The Romaniote Jews or the Romaniotes are a Greek-speaking ethnic Jewish community native to the Eastern Mediterranean. They are one of the oldest Jewish communities in existence and the oldest Jewish community in Europe. The Romaniotes have been, and remain, historically distinct from the Sephardim, some of whom settled in Ottoman Greece after the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal after 1492.
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.
Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the few centuries following the forced expulsion of unconverted Jews from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497. They should therefore be distinguished both from the descendants of those expelled in 1492 and from the present-day Jewish communities of Spain and Portugal.
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 Jews in Trieste goes back over 800 years.
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.
The history of the Jews in Luxembourg dates back to the 1200s. There are roughly 1,200 Jews in Luxembourg, and Jews form one of the largest and most important religious and ethnic minority communities in Luxembourg historically.
The history of the Jews in Slovenia and areas connected with it goes back to the times of Ancient Rome. In 2011, the small Slovenian Jewish community was estimated at 500 to 1,000 members, of whom around 130 are officially registered, most of whom live in the capital, Ljubljana.
The Great Synagogue of Vilnius, which once stood at the end of Jewish Street (I-2), Vilnius, Lithuania, was built between 1630 and 1633 after permission was granted to construct a synagogue from stone. Standing on the spot of an existing synagogue built in 1572, the site had first been used to house a Jewish house of prayer in 1440. Damaged in World War II, it was demolished in 1955–1957 and replaced by a kindergarten and a primary school.
The history of the Jews in Gibraltar dates back more than 650 years. There have been periods of persecution, but for the most part the Jews of Gibraltar have prospered and been one of the largest religious minorities in the city, where they have made contributions to the culture, defence, and Government of Gibraltar.
The history of the Jews in Turin, Italy, can be first traced to the 4th century when bishop Maximus of Turin recorded the presence of Jews in the city. The city of Turin is in north-west Italy and is the capital of the Piedmont region.
Solomon Gaon (1912–1994) was Sephardic Rabbi and Hakham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of the British Commonwealth.
The history of the Jews of Thessaloniki reaches back two thousand years. The city of Thessaloniki housed a major Jewish community, mostly Eastern Sephardim, until the middle of the Second World War. Sephardic Jews immigrated to the city following the expulsion of Jews from Spain by Catholic rulers under the Alhambra Decree of 1492. It is the only known example of a city of this size in the Jewish diaspora that retained a Jewish majority for centuries. This community influenced the Sephardic world both culturally and economically, and the city was nicknamed la madre de Israel.
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.
The history of the Jews in Livorno, Italy has been documented since 1583, when descendants of the late 15th-century expulsions from Spain and Portugal settled in the city. They were settled initially by Sephardic Jews from Pisa. The Jewish community of Livorno, although the youngest among the historic Jewish communities of Italy, was for some time the foremost: its members achieved political rights and wealth, and contributed to scholarship in the thriving port city. Numerous Jewish schools and welfare institutions were established.
Riccardo Reuven Pacifici was a rabbi from an Italian Jewish family of ancient Sephardic origins, with roots in the Jewish Spanish and rabbinical traditions. Together with his wife, he was murdered in Auschwitz.
This article deals in more detail with some of the notable synagogues of Jerusalem that do not have their own page as yet.
The history of the Jews in Calabria reaches back over two millennia. Calabria is at the very south of the Italian peninsula, to which it is connected by the Monte Pollino massif, while on the east, south and west it is surrounded by the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. Jews have had a presence in Calabria for at least 1600 years and possibly as much as 2300 years. Calabrian Jews have had notable influence on many areas of Jewish life and culture. The Jews of Calabria are virtually identical to the neighbouring Jews of Sicily but are considered separate. However, the Jews of Calabria and the Jews of Apulia are historically the same community, only today are considered separate. Occasionally, there is confusion with the southern Jewish community in Calabria and the northern Jewish community in Reggio Emilia. Both communities have always been entirely separate.
The history of the Jews in Kyrgyzstan is linked directly to the history of the Bukharian Jews of Uzbekistan. Until the 20th century, most Jews living in the Kyrgyz areas were of the Bukharian Jewish community. However, during the 20th century, large amounts of European Jews began to emigrate to Kyrgyzstan which was then part of the Soviet Union, and a small amount of them still live in the country.
The Jewish Museum of Florence is a museum of Jewish history located in the Great Synagogue of Florence, Italy. The museum, which covers two spaces of the building, gathers an important collection of ancient objects of Jewish ceremonial art, evidence of the high artistic level achieved by the Jewish-Italian communities in the field of applied arts. Exhibitions illustrate the history of Florentine Jews from the first settlements to the post-war reconstruction, featuring old photographs, films and a large number of objects of daily and commemorative use.
