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Daniel Rogov

Daniel Rogov (?1930-2011), food and wine critic, raconteur and journalist, born as David Joroff in the USA. Immediately after completing high school at the age of 15 he went to Paris, France. It was love at first sight in the French capital. Rogov was drawn to the cafes and quickly learned to appreciate French wines and cuisine. He began his journalistic career in Paris by writing articles about food and wine for American magazines and newspapers. He also spent time in Florence, Italy. In later years he wrote in French for magazines in France and Switzerland, and appeared on television programs as an expert on food.

He moved to Israel in 1978 and began writing for the Jerusalem Post, quickly establishing himself as the leading wine expert in Israel. He started writing for the Haaretz newspaper in 1984. Rogov was the author of The Rogov Guide to Israeli Wine, an annual study of the year's best vintner selections. Rogov contributed to Johnson's Pocket Wine Book, and the Tom Stevenson wine report, and managed the Wine Lovers Page website. He was interested not only in the food and the wine but in the wine makers, the vintners and the chefs with whom he spend long hours discussing the quality of grapes, the bouquet of the wine, the ingredients used to bring out the flavor in a particular dish or the ideas that went into the presentation. He liked to write about the ambience of a restaurant, which was no less important than the taste of the food. He was known in coffee shops and restaurants all over the country, but his favorite meeting spot was a coffee shop in Basel Street, not far from his apartment in Tel Aviv. He also wrote a book, Rogues, Writers & Whores: Dining With the Rich & Infamous, in which he related stories about culinary habits and dishes that had been named for royalty, writers, composers, military heroes and courtesans. Nobody was able to check the accuracy of the tales described in the book, but whether they were true or not is immaterial.

He incurred much wrath for writing about non-kosher food but he did a tremendous service for Israel’s wine industry by writing about the high quality of Israeli kosher wines, which improved enormously from year to year and have won gold medals in international competitions for wine in general.

Paris

Capital of France

In 582, the date of the first documentary evidence of the presence of Jews in Paris, there was already a community with a synagogue. In 614 or 615, the sixth council of Paris decided that Jews who held public office, and their families, must convert to Christianity. From the 12th century on there was a Jewish quarter. According to one of the sources of Joseph ha- Kohen's Emek ha-Bakha, Paris Jews owned about half the land in Paris and the vicinity. They employed many Christian servants and the objects they took in pledge included even church vessels.

Far more portentous was the blood libel which arose against the Jews of Blois in 1171. In 1182, Jews were expelled. The crown confiscated the houses of the Jews as well as the synagogue and the king gave 24 of them to the drapers of Paris and 18 to the furriers. When the Jews were permitted to return to the kingdom of France in 1198 they settled in Paris, in and around the present rue Ferdinand Duval, which became the Jewish quarter once again in the modern era.

The famous disputation on the Talmud was held in Paris in 1240. The Jewish delegation was led by Jehiel b. Joseph of Paris. After the condemnation of the Talmud, 24 cart-loads of Jewish books were burned in public in the Place de Greve, now the Place de l'Hotel de Ville. A Jewish moneylender called Jonathan was accused of desecrating the host in 1290. It is said that this was the main cause of the expulsion of 1306.

Tax rolls of the Jews of Paris of 1292 and 1296 give a good picture of their economic and social status. One striking fact is that a great many of them originated from the provinces. In spite of the prohibition on the settlement of Jews expelled from England, a number of recent arrivals from that country are listed. As in many other places, the profession of physician figures most prominently among the professions noted. The majority of the rest of the Jews engaged in moneylending and commerce. During the same period the composition of the Jewish community, which numbered at least 100 heads of families, changed to a large extent through migration and the number also declined to a marked degree. One of the most illustrious Jewish scholars of medieval France, Judah b. Isaac, known as Sir Leon of Paris, headed the yeshiva of Paris in the early years of the 13th century. He was succeeded by Jehiel b. Joseph, the Jewish leader at the 1240 disputation. After the wholesale destruction of
Jewish books on this occasion until the expulsion of 1306, the yeshivah of Paris produced no more scholars of note.

In 1315, a small number of Jews returned and were expelled again in 1322. The new community was formed in Paris in 1359. Although the Jews were under the protection of the provost of Paris, this was to no avail against the murderous attacks and looting in 1380 and 1382 perpetrated by a populace in revolt against the tax burden. King Charles VI relieved the Jews of responsibility for the valuable pledges which had been stolen from them on this occasion and granted them other financial concessions, but the community was unable to recover. In 1394, the community was struck by the Denis de Machaut affair. Machaut, a Jewish convert to Christianity, had disappeared and the Jews were accused of having murdered him or, at the very least, of having imprisoned him until he agreed to return to Judaism. Seven Jewish notables were condemned to death, but their sentence was commuted to a heavy fine allied to imprisonment until Machaut reappeared. This affair was a prelude to the "definitive" expulsion of the Jews from France in 1394.

From the beginning of the 18th century the Jews of Metz applied to the authorities for permission to enter Paris on their business pursuits; gradually the periods of their stay in the capital increased and were prolonged. At the same time, the city saw the arrival of Jews from Bordeaux (the "Portuguese") and from Avignon. From 1721 to 1772 a police inspector was given special charge over the Jews.
After the discontinuation of the office, the trustee of the Jews from 1777 was Jacob Rodrigues Pereire, a Jew from Bordeaux, who had charge over a group of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, while the German Jews (from Metz, Alsace, and Loraine) were led by Moses Eliezer Liefman Calmer, and those from Avignon by Israel Salom. The German Jews lived in the poor quarters of Saint-Martin and Saint-Denis, and those from Bordeaux, Bayonne, and Avignon inhabited the more luxurious quarters of Saint Germaine and Saint André.

Large numbers of the Jews eked out a miserable living in peddling. The more well-to-do were moneylenders, military purveyors and traders in jewels. There were also some craftsmen among them. Inns preparing kosher food existed from 1721; these also served as prayer rooms. The first publicly acknowledged synagogue was opened in rue de Brisemiche in 1788. The number of Jews of Paris just before the revolution was probably no greater than 500. On Aug. 26, 1789 they presented the constituent assembly with a petition asking for the rights of citizens. Full citizenship rights were granted to the Spanish, Portuguese, and Avignon Jews on Jan. 28, 1790.

After the freedom of movement brought about by emancipation, a large influx of Jews arrived in Paris, numbering 2,908 in 1809. When the Jewish population of Paris had reached between 6,000 and 7,000 persons, the Consistory began to build the first great synagogue. The Consistory established its first primary school in 1819.

The 30,000 or so Jews who lived in Paris in 1869 constituted about 40% of the Jewish population of France. The great majority originated from Metz, Alsace, Lorraine, and Germany, and there were already a few hundreds from Poland. Apart from a very few wealthy capitalists, the great majority of the Jews belonged to the middle economic level. The liberal professions also attracted numerous Jews; the community included an increasing number of professors, lawyers, and physicians. After 1881 the Jewish population increased with the influx of refugees from Poland, Russia, and the Slav provinces of Austria and Romania. At the same time, there was a marked increase in the anti-Semitic movement. The Dreyfus affair, from 1894, split the intellectuals of Paris into "Dreyfusards" and "anti-Dreyfusards" who frequently clashed on the streets, especially in the Latin Quarter. With the law separating church and state in 1905, the Jewish consistories lost their official status, becoming no more than private religious associations. The growing numbers of Jewish immigrants to Paris resented the heavy hand of a Consistory, which was largely under the control of Jews from Alsace and Lorraine, now a minority group. These immigrants formed the greater part of the 13,000 "foreign" Jews who enlisted in World War 1. Especially after 1918, Jews began to arrive from north Africa, Turkey, and the Balkans, and in greatly increased numbers from eastern Europe. Thus in 1939 there were around 150,000 Jews in Paris (over half the total in France). The Jews lived all over the city but there were large concentrations of them in the north and east. More than 150 landmanschaften composed of immigrants from eastern Europe and many charitable societies united large numbers of Jews, while at this period the Paris Consistory (which retained the name with its changed function) had no more than 6,000 members.

Only one of the 19th-century Jewish primary schools was still in existence in 1939, but a few years earlier the system of Jewish education which was strictly private in nature acquired a secondary school and a properly supervised religious education, for which the Consistory was responsible. Many great Jewish scholars were born and lived in Paris in the modern period. They included the Nobel Prize winners Rene Cassin and A. Lwoff. On June 14, 1940, the Wehrmacht entered Paris, which was proclaimed an open city. Most Parisians left, including the Jews. However, the population returned in the following weeks. A sizable number of well-known Jews fled to England and the USA. (Andre Maurois), while some, e.g. Rene Cassin and Gaston Palewski, joined General de Gaulle's free French movement in London. Parisian Jews were active from the very beginning in resistance movements. The march to the etoile on Nov. 11, 1940, of high school and university students, the first major public manifestation of resistance, included among its organizers Francis Cohen, Suzanne Dijan, and Bernard Kirschen.

The first roundups of Parisian Jews of foreign nationality took place in 1941; about 5,000 "foreign" Jews were deported on May 14, about 8,000 "foreigners" in August, and about 100 "intellectuals" on December 13. On July 16, 1942, 12,884 Jews were rounded up in Paris (including about 4,000 children). The Parisian Jews represented over half the 85,000 Jews deported from France to extermination camps in the east. During the night of Oct. 2-3, 1941, seven Parisian synagogues were attacked.

Several scores of Jews fell in the Paris insurrection in August, 1944. Many streets in Paris and the outlying suburbs bear the names of Jewish heroes and martyrs of the Holocaust period and the memorial to the unknown Jewish martyr, a part of the Centre de documentation juive contemporaire, was erected in in 1956 in the heart of Paris.

Between 1955 and 1965, the Jewish community experienced a demographic transformation with the arrival of more than 300,000 Sephardi Jews from North Africa. These Jewish immigrants came primarily from Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. At the time, Morocco and Tunisia were French protectorates unlike Algeria which was directly governed by France. Since their arrival, the Sephardi Jews of North Africa have remained the majority (60%) of French Jewry.

In 1968 Paris and its suburbs contained about 60% of the Jewish population of France. In 1968 it was estimated at between 300,000 and 350,000 (about 5% of the total population). In 1950, two-thirds of the Jews were concentrated in about a dozen of the poorer or commercial districts in the east of the city. The social and economic advancement of the second generation of east European immigrants, the influx of north Africans, and the gradual implementation of the urban renewal program caused a considerable change in the once Jewish districts and the dispersal of the Jews throughout other districts of Paris.

Between 1957 and 1966 the number of Jewish communities in the Paris region rose from 44 to 148. The Paris Consistory, traditionally presided over by a member of the Rothschild family, officially provides for all religious needs. Approximately 20 synagogues and meeting places for prayer observing Ashkenazi or Sephardi rites are affiliated with the Consistory, which also provides for the religious needs of new communities in the suburbs. This responsibility is shared by traditional orthodox elements, who, together with the reform and other independent groups, maintain another 30 or so synagogues. The orientation and information office of the Fonds social juif unifie had advised or assisted over 100,000 refugees from north Africa. It works in close cooperation with government services and social welfare and educational institutions of the community. Paris was one of the very few cities in the diaspora with a full-fledged Israel-type school, conducted by Israeli teachers according to an Israeli curriculum.

The Six-Day War (1967), which drew thousands of Jews into debates and
Pro-Israel demonstrations, was an opportunity for many of them to reassess their personal attitude toward the Jewish people. During the "students' revolution" of 1968 in nearby Nanterre and in the Sorbonne, young Jews played an outstanding role in the leadership of left-wing activists and often identified with Arab anti-Israel propaganda extolling the Palestinian organizations. Eventually, however, when the "revolutionary" wave subsided, it appeared that the bulk of Jewish students in Paris, including many supporters of various new left groups, remained loyal to Israel and strongly opposed Arab terrorism.

As of 2015, France was home to the third largest Jewish population in the world. It was also the largest in all of Europe. More than half the Jews in France live in the Paris metropolitan area. According to the World Jewish Congress, an estimated 350,000 Jews live in the city of Paris and its many districts. By 2014, Paris had become the largest Jewish city outside of Israel and the United States. Comprising 6% of the city’s total population (2.2 million), the Jews of Paris are a sizeable minority.

There are more than twenty organizations dedicated to serving the Jewish community of Paris. Several offer social services while others combat anti-Semitism. There are those like the Paris Consistory which financially supports many of the city's congregations. One of the largest organizations is the Alliance Israélite Universelle which focuses on self-defense, human rights and Jewish education. The FSJU or Unified Social Jewish Fund assists in the absorption of new immigrants. Other major organizations include the ECJC (European Council of Jewish Communities), EAJCC (European Association of Jewish Communities), ACIP (Association Consitoriale Israelité), CRIF (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions), and the UEJF (Jewish Students Union of France).

Being the third largest Jewish city behind New York and Los Angeles, Paris is home to numerous synagogues. By 2013, there were more than eighty three individual congregations. While the majority of these are orthodox, many conservative and liberal congregations can be found across Paris. During the 1980s, the city received an influx of orthodox Jews, primarily as a result of the Lubavitch movement which has since been very active in Paris and throughout France.

Approximately 4% of school-age children in France are enrolled in Jewish day schools. In Paris, there are over thirty private Jewish schools. These include those associated with both the orthodox and liberal movements. Chabad Lubavitch has established many educational programs of its own. The Jewish schools in Paris range from the pre-school to High School level. There are additionally a number of Hebrew schools which enroll students of all ages.

Among countless cultural institutions are museums and memorials which preserve the city's Jewish history. Some celebrate the works of Jewish artists while others commemorate the Holocaust and remember its victims. The Museum of Jewish art displays sketches by Mane-Katz, the paintings of Alphonse Levy and the lithographs of Chagall. At the Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation (CDJC), stands the Memorial de la Shoah. Here, visitors can view the center's many Holocaust memorials including the Memorial of the Unknown Jewish Martyrs, the Wall of Names, and the Wall of the Righteous Among the Nations. Located behind the Notre Dame is the Memorial of Deportation, a memorial to the 200,000 Jews who were deported from Vichy France to the Nazi concentration camps. On the wall of a primary school on rue Buffault is a plaque commemorating the 12,000 Parisian Jewish children who died in Auschwitz following their deportation from France between 1942 and 1944.

For decades, Paris has been the center of the intellectual and cultural life of French Jewry. The city offers a number of institutions dedicated to Jewish history and culture. Located at the Alliance Israélite Universalle is the largest Jewish library in all of Europe. At the Bibliothèque Medem is the Paris Library of Yiddish. The Mercaz Rashi is home to the University Center for Jewish Studies, a well known destination for Jewish education. One of the most routinely visited cultural centers in Paris is the Chabad House. As of 2014, it was the largest in the world. The Chabad House caters to thousands of Jewish students from Paris and elsewhere every year.

Located in the city of Paris are certain districts, many of them historic, which are well known for their significant Jewish populations. One in particular is Le Marais “The Marsh”, which had long been an aristocratic district of Paris until much of the city’s nobility began to move. By the end of the 19th century, the district had become an active commercial area. It was at this time that thousands of Ashkenazi Jews fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe began to settle Le Marais, bringing their specialization in clothing with them. Arriving from Romania, Austria, Hungary and Russia, they developed a new community alongside an already established community of Parisian Jews. As Jewish immigration continued into the mid 20th century, this Jewish quarter in the fourth arrondissement of Paris became known as the “Pletzl”, a Yiddish term meaning “little place”. Despite having been targeted by the Nazis during World War II, the area has continued to be a major center of the Paris Jewish community. Since the 1990s, the area has grown. Along the Rue des Rosiers are a number of Jewish restaurants, bookstores, kosher food outlets and synagogues. Another notable area with a sizeable Jewish community is in the city’s 9th district. Known as the Faubourg-Montmarte, it is home to several synagogues, kosher restaurants as well as many offices to a number of Jewish organizations.

With centuries-old Jewish neighborhoods, Paris has its share of important Jewish landmarks. Established in 1874 is the Rothschild Synagogue and while it may not be ancient, its main attraction is its rabbis who are well known for being donned in Napoleonic era apparel. The synagogue on Rue Buffault opened in 1877 and was the first synagogue in Paris to adopt the Spanish/Portuguese rite. Next to the synagogue is a memorial dedicated to the 12,000 children who perished in the Holocaust. The Copernic synagogue is the city’s largest non-orthodox congregation. In 1980 it was the target of an anti-Semitic bombing which led to the death of four people during the celebration of Simchat Torah, the first attack against the Jewish people in France since World War II. In the 1970s, the remains of what many believed to have been a Yeshiva were found under the Rouen Law Courts. Just an hour outside of Paris, this site is presumed to be from the 12th century when Jews comprised nearly 20% of the total population.

Serving many of the medical needs of the Jewish community of Paris are organizations such as the OSE and CASIP. While the Rothschild hospital provides general medical care, the OSE or Society for the Health of the Jewish Population, offers several health centers around the city. CASIP focuses on providing the community social services include children and elderly homes.

Being a community of nearly 400,000 people, the Jews of Paris enjoy a diversity of media outlets centered on Jewish culture. Broadcasted every week are Jewish television programs which include news and a variety of entertainment. On radio are several stations such as Shalom Paris which airs Jewish music, news and programming. Circulating throughout Paris are two weekly Jewish papers and a number of monthly journals. One of the city’s major newspapers is the Actualité Juive. There are also online journals such as the Israel Infos and Tribute Juive.

Florence 

Firenze

A city in the Tuscany region, in central Italy.

Jewish merchants may have lived in Florence in the Roman period, though there is no evidence to support this claim. Benjamin of Tudela found a Jewish community in Florence when he visited there in 1159. A few Jewish residents - doctors, merchants, and moneylenders - are mentioned in the 14th and the beginning of the 15th centuries. In 1396 the commune of Florence permitted Jews to practice banking. An assembly of the Jews of Italy met in Florence in 1428 and gathered funds to give to Pope Martin V in return for his protection. City authorities requested Jewish bankers in 1430 because they believed that they would be easier to control than their Christian contemporaries. From that time members of the most important Jewish banking families - the da Pisa, da Rieti and da Tivoli families - opened loan banks in the city. The Jewish community was officially established in 1437.

The fate of the Jewish community was tied to the fate of the Medici family in Florence. Lorenzo il Magnifico defended the Jewish community from expulsion and from the aftermath of the vicious sermons against the Jews given by the Franciscan priest Bernardino da Feltra, starting in 1405 and continuing for the next forty years. A Catholic theocracy was installed in the 1490s under the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola, who ordered both the Jews and the Medici family to be expelled from Florence. A loan from the Jewish community to the Republic postponed the expulsion for a short period but both were expelled from Florence in 1494 when a Christian Monte di Pieta loan house was established.

The Medicis returned to power in 1512 and the boycott on Jews was lifted, until the next Medici expulsion in 1527. Alessandro de Medici regained influence as Duke in 1531 and abolished anti-Jewish activities.

In the time of Lorenzo di Medici (1449-1492), Jewish scholars and humanists were invited to his court, among them Jochannan Alemanno, Abraham Ferissol, and Elia Del Medigo who was Pico Della Mirandola's (the Renaissance philosopher and humanist) Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic teacher. Del Medigo also translated Judaic manuscripts into Latin for Pico.

In 1537 Cosimo de Medici gained power in the Florentine government. He sought the financial advice of Jacob Abravanel, a Sephardic Jewish banker, living in Ferrara. He convinced Cosimo to guarantee the rights and privileges of Spanish and Portuguese Jews and other Levantines (westerners) who settled on his borders as a push to commercial and financial development of Tuscany. This was the start of the growth of the Spanish Jewish community in Florence. Refuge was given to Jews from other Papal States who had left due to Pope Paul IV's anti-Jewish measures, which were not enacted in Florence.
Once Cosimo received the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany, his policy towards the Jews changed for the worse. He forced Jews to wear badges in 1567, closed Tuscan borders to non-resident Jews in 1569, shut down Jewish banks in 1570 and established a ghetto in 1571. The ghetto was located around today's Piazza Republica.

The Jews in Tuscany numbered only 795, according to the official Jewish census of 1570. The census also prepared a report on the Jews of Tuscany, including their business activities and the privileges granted to them since 1547. This information was entitled ‘the Charter of the Jews’ (Dei Capitoli d'Ebrei, Magistrato Supremo 4449).

Living in Tuscany in small scattered communities, most of the Jews were involved directly or indirectly in banking and their financial network was essential to the Tuscan economy. Cosimo's decision to ‘ghettoise’ but not expel the Jews was in fact a gesture of pragmatic liberalism in comparison to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal.

The Jews were forced into the ghetto as well as Jews in from the surrounding towns of San Mitiano, San Giminiano, Volterra and Monte San Savino. Only a few wealthy families managed to remain outside the ghetto. They continued to live near the Palazzo Pitti, where the Medicis could easily walk to get loans.

Jewish religious, social and cultural life continued to flourish inside the ghetto. Two synagogues were built, an Italian one in 1571 and a Spanish/Levantine one at the end of the 16th century. There were also Jewish schools, a butcher, a bakery, a mikve (ritual bathhouse) and other social and philanthropic organizations.

The Jews were allowed to elect their own council and rabbinical courts had jurisdiction, recognized by the state authorities, over all legal matters. Jews had a special status in criminal law; they were not tried by common judges, only by the supreme court of the Republic.

Restrictions were placed on Jewish trade in the ghetto, barring them from selling wool or silk or trading in precious objects.

A certain level of tolerance existed for the Jewish community, despite being forced to live in the ghetto. During the rule of Cosimo's son, Ferdinand I, Jews were allowed to expand their trade to the east. Some of the Levantine Jews were even permitted to live outside the ghetto; however, the Italian Jews were not allowed to leave the ghetto or join any of the city's guilds and had to work as second-hand dealers. This unequal treatment led to disagreements between the Italian and Levantine Jewish communities, though these were eventually resolved. There was a fountain inside the ghetto and two synagogues – one following the Italian rite and the other the Spanish or Levantine.

The community decreased in size and, by the 18th century, it numbered less than a thousand people.

The Jews of Florence were emancipated and given civic rights after Napoleon's army entered the city on March 25, 1799. However, the Grand Duchy was restored in 1814 and the Jews had to return to the ghetto.

In 1848 the ghetto was abolished, after 278 years, and a new city center was constructed where the ghetto had been.

In 1860, the architect Nicolo Matas, a Jew from Ancona, was commissioned to enrich the façade of the Basilica Santa Croche in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence. His contract stipulated that no work was to be performed on Saturdays. The priests were aware that he was a Jew. He placed a large Star of David on the façade of the Basilica as a decorative motif. Matas’ death embarrassed both the Jewish community and the Franciscan order. His contract stipulated that he would be buried within the Basilica. A compromise was reached. Matas is now entombed in a marble sarcophagus outside the Basilica, under a set of stairs, leading into the main entrance.

In 1861 Florence became part of the Kingdom of Italy and the Jews were recognized as citizens. The ghetto was demolished when the city started a redevelopment program, at the end of the 19th century.

Plans for a great synagogue were approved in 1872. It took eight years to build and was inaugurated in 1882. The building, far away from the old ghetto, marked the beginning of the assimilation of Florentine Jews.
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The golden period of the Florentine Jews was between the end of the 19th century and early 20th. In 1889 the rabbinical college of Padua (Collegio Rabbinico Italiano) was transferred to Florence headed by Rabbi Samuel Hirsch Margulies (1858-1922). He was not accepted by the community at first because of his Zionist views, but he became popular with the younger generation. He was the religious leader of the community for 32 years (1890-1922). With his student, Carlo Alberto Viterbo, he turned Florence into a center of Jewish culture.

In the 19th century, following the emancipation of the Jews, the community participated with great vitality in the cultural life of the city. One focal point was the Benporad publishing house that had opened the Marzocco bookshop. Among literary figures were the poet Angelo Orvieto, who in 1888 started the magazine ‘Il Marzocco’, and the art historian Paolo d’Ancona who was the first to study the Florentine Jewish heritage. There was no lack of painters in the community, some arriving from Livorno, like Serafino de Tivoli, Vito d’Ancona, and Vittorio Corcos. The painter Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920) studied in the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.

In 1931 nearly 3,000 Jews were living in Florence. The Nazis occupied Florence in the autumn of 1943. Most Jewish families in Florence lost a family member due to fascist or Nazi atrocities. A total of 247 Jews were deported to Auschwitz, among them the leader of the community, Rabbi Nathan Cassuto. Only 13 returned.

During the war the great synagogue was occupied by the Nazis and used as a garage. They damaged the interior by detonating it when they retreated in August 1944. Some of the synagogue’s treasures, which were confiscated by the Nazis, were later recovered.

After the war the Jewish population numbered 1,600. The Jewish community began the process of rebuilding after the war. The synagogue was restored to its former glory. A home for the elderly was built in 1957 and a new school building was erected in honor of Rabbi Nathan Cassuto in 1964.

1n 1966 the big flood of the Arno river damaged the synagogue, including the furniture, frescos, the historical library and 90 Torah scrolls. Today it is fully restored.

Over the centuries the Jewish community had numerous cemeteries, the earliest being near the Arno river. In the 16th century, with the community growing in size, a new cemetery was opened outside the city walls. A third cemetery was opened in 1645, also along the city walls. In 1777 a new cemetery was opened which is no longer in use. The one in use today was opened in 1871.

In late 2000s, the community had some 1,000 members, two synagogues - the Sephardic temple and a smaller Ashkenazi prayer house, as well as a nursery school, elementary school, high school, youth club, Jewish cultural center, a sports club, a home for the aged and various other social and cultural associations. Florence also provides Jewish services to other Jewish communities in Tuscany which do not have many Jewish inhabitants. Among these are Arezzo, Massa Carrara, Pistoia, Prato and Siena.

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Daniel Rogov

Daniel Rogov (?1930-2011), food and wine critic, raconteur and journalist, born as David Joroff in the USA. Immediately after completing high school at the age of 15 he went to Paris, France. It was love at first sight in the French capital. Rogov was drawn to the cafes and quickly learned to appreciate French wines and cuisine. He began his journalistic career in Paris by writing articles about food and wine for American magazines and newspapers. He also spent time in Florence, Italy. In later years he wrote in French for magazines in France and Switzerland, and appeared on television programs as an expert on food.

He moved to Israel in 1978 and began writing for the Jerusalem Post, quickly establishing himself as the leading wine expert in Israel. He started writing for the Haaretz newspaper in 1984. Rogov was the author of The Rogov Guide to Israeli Wine, an annual study of the year's best vintner selections. Rogov contributed to Johnson's Pocket Wine Book, and the Tom Stevenson wine report, and managed the Wine Lovers Page website. He was interested not only in the food and the wine but in the wine makers, the vintners and the chefs with whom he spend long hours discussing the quality of grapes, the bouquet of the wine, the ingredients used to bring out the flavor in a particular dish or the ideas that went into the presentation. He liked to write about the ambience of a restaurant, which was no less important than the taste of the food. He was known in coffee shops and restaurants all over the country, but his favorite meeting spot was a coffee shop in Basel Street, not far from his apartment in Tel Aviv. He also wrote a book, Rogues, Writers & Whores: Dining With the Rich & Infamous, in which he related stories about culinary habits and dishes that had been named for royalty, writers, composers, military heroes and courtesans. Nobody was able to check the accuracy of the tales described in the book, but whether they were true or not is immaterial.

He incurred much wrath for writing about non-kosher food but he did a tremendous service for Israel’s wine industry by writing about the high quality of Israeli kosher wines, which improved enormously from year to year and have won gold medals in international competitions for wine in general.

Written by researchers of ANU Museum of the Jewish People

Paris

Paris

Capital of France

In 582, the date of the first documentary evidence of the presence of Jews in Paris, there was already a community with a synagogue. In 614 or 615, the sixth council of Paris decided that Jews who held public office, and their families, must convert to Christianity. From the 12th century on there was a Jewish quarter. According to one of the sources of Joseph ha- Kohen's Emek ha-Bakha, Paris Jews owned about half the land in Paris and the vicinity. They employed many Christian servants and the objects they took in pledge included even church vessels.

Far more portentous was the blood libel which arose against the Jews of Blois in 1171. In 1182, Jews were expelled. The crown confiscated the houses of the Jews as well as the synagogue and the king gave 24 of them to the drapers of Paris and 18 to the furriers. When the Jews were permitted to return to the kingdom of France in 1198 they settled in Paris, in and around the present rue Ferdinand Duval, which became the Jewish quarter once again in the modern era.

The famous disputation on the Talmud was held in Paris in 1240. The Jewish delegation was led by Jehiel b. Joseph of Paris. After the condemnation of the Talmud, 24 cart-loads of Jewish books were burned in public in the Place de Greve, now the Place de l'Hotel de Ville. A Jewish moneylender called Jonathan was accused of desecrating the host in 1290. It is said that this was the main cause of the expulsion of 1306.

Tax rolls of the Jews of Paris of 1292 and 1296 give a good picture of their economic and social status. One striking fact is that a great many of them originated from the provinces. In spite of the prohibition on the settlement of Jews expelled from England, a number of recent arrivals from that country are listed. As in many other places, the profession of physician figures most prominently among the professions noted. The majority of the rest of the Jews engaged in moneylending and commerce. During the same period the composition of the Jewish community, which numbered at least 100 heads of families, changed to a large extent through migration and the number also declined to a marked degree. One of the most illustrious Jewish scholars of medieval France, Judah b. Isaac, known as Sir Leon of Paris, headed the yeshiva of Paris in the early years of the 13th century. He was succeeded by Jehiel b. Joseph, the Jewish leader at the 1240 disputation. After the wholesale destruction of
Jewish books on this occasion until the expulsion of 1306, the yeshivah of Paris produced no more scholars of note.

In 1315, a small number of Jews returned and were expelled again in 1322. The new community was formed in Paris in 1359. Although the Jews were under the protection of the provost of Paris, this was to no avail against the murderous attacks and looting in 1380 and 1382 perpetrated by a populace in revolt against the tax burden. King Charles VI relieved the Jews of responsibility for the valuable pledges which had been stolen from them on this occasion and granted them other financial concessions, but the community was unable to recover. In 1394, the community was struck by the Denis de Machaut affair. Machaut, a Jewish convert to Christianity, had disappeared and the Jews were accused of having murdered him or, at the very least, of having imprisoned him until he agreed to return to Judaism. Seven Jewish notables were condemned to death, but their sentence was commuted to a heavy fine allied to imprisonment until Machaut reappeared. This affair was a prelude to the "definitive" expulsion of the Jews from France in 1394.

From the beginning of the 18th century the Jews of Metz applied to the authorities for permission to enter Paris on their business pursuits; gradually the periods of their stay in the capital increased and were prolonged. At the same time, the city saw the arrival of Jews from Bordeaux (the "Portuguese") and from Avignon. From 1721 to 1772 a police inspector was given special charge over the Jews.
After the discontinuation of the office, the trustee of the Jews from 1777 was Jacob Rodrigues Pereire, a Jew from Bordeaux, who had charge over a group of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, while the German Jews (from Metz, Alsace, and Loraine) were led by Moses Eliezer Liefman Calmer, and those from Avignon by Israel Salom. The German Jews lived in the poor quarters of Saint-Martin and Saint-Denis, and those from Bordeaux, Bayonne, and Avignon inhabited the more luxurious quarters of Saint Germaine and Saint André.

Large numbers of the Jews eked out a miserable living in peddling. The more well-to-do were moneylenders, military purveyors and traders in jewels. There were also some craftsmen among them. Inns preparing kosher food existed from 1721; these also served as prayer rooms. The first publicly acknowledged synagogue was opened in rue de Brisemiche in 1788. The number of Jews of Paris just before the revolution was probably no greater than 500. On Aug. 26, 1789 they presented the constituent assembly with a petition asking for the rights of citizens. Full citizenship rights were granted to the Spanish, Portuguese, and Avignon Jews on Jan. 28, 1790.

After the freedom of movement brought about by emancipation, a large influx of Jews arrived in Paris, numbering 2,908 in 1809. When the Jewish population of Paris had reached between 6,000 and 7,000 persons, the Consistory began to build the first great synagogue. The Consistory established its first primary school in 1819.

The 30,000 or so Jews who lived in Paris in 1869 constituted about 40% of the Jewish population of France. The great majority originated from Metz, Alsace, Lorraine, and Germany, and there were already a few hundreds from Poland. Apart from a very few wealthy capitalists, the great majority of the Jews belonged to the middle economic level. The liberal professions also attracted numerous Jews; the community included an increasing number of professors, lawyers, and physicians. After 1881 the Jewish population increased with the influx of refugees from Poland, Russia, and the Slav provinces of Austria and Romania. At the same time, there was a marked increase in the anti-Semitic movement. The Dreyfus affair, from 1894, split the intellectuals of Paris into "Dreyfusards" and "anti-Dreyfusards" who frequently clashed on the streets, especially in the Latin Quarter. With the law separating church and state in 1905, the Jewish consistories lost their official status, becoming no more than private religious associations. The growing numbers of Jewish immigrants to Paris resented the heavy hand of a Consistory, which was largely under the control of Jews from Alsace and Lorraine, now a minority group. These immigrants formed the greater part of the 13,000 "foreign" Jews who enlisted in World War 1. Especially after 1918, Jews began to arrive from north Africa, Turkey, and the Balkans, and in greatly increased numbers from eastern Europe. Thus in 1939 there were around 150,000 Jews in Paris (over half the total in France). The Jews lived all over the city but there were large concentrations of them in the north and east. More than 150 landmanschaften composed of immigrants from eastern Europe and many charitable societies united large numbers of Jews, while at this period the Paris Consistory (which retained the name with its changed function) had no more than 6,000 members.

Only one of the 19th-century Jewish primary schools was still in existence in 1939, but a few years earlier the system of Jewish education which was strictly private in nature acquired a secondary school and a properly supervised religious education, for which the Consistory was responsible. Many great Jewish scholars were born and lived in Paris in the modern period. They included the Nobel Prize winners Rene Cassin and A. Lwoff. On June 14, 1940, the Wehrmacht entered Paris, which was proclaimed an open city. Most Parisians left, including the Jews. However, the population returned in the following weeks. A sizable number of well-known Jews fled to England and the USA. (Andre Maurois), while some, e.g. Rene Cassin and Gaston Palewski, joined General de Gaulle's free French movement in London. Parisian Jews were active from the very beginning in resistance movements. The march to the etoile on Nov. 11, 1940, of high school and university students, the first major public manifestation of resistance, included among its organizers Francis Cohen, Suzanne Dijan, and Bernard Kirschen.

The first roundups of Parisian Jews of foreign nationality took place in 1941; about 5,000 "foreign" Jews were deported on May 14, about 8,000 "foreigners" in August, and about 100 "intellectuals" on December 13. On July 16, 1942, 12,884 Jews were rounded up in Paris (including about 4,000 children). The Parisian Jews represented over half the 85,000 Jews deported from France to extermination camps in the east. During the night of Oct. 2-3, 1941, seven Parisian synagogues were attacked.

Several scores of Jews fell in the Paris insurrection in August, 1944. Many streets in Paris and the outlying suburbs bear the names of Jewish heroes and martyrs of the Holocaust period and the memorial to the unknown Jewish martyr, a part of the Centre de documentation juive contemporaire, was erected in in 1956 in the heart of Paris.

Between 1955 and 1965, the Jewish community experienced a demographic transformation with the arrival of more than 300,000 Sephardi Jews from North Africa. These Jewish immigrants came primarily from Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. At the time, Morocco and Tunisia were French protectorates unlike Algeria which was directly governed by France. Since their arrival, the Sephardi Jews of North Africa have remained the majority (60%) of French Jewry.

In 1968 Paris and its suburbs contained about 60% of the Jewish population of France. In 1968 it was estimated at between 300,000 and 350,000 (about 5% of the total population). In 1950, two-thirds of the Jews were concentrated in about a dozen of the poorer or commercial districts in the east of the city. The social and economic advancement of the second generation of east European immigrants, the influx of north Africans, and the gradual implementation of the urban renewal program caused a considerable change in the once Jewish districts and the dispersal of the Jews throughout other districts of Paris.

Between 1957 and 1966 the number of Jewish communities in the Paris region rose from 44 to 148. The Paris Consistory, traditionally presided over by a member of the Rothschild family, officially provides for all religious needs. Approximately 20 synagogues and meeting places for prayer observing Ashkenazi or Sephardi rites are affiliated with the Consistory, which also provides for the religious needs of new communities in the suburbs. This responsibility is shared by traditional orthodox elements, who, together with the reform and other independent groups, maintain another 30 or so synagogues. The orientation and information office of the Fonds social juif unifie had advised or assisted over 100,000 refugees from north Africa. It works in close cooperation with government services and social welfare and educational institutions of the community. Paris was one of the very few cities in the diaspora with a full-fledged Israel-type school, conducted by Israeli teachers according to an Israeli curriculum.

The Six-Day War (1967), which drew thousands of Jews into debates and
Pro-Israel demonstrations, was an opportunity for many of them to reassess their personal attitude toward the Jewish people. During the "students' revolution" of 1968 in nearby Nanterre and in the Sorbonne, young Jews played an outstanding role in the leadership of left-wing activists and often identified with Arab anti-Israel propaganda extolling the Palestinian organizations. Eventually, however, when the "revolutionary" wave subsided, it appeared that the bulk of Jewish students in Paris, including many supporters of various new left groups, remained loyal to Israel and strongly opposed Arab terrorism.

As of 2015, France was home to the third largest Jewish population in the world. It was also the largest in all of Europe. More than half the Jews in France live in the Paris metropolitan area. According to the World Jewish Congress, an estimated 350,000 Jews live in the city of Paris and its many districts. By 2014, Paris had become the largest Jewish city outside of Israel and the United States. Comprising 6% of the city’s total population (2.2 million), the Jews of Paris are a sizeable minority.

There are more than twenty organizations dedicated to serving the Jewish community of Paris. Several offer social services while others combat anti-Semitism. There are those like the Paris Consistory which financially supports many of the city's congregations. One of the largest organizations is the Alliance Israélite Universelle which focuses on self-defense, human rights and Jewish education. The FSJU or Unified Social Jewish Fund assists in the absorption of new immigrants. Other major organizations include the ECJC (European Council of Jewish Communities), EAJCC (European Association of Jewish Communities), ACIP (Association Consitoriale Israelité), CRIF (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions), and the UEJF (Jewish Students Union of France).

Being the third largest Jewish city behind New York and Los Angeles, Paris is home to numerous synagogues. By 2013, there were more than eighty three individual congregations. While the majority of these are orthodox, many conservative and liberal congregations can be found across Paris. During the 1980s, the city received an influx of orthodox Jews, primarily as a result of the Lubavitch movement which has since been very active in Paris and throughout France.

Approximately 4% of school-age children in France are enrolled in Jewish day schools. In Paris, there are over thirty private Jewish schools. These include those associated with both the orthodox and liberal movements. Chabad Lubavitch has established many educational programs of its own. The Jewish schools in Paris range from the pre-school to High School level. There are additionally a number of Hebrew schools which enroll students of all ages.

Among countless cultural institutions are museums and memorials which preserve the city's Jewish history. Some celebrate the works of Jewish artists while others commemorate the Holocaust and remember its victims. The Museum of Jewish art displays sketches by Mane-Katz, the paintings of Alphonse Levy and the lithographs of Chagall. At the Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation (CDJC), stands the Memorial de la Shoah. Here, visitors can view the center's many Holocaust memorials including the Memorial of the Unknown Jewish Martyrs, the Wall of Names, and the Wall of the Righteous Among the Nations. Located behind the Notre Dame is the Memorial of Deportation, a memorial to the 200,000 Jews who were deported from Vichy France to the Nazi concentration camps. On the wall of a primary school on rue Buffault is a plaque commemorating the 12,000 Parisian Jewish children who died in Auschwitz following their deportation from France between 1942 and 1944.

For decades, Paris has been the center of the intellectual and cultural life of French Jewry. The city offers a number of institutions dedicated to Jewish history and culture. Located at the Alliance Israélite Universalle is the largest Jewish library in all of Europe. At the Bibliothèque Medem is the Paris Library of Yiddish. The Mercaz Rashi is home to the University Center for Jewish Studies, a well known destination for Jewish education. One of the most routinely visited cultural centers in Paris is the Chabad House. As of 2014, it was the largest in the world. The Chabad House caters to thousands of Jewish students from Paris and elsewhere every year.

Located in the city of Paris are certain districts, many of them historic, which are well known for their significant Jewish populations. One in particular is Le Marais “The Marsh”, which had long been an aristocratic district of Paris until much of the city’s nobility began to move. By the end of the 19th century, the district had become an active commercial area. It was at this time that thousands of Ashkenazi Jews fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe began to settle Le Marais, bringing their specialization in clothing with them. Arriving from Romania, Austria, Hungary and Russia, they developed a new community alongside an already established community of Parisian Jews. As Jewish immigration continued into the mid 20th century, this Jewish quarter in the fourth arrondissement of Paris became known as the “Pletzl”, a Yiddish term meaning “little place”. Despite having been targeted by the Nazis during World War II, the area has continued to be a major center of the Paris Jewish community. Since the 1990s, the area has grown. Along the Rue des Rosiers are a number of Jewish restaurants, bookstores, kosher food outlets and synagogues. Another notable area with a sizeable Jewish community is in the city’s 9th district. Known as the Faubourg-Montmarte, it is home to several synagogues, kosher restaurants as well as many offices to a number of Jewish organizations.

With centuries-old Jewish neighborhoods, Paris has its share of important Jewish landmarks. Established in 1874 is the Rothschild Synagogue and while it may not be ancient, its main attraction is its rabbis who are well known for being donned in Napoleonic era apparel. The synagogue on Rue Buffault opened in 1877 and was the first synagogue in Paris to adopt the Spanish/Portuguese rite. Next to the synagogue is a memorial dedicated to the 12,000 children who perished in the Holocaust. The Copernic synagogue is the city’s largest non-orthodox congregation. In 1980 it was the target of an anti-Semitic bombing which led to the death of four people during the celebration of Simchat Torah, the first attack against the Jewish people in France since World War II. In the 1970s, the remains of what many believed to have been a Yeshiva were found under the Rouen Law Courts. Just an hour outside of Paris, this site is presumed to be from the 12th century when Jews comprised nearly 20% of the total population.

Serving many of the medical needs of the Jewish community of Paris are organizations such as the OSE and CASIP. While the Rothschild hospital provides general medical care, the OSE or Society for the Health of the Jewish Population, offers several health centers around the city. CASIP focuses on providing the community social services include children and elderly homes.

Being a community of nearly 400,000 people, the Jews of Paris enjoy a diversity of media outlets centered on Jewish culture. Broadcasted every week are Jewish television programs which include news and a variety of entertainment. On radio are several stations such as Shalom Paris which airs Jewish music, news and programming. Circulating throughout Paris are two weekly Jewish papers and a number of monthly journals. One of the city’s major newspapers is the Actualité Juive. There are also online journals such as the Israel Infos and Tribute Juive.

Florence

Florence 

Firenze

A city in the Tuscany region, in central Italy.

Jewish merchants may have lived in Florence in the Roman period, though there is no evidence to support this claim. Benjamin of Tudela found a Jewish community in Florence when he visited there in 1159. A few Jewish residents - doctors, merchants, and moneylenders - are mentioned in the 14th and the beginning of the 15th centuries. In 1396 the commune of Florence permitted Jews to practice banking. An assembly of the Jews of Italy met in Florence in 1428 and gathered funds to give to Pope Martin V in return for his protection. City authorities requested Jewish bankers in 1430 because they believed that they would be easier to control than their Christian contemporaries. From that time members of the most important Jewish banking families - the da Pisa, da Rieti and da Tivoli families - opened loan banks in the city. The Jewish community was officially established in 1437.

The fate of the Jewish community was tied to the fate of the Medici family in Florence. Lorenzo il Magnifico defended the Jewish community from expulsion and from the aftermath of the vicious sermons against the Jews given by the Franciscan priest Bernardino da Feltra, starting in 1405 and continuing for the next forty years. A Catholic theocracy was installed in the 1490s under the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola, who ordered both the Jews and the Medici family to be expelled from Florence. A loan from the Jewish community to the Republic postponed the expulsion for a short period but both were expelled from Florence in 1494 when a Christian Monte di Pieta loan house was established.

The Medicis returned to power in 1512 and the boycott on Jews was lifted, until the next Medici expulsion in 1527. Alessandro de Medici regained influence as Duke in 1531 and abolished anti-Jewish activities.

In the time of Lorenzo di Medici (1449-1492), Jewish scholars and humanists were invited to his court, among them Jochannan Alemanno, Abraham Ferissol, and Elia Del Medigo who was Pico Della Mirandola's (the Renaissance philosopher and humanist) Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic teacher. Del Medigo also translated Judaic manuscripts into Latin for Pico.

In 1537 Cosimo de Medici gained power in the Florentine government. He sought the financial advice of Jacob Abravanel, a Sephardic Jewish banker, living in Ferrara. He convinced Cosimo to guarantee the rights and privileges of Spanish and Portuguese Jews and other Levantines (westerners) who settled on his borders as a push to commercial and financial development of Tuscany. This was the start of the growth of the Spanish Jewish community in Florence. Refuge was given to Jews from other Papal States who had left due to Pope Paul IV's anti-Jewish measures, which were not enacted in Florence.
Once Cosimo received the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany, his policy towards the Jews changed for the worse. He forced Jews to wear badges in 1567, closed Tuscan borders to non-resident Jews in 1569, shut down Jewish banks in 1570 and established a ghetto in 1571. The ghetto was located around today's Piazza Republica.

The Jews in Tuscany numbered only 795, according to the official Jewish census of 1570. The census also prepared a report on the Jews of Tuscany, including their business activities and the privileges granted to them since 1547. This information was entitled ‘the Charter of the Jews’ (Dei Capitoli d'Ebrei, Magistrato Supremo 4449).

Living in Tuscany in small scattered communities, most of the Jews were involved directly or indirectly in banking and their financial network was essential to the Tuscan economy. Cosimo's decision to ‘ghettoise’ but not expel the Jews was in fact a gesture of pragmatic liberalism in comparison to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal.

The Jews were forced into the ghetto as well as Jews in from the surrounding towns of San Mitiano, San Giminiano, Volterra and Monte San Savino. Only a few wealthy families managed to remain outside the ghetto. They continued to live near the Palazzo Pitti, where the Medicis could easily walk to get loans.

Jewish religious, social and cultural life continued to flourish inside the ghetto. Two synagogues were built, an Italian one in 1571 and a Spanish/Levantine one at the end of the 16th century. There were also Jewish schools, a butcher, a bakery, a mikve (ritual bathhouse) and other social and philanthropic organizations.

The Jews were allowed to elect their own council and rabbinical courts had jurisdiction, recognized by the state authorities, over all legal matters. Jews had a special status in criminal law; they were not tried by common judges, only by the supreme court of the Republic.

Restrictions were placed on Jewish trade in the ghetto, barring them from selling wool or silk or trading in precious objects.

A certain level of tolerance existed for the Jewish community, despite being forced to live in the ghetto. During the rule of Cosimo's son, Ferdinand I, Jews were allowed to expand their trade to the east. Some of the Levantine Jews were even permitted to live outside the ghetto; however, the Italian Jews were not allowed to leave the ghetto or join any of the city's guilds and had to work as second-hand dealers. This unequal treatment led to disagreements between the Italian and Levantine Jewish communities, though these were eventually resolved. There was a fountain inside the ghetto and two synagogues – one following the Italian rite and the other the Spanish or Levantine.

The community decreased in size and, by the 18th century, it numbered less than a thousand people.

The Jews of Florence were emancipated and given civic rights after Napoleon's army entered the city on March 25, 1799. However, the Grand Duchy was restored in 1814 and the Jews had to return to the ghetto.

In 1848 the ghetto was abolished, after 278 years, and a new city center was constructed where the ghetto had been.

In 1860, the architect Nicolo Matas, a Jew from Ancona, was commissioned to enrich the façade of the Basilica Santa Croche in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence. His contract stipulated that no work was to be performed on Saturdays. The priests were aware that he was a Jew. He placed a large Star of David on the façade of the Basilica as a decorative motif. Matas’ death embarrassed both the Jewish community and the Franciscan order. His contract stipulated that he would be buried within the Basilica. A compromise was reached. Matas is now entombed in a marble sarcophagus outside the Basilica, under a set of stairs, leading into the main entrance.

In 1861 Florence became part of the Kingdom of Italy and the Jews were recognized as citizens. The ghetto was demolished when the city started a redevelopment program, at the end of the 19th century.

Plans for a great synagogue were approved in 1872. It took eight years to build and was inaugurated in 1882. The building, far away from the old ghetto, marked the beginning of the assimilation of Florentine Jews.
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The golden period of the Florentine Jews was between the end of the 19th century and early 20th. In 1889 the rabbinical college of Padua (Collegio Rabbinico Italiano) was transferred to Florence headed by Rabbi Samuel Hirsch Margulies (1858-1922). He was not accepted by the community at first because of his Zionist views, but he became popular with the younger generation. He was the religious leader of the community for 32 years (1890-1922). With his student, Carlo Alberto Viterbo, he turned Florence into a center of Jewish culture.

In the 19th century, following the emancipation of the Jews, the community participated with great vitality in the cultural life of the city. One focal point was the Benporad publishing house that had opened the Marzocco bookshop. Among literary figures were the poet Angelo Orvieto, who in 1888 started the magazine ‘Il Marzocco’, and the art historian Paolo d’Ancona who was the first to study the Florentine Jewish heritage. There was no lack of painters in the community, some arriving from Livorno, like Serafino de Tivoli, Vito d’Ancona, and Vittorio Corcos. The painter Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920) studied in the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.

In 1931 nearly 3,000 Jews were living in Florence. The Nazis occupied Florence in the autumn of 1943. Most Jewish families in Florence lost a family member due to fascist or Nazi atrocities. A total of 247 Jews were deported to Auschwitz, among them the leader of the community, Rabbi Nathan Cassuto. Only 13 returned.

During the war the great synagogue was occupied by the Nazis and used as a garage. They damaged the interior by detonating it when they retreated in August 1944. Some of the synagogue’s treasures, which were confiscated by the Nazis, were later recovered.

After the war the Jewish population numbered 1,600. The Jewish community began the process of rebuilding after the war. The synagogue was restored to its former glory. A home for the elderly was built in 1957 and a new school building was erected in honor of Rabbi Nathan Cassuto in 1964.

1n 1966 the big flood of the Arno river damaged the synagogue, including the furniture, frescos, the historical library and 90 Torah scrolls. Today it is fully restored.

Over the centuries the Jewish community had numerous cemeteries, the earliest being near the Arno river. In the 16th century, with the community growing in size, a new cemetery was opened outside the city walls. A third cemetery was opened in 1645, also along the city walls. In 1777 a new cemetery was opened which is no longer in use. The one in use today was opened in 1871.

In late 2000s, the community had some 1,000 members, two synagogues - the Sephardic temple and a smaller Ashkenazi prayer house, as well as a nursery school, elementary school, high school, youth club, Jewish cultural center, a sports club, a home for the aged and various other social and cultural associations. Florence also provides Jewish services to other Jewish communities in Tuscany which do not have many Jewish inhabitants. Among these are Arezzo, Massa Carrara, Pistoia, Prato and Siena.