The Jewish Ghetto (More Learning!)

My friends and I went on a little walking tour of the Jewish Ghetto. The Jews of Rome where placed into the Ghetto twice in recorded history. The first in the sixteenth century by Pope Paul IV who wanted them all to convert to Christianity. He placed churches at the exits with a plaque written in Hebrew quoting Isaiah, "I have stretched out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in evil paths and follow their own thoughts." Which is an unsubtle way of saying the Jews rejected the savior they had been waiting for and they should convert. The Jews were restricted to this section of the city until 1870 when Italy united and the Papal State lost power. The second time, was as you can guess, during the invasion of the Nazis. The lined the Jews up in the main square and told them to produce 110 lbs of gold within 24 hours and they would let them stay. So they collected everything they had and even gentile Romans contributed until finally they had enough, and the next day the Nazis collected all the gold and took all the Jews to the concentration camps. Only 16 of the 1,007 Roman Jews returned. The square is now named 16 Ottobre 1943 after the day this took place.

Irony of ironies, the Jewish Ghetto has some beautiful ruins from ancient Rome in it and as a result, the property values have risen considerably, so now it's one of the most expensive places to live.


This is the Synagogue, the only square dome in Rome.

On a happier note, not far from this precious sign is a kosher bakery that sells the chocolate cake I had for breakfast after the tour.