venice and its minorities 481
could live according to their rites and customs, and conferred upon them
many specific derivative rights. thus, they were allowed “to maintain their
synagogue according to custom” and to bury their dead on the Lido. the
charters of the Levantine and Ponentine Jewish merchants additionally
guaranteed them security from molestation for reasons of religion by any
magistracy, certainly a very necessary provision needed to reassure for-
mer new christians who were living openly as Jews in the Ghetto. the
favorable approach of the Venetian government extended also to other
matters. For example, it opposed the baptism of Jewish minors under the
age of 14 without the consent of their parents. Furthermore, compulsory
conversionary sermons were never introduced in Venice, and a clause that
prohibited forcing Jews to attend them was incorporated into the charter
of 1777.76
in addition to five major synagogues (significantly called scuole) and at
least three minor ones, the ghetto also contained stores that sold kosher
food as well as other items that the Jews needed for their everyday life.77
the Jewish community was highly organized, with each of its “nations”
(the italian-German, Levantine, and spanish-Portuguese) establishing its
own council; also, a super-council was formed to take care of community-
wide needs and serve as liaison with the Venetian government. the Jews
also formed their own confraternities for specific religious purposes such
as the study of the law, dawn prayers, and generally pursuing the com-
mandments, as well as caring for the dying and the dead, dowering brides,
and providing money, clothing, food, and firewood for the poor.78
Yet while the Jews were indeed granted freedom of religious obser-
vance and practice of their traditions, their general personal freedom and
economic rights were far more restricted than were those of other minor-
ity groups residing in Venice, with the notable exception of the special
privilege of engaging in the Levant trade. everything that was not spe-
cifically permitted to them was supposedly forbidden. above all, despite
the retrospective continuity of their residence in the city from 1509 to
the end of the republic, on occasion their fate was hanging in the bal-
ance as the senate either failed to renew the charter on the first ballot
or decreed an expulsion, although none was ever actually implemented,
76 For further details, see ravid, “on suffrance,” pp. 54–57.
77 see calabi, “il Ghetto e la città,” in concina, camerino, and calabi, La città degli
Ebrei, pp. 203–300; and calabi, “the ‘city of the Jews,’ ” pp. 31–49.
78 see d. Malkiel, “the Ghetto republic,” in davis and ravid, The Jews of Early Modern
Venice, pp. 117–42.