISBN 3-86610-045-0


The trilogy work by Israel Zangwill
Israel Zangwill

Israel Zangwill was an England humourist and writer....
:
  • Kinder des Ghetto. 1897. Cronbach, Berlin 1897, 1913 (German).
  • Träumer des Ghetto. 1898. Cronbach, Berlin 1908, 1922 (German).
  • Komödien des Ghetto. 1907. Cronbach, Berlin 1910 (German).


External links

  • (Campo di Ghetto Nuovo is the large square in the centre)

See also

  • Moses Soave
    Moses Soave

    Moses Soave was an Italian Hebraist; born in Venice March 28, 1820; died there November 27, 1882. He supported himself as a private tutor in Venetian Jewish families, and collected a library containing many rare and valuable works....
  • The Merchant Of Venice
    The Merchant of Venice

    The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Although classified as a Shakespearean comedies in the First Folio, and while it shares certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedy, the play is perhaps more remembered for its dramatic scenes, and is best known for...
  • Leon of Modena
    Leon of Modena

    Leon Modena or Yehudah Aryeh Mi-modena was a Jewish scholar born in Venice of a notable France family which had migrated to Italy after an expulsion of Jews from France....