Life in the ghetto

For centuries, the Ghetto was an example of segregation, but also an experimental laboratory of coexistence. People of different origins and traditions found hospitality in a cosmopolitan society as the Serenissima had always been, a historic crossroads between East and West.

Life in the Ghetto was intense: commercial and intellectual exchanges with the Venetian population were the norm. The Germans were allowed by the Serenissima to reside in the Ghetto on payment of a tax and to run pawnshops at a rate set by the Republic.

By contrast, the Levantines, mainly merchants, were welcomed because of the advantages their international relations guaranteed Venice in the field of maritime trade. In addition to pawn lending, trading and strazzaria (the sale of second-hand textiles and clothing), Jews were allowed to practise the art of medicine, which they practised both inside the Ghetto and outside, with special permission for night outings.

Over the centuries, prominent intellectuals in the humanistic sphere established themselves in the Ghetto: the grammarian Elia Levita, Leon da Modena, rabbi and man of letters author of the famous Historia de’ riti Hebraici, Simone Luzzatto, rabbi and writer, the poetess Sara Copio Sullam, famous for her literary salon frequented by men of letters and members of the Venetian nobility.

From the beginning of the 16th century, the printing of Jewish books flourished in Venice. The art of typography was, however, forbidden to Jews, who could, however, work for Christian printers. Thus, the first Hebrew editions of the Pentateuch and the Talmud came out of the Bomberg Typography by Jewish printers, which were later reprinted by the major Venetian printers – Giustiniani and Bragadin.

With the arrival of Napoleon in Venice in 1797 the ghetto gates were torn down and segregation temporarily ended. When the Austrians returned after a few months, the Jews had to return to the Ghetto, although they were allowed to exercise free professions, perform military service, attend public schools and hold public office.