Pope Benedict shakes hand with chief rabbi Riccardo Di Segni at Rome’s main synagogue January 17, 2010. REUTERS/Osservatore Romano (ITALY – Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY)

Rome is Europe’s oldest Jewish community; Jews have lived there for over 2,000 years, often suffering terrible oppression and decrees. It is mentioned dozens of times in the Talmud and Midrash — ancient commentaries on Jewish texts.

The Jewish community in Rome can be traced back to at least 161 B.C.E., when Jason ben Eleazar and Eupolemus ben Yochanan came as emissaries of the Maccabees to join an alliance against the Seleucid Greeks.

This was only four years after the Hanukkah story took place. The Romans eagerly agreed to the alliance because of their ambition to overpower the Greek empire and annex its lands.

Some Jewish community leaders moved to Rome to continue this alliance and founded the Jewish community there. The Talmud also records several instances in which Jewish community leaders and scholars traveled to Rome and appealed to the Emperors on behalf of the community in the Land of Israel.

Treated with Respect

Overall, the early Roman Emperors treated the Jews in Rome with tolerance.

Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.E.) granted privileges to Roman Jews, allowing them to own property and administer their community affairs. He exempted them from military service because they were required to observe the Jewish dietary laws and the Sabbath. After his assassination, it is recorded that Jews mourned with much weeping.

Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE) also treated the Jews with respect. In addition to their continued rights, he approved the collection of an annual tax from Roman Jews for the Temple in Jerusalem. He even arranged, with his wife, Empress Livia, to send ongoing gifts of a bull and two lambs for burnt offerings in the Temple.

Antisemitism did appear during this period, often in response to the Romans’ concerns that the Jews were trying to encourage conversion to Judaism, which was severely punished.

As Jews do not proselytize, it is possible that this resentment was directed at the Early Christians, who did promote conversion among the Romans and who, at the time, were still viewed as Jews.

In response to this concern, Jews were exiled from Rome twice during this period, in 19 C.E. and 49-50 C.E.

Jewish religious observances became targets for criticism during the first and early second centuries C.E. by such well-known literary figures as Pliny the Elder, Seneca, and Tacitus. In defending someone accused of swindling Jews, the famous orator and lawyer Cicero complained that too many Jews were present in the courtroom.

Jewish Slaves

During the Roman-Jewish wars before and after the Second Temple’s destruction, tens of thousands of Jewish prisoners from the Land of Israel were brought to Rome as slaves.

Many Jewish prisoners became the construction workers/slaves who built the Flavian Amphitheater, more popularly known as the Colosseum.

The construction of the Colosseum was funded by money Rome gained from the destruction of the Second Temple. It is a painful irony in that it was built with funds intended for the Temple — a place of peace – and was instead used for a place of murder.

In the coming years, thousands (including many Jews) would die in the Colosseum as “entertainment” for the Roman population.

Jews who survived or were ransomed became part of the growing Jewish community. It is documented that there were four distinguished families among the Jews brought by Titus after the destruction of the Second Temple. They were renowned in Rome as the delMansi, dePommes, delVecchio, and deRossi families. Many prominent Italian Jewish leaders and scholars traced their lineage to these families.

Notably, the wars between Rome and the Jews in the Land of Israel did not affect how the Romans viewed the Jews in Rome, in general. It is also unclear if the antisemitic decrees in the Land of Israel (e.g., under Hadrian) and the Eastern Provinces applied to the Jews of Rome.

The Roman Jewish community was firmly established and influential by the second half of the first century C.E. Although many synagogues are mentioned in writings of the time, none of those synagogues have been preserved.

Rise of Christianity, Rise of Antisemitism

With the rise of Christianity, the situation for Jews in Rome began to deteriorate rapidly, and anti-Jewish legislation became common. From the end of the sixth century and on, the Popes were the rulers of Rome, and the situation of the Jews and the entire area depended on which Pope was the ruler and how he felt about the Jews.

In studying Roman history, it is astonishing to learn about the antisemitic laws instituted — and often innovated — in Rome. These “innovations” would be imitated by antisemites for centuries to come.

For example, in Rome, a law was issued stating Jews needed to wear distinct attire, often a yellow badge or outlandish yellow hat. It was in Rome that Jews were limited to where they could reside — namely, a ghetto — which did not have adequate space for the number of people who lived there.

Jews were also persecuted with additional taxes, limits on the professions they could work in, forced to participate in degrading parades, and required to pay homage to a newly appointed Pope in a ceremony that was often humiliating to the Jewish leaders. They were limited in their ability to build new synagogues, even when the community’s needs warranted it.

Jews were also persecuted in their treatment of the dead and forbidden to write any identification on tombstones or recite psalms during a funeral. As part of their desire to convert the community, the Jews were also forced to listen to weekly sermons preaching Christianity at some of the many churches surrounding the ghetto.

How and when each of these decrees applied varied. Many of these antisemitic decrees were particularly severe during the Reformation, as I will discuss.

Notable Events for the Jews from Constantine until the Renaissance

The timeline below describes notable events for the Jews in Rome from Constantine to the Renaissance and illustrates the severe challenges they faced. (Note: The dates shown for rulers refer to the dates they were in power.)

• Constantine the Great (306-336) converted to Christianity in 312. He issued decrees that made Jews and pagans second-class citizens. He forbade marriage between Jews and Christians and made the violation of this order punishable with death. In his edicts, the Jews are for the first time referred to as “shameful” and “contemptible and perverse.”

• The Jews of Rome received a brief respite when Julian the Apostate became emperor (361-363). One of his first acts was to abolish the Fiscus Judaicus, the Jewish tax that had existed for 300 years, and under his rule, Jews were not persecuted.

• His successor, Valentinian (364-375), freed the synagogues from the obligation of quartering soldiers.

• In 387-388, synagogues in Rome were destroyed by Christian mobs.

• Pope Gregory I (590-604) forbade the enactment of persecuting laws and opposed forced baptism. In a letter, he wrote that “just as the Jews in their communities may not be allowed any liberties beyond the measure allotted them by law, so must they, on the other hand, suffer no violation of their rights.”

• Louis II (855-75) proclaimed in 855 that all Italian Jews had to leave the country before October 1. This order, however, was not carried into effect.

• Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) was favorable to the Jews when he needed money. Benjamin of Tudela describes how contented the Jews were under him and that he protected them. Yet, at the Third Lateran Council in 1179, Pope Alexander III strongly denounced the employment of Christians by Jews and decreed severe sentences for nurses who entered the service of Jews.

• Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) humiliated a visiting Jewish delegation that was sent to congratulate him on his ascendancy.

• Pope Boniface IX (1389-1404) favored a succession of Jewish physicians and recognized Jews’ rights as citizens.

• Pope Eugene IV (1431-47) passed anti-Jewish legislation in the Council of Constance.

• Pope Innocent III (1198-1216), at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, decreed that Jews and Muslims must wear identifying badges, be forbidden to hold public offices, and forgive the interest on loans given to the Crusaders.

• Pope Honorius III (1216-1227) tore down the new synagogues in Rome.

• Pope Gregory X (1271-1276)) confirmed the bull granting protection to the Jews and added a clause that Christians should not be allowed to testify in Jewish lawsuits. He also declared the “blood accusation” to be false.

• Pope Nicholas IV (1288-1292) favored the Jews of Rome. His Jewish physician, Isaac ben Mordechai, informed him that the clergy of Rome treated the Jews with cruelty, violated their rights, and stole their property. Nicholas IV intervened and put a stop to it.

• Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) scorned the Jews when he became ruler. When the Jews came to pay him homage, as the law required, they presented him with a Torah scroll. The pope immediately handed it back to them with verbal insults to the Jewish religion. Under his rule, the Jewish community suffered terribly. He had an active Inquisition, and many Jews were denounced and punished. In one instance, the community’s rabbi was burned at the stake for a charge that would have destroyed the whole community had he not taken it entirely upon himself.
• Pope John XXII (1316-1334) ordered the burning of the Talmud in Rome in 1321. The community’s most influential members used every means to prevent the execution of this order, but were powerless to stop it. Many irreplaceable handwritten books of the Talmud were publicly burned on Shavuot in 1322. This was followed by a mob that attacked and murdered Jews (As Heinrich Heine would observe in the future, “Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people.”)
• Innocent VII (1404-1406) was presented with a Torah scroll by the Jewish leaders, as required by law upon his appointment. In contempt, he returned it to them over his left shoulder. Other Popes would continue this practice.

• Pope Martin (1417-1431) issued the Bull of February 14, 1429, which placed Jews under civil law, permitted them to attend public schools, and granted Jewish merchants an exemption from wearing the Jewish badge.

• Eugene IV (1431-47) had a mixed approach to the Jews, sometimes positive and later very negative. His first bull, issued February 8, 1433, forbade the beating of the Jews on their holy days and the unauthorized killing of Jews. Yet, in the Bull of 1442, he forbade Jews from studying civil law or working as artisans and abolished Jewish courts. This bull was enforced rigorously. After several Roman congregations collected enormous sums of money, they succeeded in having this bull withdrawn. However, a clause taxing the Roman community by 1,000 scudi remained in force.

• Paul II (1464-1471) introduced a particularly humiliating practice that would remain in force on and off in the coming decades. He created the spectacle of foot races during “Carnival Week” to entertain the Roman masses before the deprivations of Lent. Jews were required to participate in the races, sometimes in humiliating attire and sometimes with no clothing, in what was known as the Jews’ Race.

Religious Greatness Despite Persecution

Despite the ongoing persecution and the difficulties of living in Rome, Torah learning and religious life continued. The humiliation and persecution by the Christians did not entice the Jews to convert, and they continued to live their lives with pride and loyalty to their heritage.

Roman Jewish traditions (minhagim) followed those practiced in the Land of Israel, and their liturgy was unique, known as Nusach Italki.

The Torah learning in Rome centered around the local yeshiva, Mesivta de Masa Romi.

Among the most well-known Torah scholars of Rome in the Middle Ages are:

• Rabbi Nosson ben Yechiel (1030-1106) authored the Aruch, an essential and class Talmudic Dictionary.
• Rabbi Tzikdkiya ben Avraham Anav Harofei (1230-1300) wrote the Shibolei Haleket, one of Italy’s earliest codifications of Jewish law. Tradition identified him as a descendant of the delMansi family, as mentioned earlier.
• Rabbi Yechiel ben Yekusial Anav (13th century), also a descendant of the delMansi family, wrote the Sefer Tanya, a shortened version of the Shibolei Haleket, and was the scribe of the famous Leiden manuscript of the Talmud Yerushalmi, the only extant complete manuscript of the Talmud Yerushalmi.
• Rabbi Ovadyah Sforno (1475-1550) lived in Rome for many years and was a brilliant Torah leader. On Cardinal Grimani’s recommendation, he taught Hebrew to the Christian humanist Johannes Reuchlin. It was likely due to their relationship, that Reuchlin was a good friend to the Jews of his time. Reuchlin was appointed as the judge to decide whether the Talmud was harmful and should be burned. His favorable decision on the Jews’ behalf saved them from that fate. Rabbi Ovadyah was also a close acquaintance of the future king of France, Henry II, due to his visits to Rome. Rabbi Ovadyah maintained contact with him and exchanged letters on philosophical topics. Rabbi Ovadyah Sforno’s legacy continues through his Sforno commentary on the Chumash, which is studied worldwide to this day.

The Jews of Rome were active participants and beneficiaries of the Renaissance’s changes in education and economics. Jews became artisans, bankers, and merchants. Overall, at the time of the Renaissance, the persecution of the Jews decreased due to the decreasing level of religious observance of the leaders and the populace. However, this would change drastically with the coming of the Reformation.

• Leo X (1513-1521), a Medici Pope, no longer required the Jews to wear their identifying badges and removed some Jewish taxes. Most notably, he allowed the Jews to build a printing press, which was a huge boon for the Jews to be able to print sefarim rather than handwrite them. Under his reign, the Jews were so amazed at the peace they enjoyed that they sent a letter to Jews in Jerusalem asking if the Messiah had arrived.
• Pope Paul III (1534-50) permitted Jews expelled from Naples, the Land of Israel, and Africa to settle in Rome. He abolished the passion plays in the Colosseum, at which Jews had often been murdered. He also granted permission (1545) to Antonio Bladao, Isaac ben Immanuel de Lattes, and Benjamin ben Joseph Arignano to establish a Hebrew printing press in Rome. As mentioned, the ability to print books was in great demand for the “People of the Book,” so this was greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, this privilege was often revoked.

Rabbi Menachem Levine is the CEO of JDBY-YTT, the largest Jewish school in the Midwest. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Am Echad in San Jose, CA, from 2007 to 2020. He is a popular speaker and writes for numerous publications on Torah, Jewish History, and Contemporary Jewish Topics. Rabbi Levine’s personal website is https://thinktorah.org  A version of this article was originally published by Aish.