Italian Jews
Italian Jews (Italian: ebrei italiani; Hebrew: יהודים איטלקים) or Roman Jews (Italian: ebrei romani; Hebrew: יהודים רומים) can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in or with roots in Italy, or, in a narrower sense, to mean the Italkim, an ancient community living in Italy since the Ancient Roman era, who use the Italian liturgy (or "Italian Rite") as distinct from those Jewish communities in Italy dating from medieval or modern times who use the Sephardic liturgy or the Nusach Ashkenaz.
Not to be confused with Romaniote Jews or Romanian Jews.Name[edit]
They claim descent from the Jews who lived in Italy during the Roman period. Their Nusach is distinct from the Sephardic Nusach and the Ashkenazi Nusach, and are sometimes referred to in the scholarly literature as Italkim (Hebrew for "Italians"; pl. of italki, Middle Hebrew loanword from the Latin adjective italicu(m), meaning "Italic", "Latin", "Roman"; italkit is also used in Modern Hebrew as the word for "Italian language" (singular). They have traditionally spoken a variety of Judeo-Italian languages.
Italian Jews historically fall into four categories.
Historically these communities remained separate: in a given city there was often an "Italian synagogue" and a "Spanish synagogue", and occasionally a "German synagogue" as well. In many cases these have since amalgamated, but a given synagogue may have services of more than one rite.
Today there are further categories:
Ashkenazi Jews in Italy[edit]
There have been Ashkenazi Jews living in the North of Italy since at least as early as the late Middle Ages. In Venice, they were the oldest Jewish community in the city, antedating both the Sephardic and the Italian groups. Following the invention of printing, Italy became a major publishing centre for Hebrew and Yiddish books for the use of German and other northern European Jews. A notable figure was Elijah Levita, who was an expert Hebrew grammarian and Masorete as well as the author of the Yiddish romantic epic Bovo-Bukh.
Another distinctive community was that of Asti, Fossano and Moncalvo, which was descended from Jews expelled from France in 1394: this community includes the well-known Lattes family. Only the Asti synagogue is still in use today. Their rite, known as Appam (from the Hebrew initials for those three cities), is similar to the Ashkenazi, but has some peculiarities drawn from the old French rite, particularly on the High Holy Days. These variations are found on loose-leaf sheets which the community uses in conjunction with the normal Ashkenazi prayer-book; they are also printed by Goldschmidt.[10] This rite is the only surviving descendant of the original French rite, as known to Rashi, used anywhere in the world: French Ashkenazim since 1394 have used the German-Ashkenazic rite.
In musical tradition and in pronunciation, Italian Ashkenazim differ considerably from the Ashkenazim of other countries, and show some assimilation to the other two communities. Exceptional are the north-eastern communities such as that of Gorizia, which date from Austro-Hungarian times and are much closer to the German and Austrian traditions.
Culture[edit]
Italian Jewish culture has flourished through the passage of time, with tradition regarding Italian Jewish identity, and transformations to the lives of those in Italian Jewish communities. With the spread of Jewish settlement throughout Italy came the eventual pride for the country of Italy, and the opportunities that arose to celebrate both cultures.[18]
Italian Jewish food tradition is an identifiable part of their culture that has made an impact to this day on culinary tradition. Italian Jews maintained means of kosher within the context of their culinary traditions at home. The unique aspect of how they maintained kosher is that each individual family followed kosher within their own unique standard. Some Italian Jews ate pork, while others refrained, but would instead eat rabbit. Not only did this allow for new traditions to be established, kosher also maintained different meanings established in every household. Additionally, Italian Jewish households would enjoy meals that blended the culinary traditions of both Italians and Jews. One popular tradition that came to be within culinary tradition was the preparing of goose salami for Passover. These various culinary traditions made their way into restaurants and specialty markets, eventually to be seen in the newspapers. This led to widespread support for the Italian Jewish food tradition and the transformation of it through the years, many of which tradition can be found in cookbooks and passed along through generations of Italian Jewish families.[18]
Northern Italy was a location in which Ashkenazi Jews came to establish Italian Jewish food traditions. Another significant aspect of this tradition was observing the religious ways of challah, from its ingredients, to its preparation, to the very moment it is shared amongst those gathered. With that said, the passage of time allowed for the transformation of such traditions to remain in respect to Ashkenazi Jews, while continuing to grow in food tradition and expand throughout Italy.[19]
Guetta, Alessandro (2014). . Boston: Academic Studies Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt21h4w96. ISBN 9781618112088. JSTOR j.ctt21h4w96.
