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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.
Italkim have 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.[citation needed]
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:
Italian Jews can be traced as far back as the 2nd century BCE: tombstones and dedicatory inscriptions survive from this period. At that time they mostly lived in the far South of Italy, with a branch community in Rome, and were generally Greek-speaking. It is thought that some families (for example the Adolescenti) are descendants of Jews deported from Judaea by the emperor Titus in 70 CE. In early medieval times there were major communities in southern Italian cities such as Bari and Otranto. Medieval Italian Jews also produced important halachic works such as the Shibbole ha-Leḳeṭ of Zedekiah ben Abraham Anaw. Following the expulsion of the Jews from the Kingdom of Naples in 1533, the centre of gravity shifted to Rome and the north.
Two of the most famous of Italy's Jews were Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno (1475–1550) and Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746) whose written religious and ethical works are still widely studied.
The Italian Jewish community as a whole has numbered no more than 50,000 since it was fully emancipated in 1861. During the Second Aliyah (between 1904 and 1914) many Italian Jews moved to Israel, and there is an Italian synagogue and cultural centre in Jerusalem. Around 7,700 Italian Jews were deported and murdered during the Holocaust.
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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.
Italkim have 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.[citation needed]
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:
Italian Jews can be traced as far back as the 2nd century BCE: tombstones and dedicatory inscriptions survive from this period. At that time they mostly lived in the far South of Italy, with a branch community in Rome, and were generally Greek-speaking. It is thought that some families (for example the Adolescenti) are descendants of Jews deported from Judaea by the emperor Titus in 70 CE. In early medieval times there were major communities in southern Italian cities such as Bari and Otranto. Medieval Italian Jews also produced important halachic works such as the Shibbole ha-Leḳeṭ of Zedekiah ben Abraham Anaw. Following the expulsion of the Jews from the Kingdom of Naples in 1533, the centre of gravity shifted to Rome and the north.
Two of the most famous of Italy's Jews were Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno (1475–1550) and Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746) whose written religious and ethical works are still widely studied.
The Italian Jewish community as a whole has numbered no more than 50,000 since it was fully emancipated in 1861. During the Second Aliyah (between 1904 and 1914) many Italian Jews moved to Israel, and there is an Italian synagogue and cultural centre in Jerusalem. Around 7,700 Italian Jews were deported and murdered during the Holocaust.