| Great Synagogue of Rome | |
|---|---|
Tempio Maggiore di Roma | |
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| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Orthodox Judaism |
| Rite | Italki and Spanish [1] |
| Status | Active |
| Location | |
| Location | Rome, Italy |
| Geographic coordinates | 41°53′31.57″N12°28′40.81″E / 41.8921028°N 12.4780028°E |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Vincenzo Costa Osvaldo Armanni |
| Style | Eclectic, Art Nouveau [2] |
| Completed | 1904 |
| Website | |
| museoebraico | |
The Great Synagogue of Rome (Italian : Tempio Maggiore di Roma) is the largest synagogue in Rome.
The Judahite community of Rome goes back to the 2nd century B.C when the Roman Republic had an alliance of sorts with Judea under the leadership of Judah Maccabeus. At that time, many Jews came to Rome from Judea. Their numbers increased during the following centuries due to the settlement that came with Mediterranean trade. Then large numbers of Jews were brought to Rome as slaves following the Jewish–Roman wars in Judea from 63 to 135 CE. [3]
The present Synagogue was constructed shortly after the unification of Italy in 1870, when the Kingdom of Italy captured Rome and the Papal States ceased to exist. The Roman Ghetto was demolished and the Jews were granted citizenship. The building which had previously housed the ghetto synagogue (a complicated structure housing five scolas (the Italian-Jewish term for synagogues) in a single building was demolished, and the Judahite community began making plans for a new and impressive building. [4]
Commemorative plates have been affixed to honor the local Jewish victims of Nazi Germany and of the Abu Nidal Organization attack in 1982.
On 13 April 1986, Pope John Paul II made an unexpected visit to the Great Synagogue. This event marked the first known visit by a pope to a synagogue since the early history of the Roman Catholic Church. He prayed with Rabbi Elio Toaff, the then Chief Rabbi of Rome. [4] [5] In 2010 Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni hosted a visit from Pope Benedict XVI, [6] while Pope Francis visited the synagogue on 17 January 2016. [7]
The synagogue celebrated its centenary in 2004. In addition to serving as a house of worship, it is also serves a cultural and organizational centre for la Comunità Ebraica di Roma (the Hebrew community of Rome). It houses the offices of the Chief Rabbi of Rome, as well as the Jewish Museum of Rome. [4] [8]
On 17 January 2005, thirteen cantors, in conjunction with the Jewish Ministers Cantors Association of America (the Chazzanim Farband), performed in a cantorial concert for the first time in the synagogue's history.
Pope Francis visited the Great Synagogue on 17 January, 2016. During his visit, the pope denounced all violence committed in the name of God, and joined in the diaspora as a sign of interfaith friendship. Pope Francis repeated several times the words first spoken by Pope John Paul, saying that Jews were the "elder brothers" of Christians. Pope Francis added Christian "elder sisters" of the Jewish faith to his words. [9]
The synagogue was attacked on 9 October 1982 during a celebration of the holiday of Sukkot by five armed Palestinian terrorists at the close of the morning Shabbat service. One person, Stefano Gaj Taché, a two-year-old, was killed. The attack was likely carried out by the Abu Nidal Organization.
Designed by Vincenzo Costa and Osvaldo Armanni, the synagogue was built from 1901 to 1904 on the banks of the Tiber, overlooking the former ghetto. It contains elements of Assyrian-Babylonian, Egyptian and Greco-Roman architecture. The eclectic style of the building makes it stand out, even in a city known for notable buildings and structures. [4] This attention-grabbing design was a deliberate choice made by the community at the time who wanted the building to be a visible celebration of their freedom and to be seen from many vantage points in the city. The aluminium dome is the only square dome in the city and makes the building easily identifiable, even from a distance. The interior of the synagogue is lavishly decorated in the Art Nouveau style. [2]
The Roman Ghetto or Ghetto of Rome was a Jewish ghetto established in 1555 in the Rione Sant'Angelo, in Rome, Italy, in the area surrounded by present-day Via del Portico d'Ottavia, Lungotevere dei Cenci, Via del Progresso and Via di Santa Maria del Pianto, close to the River Tiber and the Theatre of Marcellus. With the exception of brief periods under Napoleon from 1808 to 1815 and under the Roman Republics of 1798–99 and 1849, the ghetto of Rome was controlled by the papacy until the capture of Rome in 1870.
The Basilica of Saint Mary Major, or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the largest Marian church in Rome, Italy.
The history of the Jews in Italy spans more than two thousand years to the present. The Jewish presence in Italy dates to the pre-Christian Roman period and has continued, despite periods of extreme persecution and expulsions, until the present. As of 2019, the estimated core Jewish population in Italy numbers around 45,000.
Elio Toaff was the Chief Rabbi of Rome from 1951 to 2002. He served as a rabbi in Venice from 1947, and in 1951 became the Chief Rabbi of Rome.
Eugenio Maria Zolli, born Israel Anton Zoller, was an Austrian by birth, and an Italian doctorate professor of philosophy and author. Until his conversion from Judaism to Catholicism in February 1945, Zolli was the chief rabbi in Rome, Italy's Jewish community from 1940 to 1945. After the war, he taught philosophy at a number of institutions throughout Rome including the Sapienza University of Rome and Pontifical Biblical Institute.
Sant'Angelo is the 11th rione of Rome, Italy, located in Municipio I. Often written as rione XI - Sant'Angelo, it has a coat of arms with an angel on a red background, holding a palm branch in its left hand. In another version, the angel holds a sword in its right hand and a scale in its left.
Italian Jews or Roman Jews 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 as distinct from those Jewish communities in Italy dating from medieval or modern times who use the Sephardic liturgy or the Nusach Ashkenaz.
The history of the Jewish community of Venice, which is the capital of the Veneto region of Italy has been well known since the medieval era.
Samuel Hirsch Margulies was an Orthodox rabbi and scholar. He was born in Berezhany, western Ukraine, and studied at the Breslau Jewish Theological Seminary and at the universities of Breslau and Leipzig, in Germany. He was rabbi in Hamburg (1885–1887), district rabbi of Hesse-Nassau, Germany, (1887–1890), and he was appointed chief rabbi of Florence, Italy in 1890. In 1899, he became principal of Italy’s only rabbinical seminary, the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano when it transferred from Rome to Florence. Margulies was a powerful spiritual force in Italy and trained many of its religious leaders. He founded and edited Rivista Israelitica, the learned journal published by the Seminary. His scholarly publications included an edition of Rabbi Saadiah’s Arabic translation of the Psalms.
The Great Synagogue of Florence is one of the largest synagogues in South-central Europe, situated in Florence, in Italy. The synagogue of Florence was one of the most important synagogues built in Europe in the age of the Jewish emancipation, reached by the Jewish communities living in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in 1848.
Pope John Paul II worked to improve relations between the Roman Catholic Church and Judaism. He built solid ties with the Jewish community in the hope of promoting Christian–Jewish reconciliation.
The day of Judaism is an annual day of Christian-Jewish reflection held on January 17 by the Roman Catholic Church in Italy since 1990.
The culture of Rome in Italy refers to the arts, high culture, language, religion, politics, libraries, cuisine, architecture and fashion in Rome, Italy. Rome was supposedly founded in 753 BC and ever since has been the capital of the Roman Empire, one of the main centres of Christianity, the home of the Roman Catholic Church and the seat of the Italian Republic. Due to its historical and social importance, Rome has been nicknamed the Caput Mundi, or "capital of the world".
The history of the Jews in Florence can be traced over nine hundred years. Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. The Jews of Florence have one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities in Europe. The historic Jewish community in Florence is one of the largest and one of the most influential Jewish communities in Italy. The Jewish community in Florence also serves the smaller neighboring Jewish communities in Pisa, Livorno, and Siena.
The Great Synagogue of Rome attack, which was carried out by armed Palestinian terrorists at the entrance to the Great Synagogue of Rome, took place on 9 October 1982 at 11:55 a.m. A 2-year-old toddler, Stefano Gaj Taché, was killed in the attack, while 37 civilians were injured.
San Gregorio della Divina Pietà is a small Roman Catholic church facing the Piazza Gerusalemme located in Rione Sant'Angelo, in Rome, Italy. It is located near the Great Synagogue of Rome and the former Jewish quarter of Rome. It is sometimes referred to as San Gregorietto due to its small size. In the past, it was also called San Gregorio a Ponte Quattro Capi or Pons Judaeorum due to its proximity to the bridge known now as Pons Fabricius, connecting the sector to the Tiber island.
The history of Jews in Ancona, Italy, dates back to the 10th century, when records show the first instance of land rented to a Jew. At some point, a synagogue was built, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1279. By the 1300s, the Jewish community was more established, and there was an influx of immigrants from Germany. Jews faced special taxes and restrictions on where they could live.
The Jewish Museum of Rome is situated in the basement of the Great Synagogue of Rome and offers both information on the Jewish presence in Rome since the second century BCE and a large collection of works of art produced by the Jewish community. A visit to the museum includes a guided tour of the Great Synagogue and of the smaller Spanish Synagogue in the same complex.
Moses Vita Ascarelli, also known by the pen name Emet le-Ya'akov, was an Italian physician, rabbi, writer, poet, and translator.
The Jewish community in Rome is one of the oldest in Europe, with its origins tracing back to at least 161 BCE.
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