Ghettoization

Ghettoization

Ghettoization – forced Jews to live, work and worship is specific parts of the city in which they lived. Ghetto - A term originating from Italy in the early 1500’s. The Italian term for casting metal, was “gettare”. The Jews of Venice Italy in 1516 were sequestered to live in the portion of the town were an old Metal casting foundry once stood and was called “il gattearo”. The Jewish residents here were known as living in the Ghetto. In most community and social setting during the Early modern era, Jews were forced to live in Ghettos, separating them from the rest of the community. This restriction forced Jews to create new boundaries of community and interact with each other in new ways. Some Ghettos were mere hypothetical boundaries in which Jews could own property and operate business; others were walled in portions within the city itself, complete with gates and specific entry and exit points for the Jews. Around the ghetto stood walls that, during [|pogroms], were closed from inside to protect the community, but from the outside during [|Christmas] , [|Pesach] , and [|Easter Week] to prevent the Jews from leaving during those times. Starting in the early second millennium Jews became an asset for rulers who regarded them as a reliable and steady source of taxes and fees. They often went to great lengths to have them settle in their realm, offering protected settlements and endowing them with special "privileges". A first such ghetto was documented by bishop Rüdiger Huzmann of [|Speyer] in 1084.In spite of the ghetto, there is much evidence to support the fact that Jews and non Jews interacted both within and outside the Ghetto walls.