14.09.2012
Venice,
Italy
I don’t knew about you, the word Ghetto makes me feel uncomfortable.
And the phrase Jewish Ghetto makes my skin shiver…
Venice has a Ghetto.
And not just a Ghetto, a Jewish one. The first one….
Jewish were first allowed to settle in Venice, only in the 14th century due to the economic problems Venice had after its wars. In march 1516, Venice gathered her Jewish to a specific street in order to secure them. This Venetian street was near a foundry, ghèto in Italian, and in the mouth of the Jews it had changed to Ghetto.
It was back then, that Jewish were not allowed to go out and in as they will and Jewish moneylenders had to carry a yellow badge (it was replaced later by yellow hat and in the end by a red hat as can been seen in the movie the Merchant of Venice that is based upon Shakespeare play).
I am standing here in the middle of the square. It is no longer a Jewish place, not so many were left here. The Holocaust, Israel and many other reasons made it.
Most of the Jewish that were here during the Holocaust survived. But my mind keep taking me to the Ghettos of Hitler and his yellow badge….
Take Care
Gad
Signs to the Synagogue
The Ghetto
The Synagogue and the Hebrew Museum
The Ashkenaz Synagogue from the outside – five windows represent five parts of the Torah.
The French Synagogue from the outside (again – five windows for five parts of the Torah).
The highest building in Venice. The building, 7 stores high, was built that way because of the density
The Big synagogue – in which we prayed in Shabat, because it is colder at the summer than the small synagogue (in which they pray at the winter)
Candle houses sold at the street at the night
The Rialto and the Grand Canal at night
Tide at the streets of Venice and at St Marks’s Square. Venice has big water problems as the city sinks and the water level rise making the Acqua alta happens more and more often.
Gas station for boats =)
The art of glass at the Island of Murano, located in the Venetian Lagoon
The houses of the colorful island of Burano
Seems like a right spot to take pictures before the wedding =), The island of Burano
The island of Burano look at the church tower
Buildings and old fashiond ship in the Venetian Lagoon
Making Masks for the Carnival of masks (or sell to tourists… =)
Some of the Buildings of the Grand Canal – just taking a boat bus from Rome Square to St. Marco square… =):
church of Santa Maria di Nazareth
Palazzo Loredan dell’Ambasciatore
Gondola it used to be the local taxi, but now it is another touristic attraction…
Doge’s Palaceand the St Mark’s Campanile
A boat-bolance =)
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