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Jews were living
near Ancona in 967. By about 1300, there was an organized Jewish community in
the city on whose behalf the poet Immanuel of Rome sent a letter to the Rome
community, intimating that as the Ancona community was in economic straits and
suffered from persecution, it should not be subjected to heavy taxation
(Machberet 24). Jews probably engaged in money lending in Ancona in the first
half of the 14th century. In 1427 the Franciscan Giacomo Della Marca, an
enthusiastic disciple of Bernardino of Siena, tried to force the Jews in Ancona
to wear the Jewish badge and to restrict Jewish residence to a single street.
Apparently this attempt was unsuccessful. In 1492 refugees from Sicily began to
arrive in Ancona, to be joined after 1510 by others from the Kingdom of Naples.
An order to wear the badge was again issued in 1524, but was revoked four years
later. Solomon Molcho visited the community in 1529 and stimulated messianic
enthusiasm there.
The assumption by the papal legate
of authority in Ancona in 1532 had mixed results for the community. As Ancona
was about to be declared a free port, many Jewish merchants took advantage of
its excellent harbor facilities to trade with the Levant. At first mercantile
interests prevailed in papal policy and Pope Paul III invited merchants from
the Levant to settle there regardless of their religion. In 1541 he encouraged
the settlement of Jews expelled from Naples and in 1547 extended the invitation
to crypto-Jews, whom he promised to protect against the Inquisition. Pope
Julius III renewed these guarantees, and about one hundred Portuguese
crypto-Jewish families apparently settled in Ancona. In 1555, however, Pope
Paul IV began to institute anti-Jewish measures in the Papal States. The papal
bull of July 12,1555, was implemented in full in Ancona. The Jews were
segregated in a ghetto, built the following year, prohibited from owning real
property, and restricted to trade in second-hand clothing. Papal opposition to
the crypto-Jews proved particularly implacable, and a legate was sent to Ancona
to take proceedings against them. Some managed to escape to Pesaro, Ferrara,
and other places, but 51 were arrested and tried. Twenty-five were burned at
the stake between April and June 1555. The horrors of the tragedy, mourned
throughout the Jewish world, inspired touching elegies, still recited locally
on the Ninth of Av. The event moved Dona Gracia Nasi to organize a boycott of
Ancona. The boycott, however, caused dissension within Jewry, some rabbis
supporting the action while others opposed it, fearing that the Pope might
retaliate against Jews living under his jurisdiction. The Ancona tragedy thus
occasioned the first attempt by Jewry to utilize economic power as a weapon
against persecutors, as well as provoking a debate on the desirability and
danger of attempting international Jewish action of this nature. The position
of Ancona Jewry, although temporarily improved under Pope Pius IV, again
deteriorated under Pius V.
Ancona was one of the cities in
Italy, together with Rome, from which the Pope did not expel the Jews in 1569,
being tolerated because of their utility in the Levant trade; nevertheless many
decided to leave. The favorably disposed Pope Sixtus V afforded some
amelioration and Ancona was again exempted when Clement VIII renewed the decree
of expulsion in 1593.
However, the Ancona community was reduced to a state of debility that lasted
through two centuries. Any temporary improvement that occurred was prompted by
economic considerations. A local Purim was observed on Tevet 21 to commemorate
the deliverance of the community from an earthquake that occurred on December
29, 1690. As late as 1775 Pope Pius VI again enforced all the most extreme
anti-Jewish legislation.
During the occupation of Ancona by
the army of Napoleon I between 1797 and 1799 the most humiliating provisions
were abrogated. The gates of the ghetto were removed, and three Jews, Samson
Costantini, and David and Ezekiel Morpurgo, sat on the new municipal council,
although the Jews were obliged to contribute heavy war levies. In 1814, after
Napoleon's downfall, Ancona reverted to the Papal States, and the former
legislation was reintroduced. The two revolutions of 1831- when the ghetto was
opened - and of 1848, generally engendered a more liberal attitude. The Jews
obtained complete civic rights in 1861when Ancona was included in the Kingdom
of Italy.
The Jewish population of Ancona
numbered 1,400 in 1789 and approximately 1,600 in the 19th century. The size of
the community and its widespread connections attracted many noted rabbis and
scholars throughout the centuries, including the Humanist Judah Messer Leon
(15th century), the physician Amatus Lusitanus, and Moses Basola (16th
century), Mahalalel Hallelyja of Civitanova, Hezekiah Manoach Provenzal, Joseph
Fermi (17th century), Samson Morpurgo, Joseph Fiammetta (18th century), Jacob
Shabbetai Sinigaglia, Isaiah Raphael Azulai, David Abraham Vivanti, Isaac
Raphael Tedeschi (19th century), and H. Rosenberg who published several
monographs on local history. During World War II, persecutions were more
individual than collective in character. The Germans and eventually the Italian
Fascists demanded tributes to allow the Jews to live. After the war 400 Jews
were left there, and the number had dropped to 300 in 1969.
There are a number of Jewish
organizations active in the Jewish community of Ancona today, among them
ADEI-WIZO, G’miluth Hassadim, Istituto di beneficenza Ma'ase HaZedaka, and a
Talmud Torah. The two synagogues and a
Mikveh are located at 10 Via Astagno, and
there are two Jewish cemeteries: Monte Cardeto, the old one, and Tavernelle,
the new cemetery. The Jewish community of Ancona is also in charge of the
synagogues in the nearby towns of Urbino and Senigallia.
The Jewish Community of Rome
Umberto Moshe David Cassuto
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A Visit to the
Synagogues of Ancona
Two spectacular synagogues have survived in the ancient community of Ancona.
Moved from their original locations, each of them now occupies a separate floor
at No. 10 on narrow Via Astagno, a steep cobblestone street not far from the
port. The austere facade, with an arched portal framing heavy wooden doors, has
no outward markings to indicate the presence of a synagogue.
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The high gallery with its finely wrought iron
railing softens the impression of great height in the Levantine synagogue
Renaissance room. The long walls have blind windows only, but lots of light is
provided by the pair of high arched windows flanking the heikhal (Holy Ark in
the Italian tradition) on the east, by the gallery's gracefully vaulted windows
and by the many lamps and chandeliers. The carved stucco ceiling is pierced by
an unusual glass lantern, inscribed: "Know what is above you."
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A red velvet cloth, embellished with lavishly
embroidered flowers, covers the reader's stand. It was donated "In the
honor of the Lord and His Torah by the honorable Moshe Polinio, may the
Almighty protect him, in the year 5652 (1892)."
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The Heikhal, as the Holy Ark is called in the
Italian tradition, is embellished on each side with a series of exquisitely
carved pillars of rose marble. Blue marble panels carrying gilded ornaments
separate the pillars of the row at the rear. A parokhet (Holy Ark curtain) of
red damask cloth hides the repoussé silver doors of the Ark. |
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The tevah, as the reader's stand is called in the
Italian tradition, is open, four pillared and square shaped, placed on an
octagonal base. The base carries six waist-high wooden panels, each decorated
with a centerpiece of a gilded floral design and framed above and below with
with passages from prayers. The wooden pillars are carved with an overall
floral design to echo the floral elements in the garlanded open wooden canopy
above. A red velvet hupah, wedding canopy, hangs from the ceiling, just above
the tevah, and, although weddings are infrequent, a wedding took place here in
1990.
The Italian synagogue has kept the traditional Italian bi-focal floor plan,
where Heikhal and tevah are placed on the east and west, respectively, with
benches for the congregation in rows facing each other along the north and
south walls.
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The heikhal in this Italian synagogue is a
masterpiece of the silversmiths' artistry. With gilded pillars and panels and
spectacular silver
repoussé doors it glistens jewel-like on the east wall of
this tiny synagogue, a reminder of a splendid past. Tablets of the Law are
worked in the upper pair of silver doors to the tevah.
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The right half of the lower pair of tevah doors
displays a deeply fluted urn standing atop an oval urn filled with a bold burst
of flora. Above them a giant, central sunflower and two pairs of other flowers
sparkle symmetrically below an inscribed medallion.
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A stucco-framed inscription on the wall of the
ground floor entrance corridor greets all comers:
Man of Israel, may your heart be filled with awe as
you enter.
Lower your head before this holy place
And note well the spark of the divine that rests upon it.
Each morning rise with the sun
And pour out prayer and praise to the Lord.
Then he will bless you and sustain you
And fulfill all your wishes
Adapted from a chapter of Synagogues Without Jews,
by Rivka
and Ben-Zion Dorfman.
Published by the Jewish Publication Society, the book was a winner of the
National Jewish Book Award 2000. Synagogues Without Jews can be
obtained from Beth Hatefutsoth.
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