Rosh Hashanah 2009 - South African Jewish Board of Deputies

JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 2009A BRIEF JOURNEY THROUGHITALIAN JEWISH HISTORORY*Bernard KatzThe history of Italian Jewry (and more particularlyRoman Jewry) is of unique interest as it spans overtwenty centuries and more than half a dozencivilizations, namely the Roman Empire, the Papacy,the Renaissance, the Counter-Reformation, themedieval city republics, unified Italy, moderntotalitarianism and the present era.The Jewish historian Cecil Roth writes that Italyis the only European country which never knew ageneral persecution of the Jews, and in no other partof the world did such a feeling of friendliness prevailas in Italy between the people and the Jewishpopulation. 1 He has also written that there was noother country in Europe where the Jewish contributionto cultural life was proportionately so great.Rome’s Jewish community is probably the oldestin the world. 2 Rome is the only city in the Westernworld in which Jewish settlement remaineduninterrupted from remotest times to the present day.The first recorded presence of Jews in Rome wasin the year 161 BCE. After the Jews revolted againstthe Greeks, Judah Maccabee sent two ambassadors,Jason ben Eleazar and Eupolemos ben Johanan, on amission to Rome to establish friendly relations. Theyappeared before the Senate and received writtenassurances of friendship and protection. These arethe first Jews to be in Italy, or to visit Europe, who areknown to us by name. 3In 63 BCE, the Roman general Pompey invadedand conquered Judah and renamed it Judea. Pompeyentered the Holy of Holies, where the High Priestonly entered on Yom Kippur, and was surprised byits emptiness, having expected to find the grandeurhe was accustomed to in the Roman temples. In lateryears, the malicious rumour was spread that he hadfound there the central figure of Jewish adoration, anass’s head. 4 Henceforth, Judea effectively became aprovince of the Roman Empire and the firstcontingents of Jewish slaves were sent to Rome.The early Roman emperors became allies of theJews and accorded them special privileges. Jewsfavoured Julius Caesar in the civil war against Pompeyand Caesar returned the favour by permitting thewalls of Jerusalem to be rebuilt, allowing Jewsgreater autonomy in their communal affairs and bynot requiring Jews to worship the emperor as a deityas was required of Rome’s other citizens. 5 The TempleBernard Katz, a frequent contributor to JewishAffairs, is a Chartered Accountant who works for aninvestment bank in Johannesburg.of the Divine Julius houses the cremated remains ofJulius Caesar, who went to considerable trouble towin the sympathy of the Jews. When he wasassassinated in 44 BCE, Jews mourned his deathmore than any other section of the population. 6Julius Caesar’s benevolent policy was continuedby Augustus and Claudius. The only exception tothis early trend was Caligula, the emperor whoelevated his favourite horse to consul, and seriouslybelieved in his own divinity. Shortly after Caligula’saccession, he made an attempt to enforce the erectionof his statue in synagogues and even the Temple.This caused serious concern in the Jewish world andresulted in a Jewish delegation headed by the Jewishphilosopher Philo, being sent to Rome. Philo left avivid account of his impressions of Caligula’s court.At the beginning of the Christian era it has beenestimated, based on a medieval report of a censusconducted by Emperor Claudius in 48 CE, that sevenmillion Jews lived in the Roman Empire, including2.5 million in Judea and a million each in Asia Minor,Egypt and Syria. 7 This represented 10% of thepopulation of the Roman Empire.The Jewish revolt against Rome represented aclash between Jewish and Greek culture and with theadoption of hero worship, relations between the Jewsand the Romans deteriorated swiftly. The historianPaul Johnson thinks that the revolt may have comeduring the reign of Caligula (37 - 41 CE) who soughtto impose full blooded hero worship, had it not beenfor his assassination. 8The revolt of 66 CE was one of the most significantand horrifying events in Jewish history and isunfortunately badly recorded. Tacitus left a longaccount but only fragments survive. Virtually theonly authority for the war is Josephus, and he is, inthe words of Paul Johnson “tendentious, contradictoryand thoroughly unreliable”. 9 The war in Judea wasinitially conducted by Vespasian, but in 69 CE hewas made emperor and returned to Rome, leaving hisson, Titus, in charge of the campaign for Jerusalem.Alexander the Great had used 32 000 men tocreate his empire. Caesar had used fewer than 25 000and Hannibal less than 50 000. Titus needed 80 000soldiers and four years to subdue Jerusalem. 10 At thewar’s end, Vespasian and Titus were so proud oftheir achievement that they minted coins with theinscription “Judea Capta” - Judea is in captivity.Further contingents of Jewish slaves followed theRoman Jewish war of 66 - 70 CE, where it has beenstated that 97 000 Jewish slaves were brought backto Rome alone. 1138