t h e J e w s o f R o m e
carnival but were still rolled down the street in barrels.When they went outside the Ghetto, Jews had to wear bells and people were authorised to throw vegetables at them. During hermuseumtourMicaela points
out a print of synagogue life when there were still five scole in the piazza. It is a wonderful drawing of congregants sleeping, doing business, children playing and the rabbi the only one who is praying. “All the members of the extended family, 20 or 30 or more, were squeezed into one room– they did not have a living room.Where did they have to have a social life, do business, show off?And can you imagine how the synagogues competed? Singing louder and louder. If the Spanish synagogue bought a new lamp then the others would have to have an even bigger one.” Micaela has nothing good to say about
the Papacy. She berates Pope Pius XII for not havingmade a stand against Hitler nor provided sanctuary for Jews in theVatican. She tells us that Benedict XVI took four years to respond to the invitation to come to the Great Synagogue tomark the anniversary of Pope John Paul’s visit and feels he did not accord Chief Rabbi Riccardo di Segni sufficient respect when he did come. She tells of the horrors of theWar
years, of the ‘round-up’. Her own grandmother, she tells us, was ‘sold’ by a neighbour.Abounty was offered for turning in Jews. However 80%of Jews were saved, most of them in monasteries and nunneries. She tells us the story of Doctor Giovanni Borromeo who is now remembered inYad Vashem for saving 60 Jews. “When the Nazis came he showed them all the latest technology in the hospital (which still stands on Tiber Island) . Then he told them that all the patients had a weird disease called the K factor – the Nazi commandant was called Kappler – and if you touched them you were likely to fall ill...You would die in a few days and you would have a terrible death.” As we walk around the Ghetto she tells
us that there are now 400 Jews living there – either those who have been there fromthe time it was run down and despised and are poor, or the very rich who havemoved there recently. “Now people who want to be trendy want to be seen with Jews. Everyone wants a Jewish friend…I would love to live here now. 15 years ago I said tomymother, why don’t wemove there. She said ‘Me, live with those schleppers?’” She points out a woman who waves to us fromher top floor flat. “Her family bought the house in 1910.
fact file
An estimated total of 16,000 Jews live in Rome, of whom 13,500 aremembers of the Rome Jewish community. the 16 synagogues include Italian, Italian sephardi and ItalianAshkenazi (run by Chabad) but there is no membership of individual synagogues. Dues are paid to the Jewish Community of Rome whichmaintains the synagogues. the synagogues are run by their regular congregants but any member of the communitymay go to any one. the Italian rite is unique, neitherAshkenazi nor sephardi. the Great synagogue
(tempiomaggiore) is the centre of Jewish life, with the adjoining building housing a community
nursery school, primary school, high school and rabbinical college as well as the Jewish museumand historic archive.
fURThER READING
Jewish Rome:APictorial History of 2000 years, Geller, 1983 Available at the Jewishmuseum The PopesAgainst the Jews - The Vatican’s Role in the Rise of ModernAntisemitism, David R Kertzer, Vintage 2002 October 16, 1843/Eight Jews, Giacomo Debenedetti, transl. estelle Gilson, University of Notre Dame Press, 2001 Ahighly praised account of the
round-up of Rome’s Jews: Benevolence and Betrayal Alexander stille, Vintage 1993
They were so poor they could not go anywhere else; now it is one of themost expensive apartments in town. She hangs her clothes in the centre of a 1st-century column and everyone wants to buy it. I say to her, why don’t youmove, you could have a lovely flat where you don’t have to walk up three floors. But she won’t.” She told us that the Piazza is still the
Jewish Community Centre. “You don’t have to say which Piazza. The old women come and gossip. They leave at 12.45 to prepare lunch and their husbands arrive at 1.15pm. I onlymarried a year ago, at the age of 34. For eight years people were asking when I was going to getmarried and then as soon as I did they were looking atme to see if I got
pregnant.And now they have someone else to worry about. [Micaela was expecting her first baby in September.] The pressure is very
great.My school friends were getting married at 16 and that was in
1995.And they are not independent. They submit to their husbands.” She talks about the ghettomentality
which still lingers on; the new rich; the competition. “We all go to the same beaches because we like to stick together – and you should see the swimsuits!” Micaela is also entertaining on the
subject of the Libyan invasion. “The women were very good at selling. The Roman Jews were shocked…My mother caused a scandal she married out – there is all this marrying of cousins – at least my
The youngest Roman Jew, Gabriel Pavoncello
see also A tAste of Rome by silvia Nacamulli on page 54 and LAstwoRDs on JUDAeo-RomAN on page 56
22 JewIsh ReNAIssANCe oCtoBeR 2011
five family histories are woven into the broader history of fascism’s rise and downfall.
vIsITOR INfORMATION Jewish Community of Rome
www.romaebraica.it +39 06 684 0061 (for synagogue and service information) Jewishmuseum
www.museoebraica.roma.it +39 06 684 00661 tours:
www.jewishroma.com (micaela Pavoncello)
www.cinquescole.org In addition to the Ghetto, tours are offered to the Jewish catacombs and ostiaAntica as well as to items of Jewish interest in Rome’smuseums. for restaurants see page 55.
sister and I are fresh Jews.”Apparently the Libyan Jews are the more religious: “If I want a five-hour Seder I go to my mother’s side; if I want a 15-minute one with a lot of chit chat, I go to my father’s.” Micaela’s excellent English and her
evident knowledge about the nuances of Jewish life elsewhere suggest she is well travelled and indeed she is. “I learnedmy English fromAmerican boyfriends. I lived in Argentina for a year but I didn’t like the way they have hamonmatzo.” She has also lived on a kibbutz in Israel. She loves Israel but, in spite of the shortcomings she has entertained us with, prefers to stay in Rome. “I like the lifestyle. I like to be able to drive to an Orthodox synagogue.” As we leave I tellMicaela that I hope
her son will be born on time so that he can appear in our feature as the youngest Jew of Rome – and indeed he is, on 5 September 2011.
JL
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