An Island of Divine Dew

ITALIAN CROSSROADS IN JEWISH CULTURE

An exhibition marking the 500th Anniversary of
the f ounding of the Venice Ghetto (1516)

T H E M AG N E S CO L L E C T I O N O F J E W I S H A R T A N D L I F E

University of California, Berkeley

Warren Hellman Gallery
Charles Michael Gallery
August 30December 16, 2016 & January 24June 30, 2017
Galleries open TuesdayFriday 11am4pm
bit.ly/italyah

CASE STUDY NO. 7

-I-

T H E M AG N E S CO L L E C T I O N O F J E W I S H A R T A N D L I F E

University of California, Berkeley

2121 Allston Way
Berkeley, California 94720-6300
Galleries open Tuesday to Friday 11am4pm
(closed for Winter Break, December 17, 2016January 23, 2017)
bit.ly/italyah

Exhibition team
Curator: Francesco Spagnolo, PhD
Curatorial Assistant: Zoe Lewin
Undergraduate Curatorial Assistant: Sarah Klein
Registrar: Julie Franklin
Research: Gary Handman (Archivist); Sarah Klein, Lily Greenberg Call,
Natalie Rusnak, Clayton Hale, Liora Alban (Undergraduate Research
Apprentices)
Preparator: Ernest Jolly
Design: Gordon Chun Design

Acknowledgments
Major support for The Magnes comes from the Helzel Family Foundation, the Magnes Museum Foundation, The Magnes Leadership Circle,
and the The Office of the Chancellor at the University of California,
Berkeley.
Research for I-Tal-Yah: An Island of Divine Dew was made possible in
part by funds and resources provided by the Undergraduate Research
Apprentice Program (URAP) at the University of California, Berkeley.

Cover: M. Daniel Passigli, Ketubbah (marriage contract), Siena,

Italy, 1816, Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss
Collection, 67.1.6.6.

I-Tal-Yah: An Island of Divine Dew

Italian Crossroads In Jewish Culture
Never before the creation of the State of Israel did Jews of
so many origins live together, and in such a stimulating
environment, as they did in the land they soon started
calling in Hebrew i-tal-yah, an Island of Divine Dew.
A crossroad of world cultures, Italy has been for over two
millennia a haven for Italian, Sephardic, and Ashkenazi
Jews, in the heartland of Christianity. The Italian-Jewish
symbiosis flourished with the Modern Era, in the Renaissance ghettos, continuing through the 19th century
Emancipation, and up to the present.

Thus, Jewish Italy appears before our eyes both as a time

capsule, where ancient cultural traits have been safely
preserved, and as a laboratory, in which such traits were
adapted to constantly changing living conditions. While
maintaining centuries-old traditions, Italian Jews also
tested out new cultural formats that came to define J ewish
modernity. Featured prominently among these are the
emergence of women as a foundational constituency of the
Jewish social fabric, the printing of the Hebrew Bible and
the Talmud as hypertexts, the illustration of Hebrew manuscripts as forms of public Jewish art, the public performance
of Jewish culture as entertainment for society at large, and
the cultivation of the synagogue as a porous space fostering
multicultural encounters.
Italian Jews successfully negotiated their way across
tradit ion, diversity, religious conflicts, emancipation,
cosmopolitanism, and multiculturalism, all at the very heart
of Christianity. Their vicissitudes mirror the history of the
Jewish people at large, both because of Italys strong cultural
influence upon many European countries, and because of its
central place in the Mediterranean. Their cultural wealth
progressively lost traction at the turn of the 20th century,
and effectively came to a halt with the rise of Fascism and the
anti-Semitic laws proclaimed in 1938.
All major Jewish museum collections include important
artifacts from Italy, and The Magnes is no exception. This
exhibition presents a selection of manuscripts, books, ritual
objects, textiles, photographs, and postcards collected
by TheMagnes over five decades to investigate the global
significance of Jewish history in Italy.
FR A NCESCO SPAGNOLO

[1]

[2]

Warren Hellman Gallery

CASE A

A Linguistic Symbiosis:
Hebrew and Italian
Hebrew and Italian fully coexisted in the lives of the Jews of
Italy since the early modern period. Prayers, poetic works,
and communal records featured the multilingual character of Jewish life in the language as well as in the layout of
printed sources, which was often governed by the aesthetics
of the Italian printing press. These features soon became
popular among the network of Italian Jewish trade across
Europe and the Mediterranean, where Hebrew books and
poems were printed in Italian style.
1. Buonajuto Sanguinetti and Mois Formiggini

Costituzioni della Compagnia ebraica della

misericordia della citt di Modena (Bylaws of the
Jewish Company for Mercy in the city of Modena)
Italian and Hebrew
Modena, Eredi di Bartolomeo Soliani Stampatori Ducali, 1791
Ink on laid paper, bound with cotton thread
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.17.3

Bylaws of a burial society active in Modena, Italy, in the 18th

century. The publication includes the names of individuals
responsible for issuing the bylaws, and the printing permission
issued by Count Giuseppe Fabrizi on March 7, 1791.

2. Anonymous

shir la-maalot chavurat mishmeret ha-boqer

ve-ha-erev... (Song of Ascents for the Confraternity
Guardian of the morning and the evening)
Hebrew
Mantua, 1 Nissan, 5475 (April 4, 1715)
Stamped ink on laid paper
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 96.40.4

Poem celebrating the thirteenth anniversary of a Jewish con

fraternity devoted to Kabbalah-infused devotional practices,
including the study of Torah at night and fasting on the day
before the New Month.

3. Emanuel Felix Veneziani (Livorno 1826Paris 1889)

Alloccasione delle fauste nozze ... Sonetto ... shir

yedidut (On the occasion of the auspicious wedding ...
Sonnet ... Song of companionship)
Italian and Hebrew
Istanbul, Turkey, 1867
Printed ink on silk with metallic brocade trim
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase with funds provided by the Magnes
Acquisitions Committee, 82.57

Wedding poems in Italian and Hebrew, printed side-by-side

on silk, presented to Countess Clarina de Camondo and Leone
Alfassa, whose wedding took place in Yeniky, a neighborhood
of Constantinople, on September 13, 1867. The bride was
the great-granddaughter of Abraham-Salomon de Camondo
(17851873), a wealthy leader of the Jewish community in the
Ottoman Empire and noted philanthropist. The author of the
poem, Emanuel Veneziani, was Camondos secretary.

[3]

CASE B

A Unique Melting Pot:

ItalianSynagogue Life
Italian synagogues were the sites of complex multicultural
encounters. Jewish individuals, families, and groups originating from various parts of the diaspora (including from
within Italy itself) met there on a daily basis, taking stock of
mutual affinities and differences. Each ghetto often included
more than one synagogue. This allowed its inhabitants
to express their cultural diversitybroadly characterized
according to distinct Italian, Ashkenazi, and Sephardic
ritual traditions, and in reality fragmented in a myriad of
local customsthrough the various components of the ritual,
including texts, sounds, architecture and ritual objects.
Ritual negotiations, which opened a narrow Jewish political
space within the ghetto, were often very private, and for
the most part unintelligible to the outside world. At the same
time, however, synagogues were also public spaces, and the
site of visits from a variety of non-Jewish synagogue goers,
for reasons ranging from personal connections with Jewish
individuals and families to simple curiosity, intellectual pursuit, and political agendas. Beginning in the 19th century,
some home rituals, like the havdalah ceremony concluding
the Sabbath and the holidays, began to be more prominently
celebrated in the synagogue. Since the decrease in Jewish
demographics that characterized the 20th century, the
historic synagogues of Italy have become tourist sites.

Synagogue reading stand cover, embroidered with

depictions of two arches, a crown, and floral motifs,
inscribed with the Ten Commandments
Italy, 18th century
Cotton or Linen, silk and metallic embroidery thread
Gift of Herbert and Nancy Bernhard, 2000.26.8

Hanging synagogue lamp (ner tamid) donated

by Raphael Pia in memory of Avraham and
YaaqovPia
Livorno, 18th century
Silver repousse
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.5.7 a-b

Synagogue lamp (ner tamid) dedication

plaque,inscribed in Hebrew in memory of
RabbiRaphaelFano
[Mantua], Italy, 18th century
Brass
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.15.3

[4]

Postcards from the Venice Ghetto

Postcard set depicting the interiors and the ritual objects of
five synagogues (or scole) built in the Venice Ghetto in the
decades following its establishment (1516): the Ashkenazi
Scola Grande Tedesca and Scola Canton, the Scola Italiana,
the Eastern Sephardic Scola Levantina, and the Western
Sephardic Scola Ponentina or Spagnola. The postcards were
created for the tourist market by Fotostampa Zago in Venice
around 1960, and featured (somewhat inaccurate) translations of the original Italian captions in English, French, and
German.

Postcards depicting the synagogues of the Venice Ghetto

Multilingual postcards
Italian, English, French, German
Venice, Italy, Fotostampa Zago, n.d. (ca. 1960)
Offset lithography

1. Venezia. Italian SynagogueHoly Ark with the Bible

2014.0.9.441

2. Venezia. Italian SynagogueSingers Pulpit

2014.0.9.435

3. Venezia. Sefer Tikancient case containing the Thorah

2014.0.9.438

4. Venezia. Spanish SynagogueHoly Ark with the Bible

2014.0.9.434

5. Venezia. Levantine SynagogueHoly Ark with the

Bible

2014.0.9.457

6. Venezia. Levantine SynagogueSingers Pulpit

2014.0.9.436

7. Venezia. Big German Synagogue (Tedesca)

Singers Pulpit
2014.0.9.439

8. Venezia. Big German SynagogueHoly Ark with

theBible

2014.0.9.440

9. Venezia. Canton SynagogueHoly Ark with Bible

2014.0.9.437

10. Venezia. Canton SynagogueSingers Pulpit

2014.0.9.458

[5]

1. Torah shield inscribed in Hebrew with the words sefer

sheni (second scroll)
Italy, 19th century
Silver repousse
The Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica collection, 2015.6.7

2. Torah finial with four bells

Italy, 18th century
Silver
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.16.3

3. Torah finial fragment featuring depictions of ritual

objects from the Temple of Jerusalem

[Padua], Italy, 17th century
Silver repousse
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.16.12

4. Torah pointer inscribed in Hebrew with the word

venetziyah (Venice)
[Greece], 18th century
Wood, ivory, and silver filagree
The Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica collection, 2015.6.38

5. Torah pointer with finial shaped as a curled hand

Italy, 18th century
Silver
Gift of Charles R. Michael, 2000.38.1

6. Torah pointer
Italy, 15th century
Brass
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.9.1

7. Torah Ark key engraved in Hebrew with the words

Giftto the Great Synagogue 5485

Italy, 17241725
Silver
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.16.5

8. Belt buckle for Yom Kippur, featuring Rococo designs

and clasp depicting an angel

Italy, 18th century
Silver
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 68.44 a-b
[6]

9. Wedding ring inscribed in Hebrew with the wellwishing words, mazal tov
Italy or the Netherlands, 18th century
Gold
Gift of Peter J. Bickel, 83.66

10. Spice container

Italy, 19th century
Silver
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 79.47.5

11. Spice container perforated at each end to depict a

six-pointed star
Italy, 19th century
Silver
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 79.47.3 a-c

12. Spice container in the shape of an artichoke

Italy, 18th century
Silver
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 79.47.1 a-b

[7]

CASE C

Home Rituals: Hanukkah Lamps

Lamps used to mark the eight days of H
anukkah were
created in Italy according to a variety of aesthetic c anons.
They incorporated references to the menorah, the s evenbranched candelabrum lit in the Temple of Jerusalem, as
well as to biblical scenes (among them, the story of Judith),
but they also included visual motifs drawn from Greek and
Roman mythology, and from the conventions of the Italian
Renaissance. The most significant Italian Hanukkah lamps
in The Magnes Collection are part of the Siegfried S. Strauss
collection, acquired in 1967. All lamps in this selection
date back to the 16th18th centuries and were designed in
bench-form for domestic use, as opposed to the ubiquitous
nine-branched candelabra common in Central and Eastern
Europe (and the United States) since the 19th century.
1. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 18th century
Copper alloy over wood armature
Gift of William Doniger, 81.28

Engraved with the depictions of columns with corinthian

capitals, a fountain, a lion holding a palm branch, and a
seven-branched candelabrum (menorah) flanked by two trees,
possibly after a prophetic vision described in Zechariah 4.

2. Hanukkah lamp with red glass oil cups

Italy, 18th century
Brass, hand blown glass
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.36 a-i

Depicting a tower flanked by two rampant lions, the emblem

of the Italian Jewish family Della Torre (torre, Italian for
tower), surrounded by floral motifs.
[8]

3. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 18th century
Brass
The Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica collection, 2015.6.2

Depicting a crowned human face above two cornucopias and

lions holding orbs.

4. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 18th century
Copper alloy
Gift of Mrs. Beatrice Kirschenbaum, 71.43

Depicting the encounter between Abraham, Sarah, and the

threeangels narrated in Genesis 18.

5. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 17th century
Brass repousse
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.47

Made from a repurposed tray depicting a mythological scene

and, at the top, the face of a putto.

6. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 17th century
Cast brass
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.32

Engraved with the monogram, GC.

7. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 16th century
Copper alloy
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.28

Depicting the heads of three putti and floral motifs.

8. Hanukkah lamp
Brass
Italy, 17th century
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.23

Depicting floral motifs and a sconce.

[9]

9. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 18th century
Cast brass, copper sheet backing
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.22 a-c

Depicting a seven-branched candelabrum and a sconce-shaped

finial.

10. Hanukkah lamp fragment

Western Europe, 18th century
Brass, pigment on laid paper, glass
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.39 a-b

Top section of a bench-form lamp depicting rampant lions and

including a plaque illustrating the biblical story of Judith and
Holofernes. A Hebrew inscription framing the portrait reads
Yehudit is blessed among women: a valiant woman without
cowardice (adapted from Judges 5:24).

[10]

Rabbinic Authorities
Italian rabbis were educated in traditional schools, or
yeshivot. Beginning in the Renaissance, these schools found
a source of inspiration, and legitimacy, in the institutions of
the University. University graduates, or doctores, became a
model for Jewish religious leadership. Rabbis thus presented
themselves in society not only as religious authorities, but
also as scholars, translating the word, rabbi, into Latin as
doctor legis hebraicae. The combination of deep knowledge
in Jewish rituals and in secular culture that characterized
their lore made them sought after abroad. Many Italian
rabbis were hired by Jewish communities in North Africa,
the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece and Turkey), the
Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Several of them took
important leadership roles with the establishment of the
Napoleonic Sanhedrin, a Jewish assembly convened in Paris
in 1807 with the intent of creating binding ritual rules to be
followed by Jewish communities across Europe.
1. Louis-Franois Mariage (engraver), after a painting by

Marchand

Abraham de Cologna
French and Italian
Paris, France, [18261828]
Engraving on paper
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.10.8

Abraham de Cologna (Mantua 1755 Trieste 1832) was Chief

Rabbi of the Central Consistory of France and of the city of
Turin (Piedmont, Italy), and a member of the Napoleonic
Sanhedrin (1807).

2. Portrait of Raphael Mair Benveniste (18441909),

Rabbi of the Italian Synagogue in Salonika

(Thessaloniki)
Paris, France, ca. 1910
Photographic reproduction
Gift of Guy Benveniste, 2012.2.5

Seder Sefirat Ha-omer (Ritual for the counting of

theomer)
Hebrew
Italy, 18th century
Bound leather manuscript ink on laid paper
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.7.1

[11]

CASE D

Torah ark curtain fragment

Italy, 17th century
Silk, wool embroidery yarn, glass and metal beads
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
75.183.15 [67.1.14.20]

CASE E

Global Book Networks

Hebrew texts were printed in Italy since the 15th century.
Book production was the outcome of the collaboration
among Jewish authorsrabbis and scholars who travelled
to Italy from various parts of Europe and the Mediterranean to work in the printing houses of Venice, Mantua, and
LivornoHebrew typesetters, and Christian printers. The
Soncino family (named after a town near Cremona) established presses in Italy, Egypt, and Turkey since 1484. Daniel
Bomberg (d.1549 or 1553), active in Venice, was among the
first Christian printers of Hebrew books. His work resulted
in the canonical versions of the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud
with commentaries which are still read, and printed, today.
Books continued to be printed in Italy and circulated across
the Jewish world until the 20th century.
The Hebrew books from Italy found in The Magnes Collect ion
were acquired from communities, families, and individuals
worldwide. Among them, communities in Kochi and Kolkata
(India), families who immigrated to the United States from
the Middle East, and even a veteran of the Jewish Brigade (or
Jewish Infantry Brigade Group), a unit of the British Army
composed of Jewish soldiers enlisted in Mandatory Palestine,
who fought in Southern Italy during the Second World War.

[12]

1. Yaaqov ben Chayyim ben Yitzchaq ibn Adonijah

(Tunisc.1470[Venice] c. 1538), ed.

ketuvim (Volume 4 of Biblia Rabbinica, second ed.)
Hebrew
Venice, Daniel Bomberg, 15241525
Bernard Kimmel collection (collected in Kolkata, India, c. 1968),
RBOS142

2. Mordekhai Natan (15th century)

meir nativ. ha-niqra qonqordantziyas ...

Concordantias Hebraicas ... (Concordance of the
Hebrew Bible)
Hebrew
Venice, Alvise Bragadin, 5324 (15631564)
Gift of the Jewish Community of Kochi, Kerala, India, RB 9.4

3. machzor mi-kol ha-shanah be-minhag qehilot qodesh

ashkenaz (Prayer Book for the entire year according to
the customs of the holy communities of Ashkenaz)
Hebrew
Venice, Giorgio de Cavalli, 5328 (15671568)
RB 3.5

4. edut [adonay] neemanah. chamishah chumshe

torah. targum onqelos. peyrush rashy. chamesh

megilot. ve-haftarot le-shabatot u-le-moadim
(Hebrew Bible with Targum Onkelos, Rashi
commentary, the Five Scrolls, and the Prophetic
readings for the Sabbath and Festivals)
Hebrew
Mantua, Eliezer Shelomoh me-Italyah, 5547 (17861787)
Gift of the Abayahoudaian Family (collected in Teheran, Iran),
Bernard Kimmel collection, RB 12.1

5. tiqune ha-zohar (Rectifications of the Zohar)

Aramaic and Hebrew
Livorno, Eliezer Saadun, [5]550 (17891790)
Gift of the Jewish Community of Kochi, Kerala, India, RB 445

6. Eliyahu ben Yosef Gig (1904)

seder hagadah shel pesach (Passover Haggadah for the

Jewish community of Tunis)
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo-Arabic
Livorno, Shlomoh Belforte and Co., [5]651 (18901891)
Hagaddah collection 2.12

7. hagadah le-pesach
Hebrew, Aramaic
Foggia, Italy, Jewish Transportation Unit 178 [British Armed Forces],
(April 1944)
Gift of Joseph Thaler, Haggadah collection 39.20

[13]

Exporting the Italian Aesthetic Canon:

Illustrated Scrolls of Esther
The book of Esther is read in the synagogue during the
festival of Purim, customarily from manuscripts on parchment scrolls (referred to in Hebrew as megilat ester, or scroll
of Esther). The earliest known illustrated manuscripts,
which depict the biblical narrative of Queen Esther in detail
along with architectural motifs, scenes of daily life and
natural and urban landscapes, were created in Italy since
the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Jewish and
non-Jewish engravers printed the illustrations from copper
plates, while the text continued to be inserted in manuscript form. The custom spread across Europe, especially
in Holland, where an Italian Jewish engraver, known as
Shalom Italia, lived and worked during the 17th century,
and to Germany and central Europe. The emergence of these
illustrations may point to the influx of non-Jewish synagogue
goers in the I talian ghettos, which was particularly prevalent
on the occasion of Purim.

[14]

1. Blessings and piyyut (Hebrew liturgical poem) for the

reading of the Scroll of Esther

Hebrew
Italy, 18th century
Ink on parchment
Gift of Leon Lerch, 91.31.2

Manuscript including the blessings recited before and after the

reading of the Scroll of Esther in the synagogue, and the poem,
qoree megilah, sung in Sephardic and Italian synagogues after
the reading.

2. Miniature scroll of Esther

Hebrew
Italy, 18th century
Ivory roller, ink on parchment
Gift of Leon Lerch, 91.31.1 a-b

3. Painted scroll of Esther

Hebrew
Italy, ca. 1700
Parchment, ink and color pigment
62.0.1

Manuscript (Italian square script) on thirty-six columns,

with painted scenes partially illustrating the story narrated
in the text. Each illustrated section is separated by columns
and floral motifs. The remaining sections bear marks made in
preparation for further decorations.
Illustrated scenes include: king Ahasuerus banquet (Esther
1:3); queen Vashtis banquet (section 2; Esther 1:9); the kings
ministers requesting the queens presence at the kings banquet
(section 3; Esther 1012); the king and the seven princes of
Persia and Media (section 4; Esther 1:14); the kings emissaries
visiting young women (section 5; Esther 2:2); young women
brought to the kings palace (section 6; Esther 2:3); the interiors
of the royal palace and Hegai, keeper of the women (section 7;
Esther 2:8); the encounter between Esther and the king (section
8; Esther 2:16); Bigthan and Teresh, the rebellious ministers
(section 9; Esther 2:21); the kings servants warning Mordecai
by the kings gate (section 10; Esther 3:3); Mordecai refuses
to bow to Haman (section 11; Esther 3:56); the kings scribes
(section 12; Esther 3:12); the king and Haman sit down to drink
(section 13; Esther 3:15).

4. Engraved scroll of Esther

Hebrew
Italy or Netherlands, 17th18th centuries
Engraving on parchment, hand scribed with ink, wood rollers
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.11.5

Manuscript set on seventeen columns, illustrated with copperplate engravings. The text (Ashkenazi square script) includes
the blessings recited before reading the Book of Esther in the
synagogue, and the complete biblical book, featuring a list of
the ten sons of Haman in larger script. The engravings at the
right of the scroll and beneath each column of text illustrate the
story of Esther in twenty-four panels.

5. Decorated scroll of Esther on cut parchment, and

engraved silver case

Hebrew
Italy, 18th century
Silver repousse case, lace cut parchment, ink and pigment, silk
backing
The Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica collection, 2015.6.71

[15]

D R AW E R O N E

Modern Jewish Magic

1. Amulet for newborn children
Italy, 18th century
Ink on paper
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.6.12

Manuscript text in circular pattern, with a crown above the

Hebrew letters (shaday, a name referring to God). In the
corners are the names of the angels protecting a newborn child:
Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel.

2. Amulet for household protection, depicting an

architectural frame and the tablets of the law,

inscribed in Hebrew with the word shaday
Italy, 18th century
Silver repousse
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.1.5

3. Amulet for the protection of newborn children,

inscribed in Hebrew with the words shaday and agla
Italy, 18th century
Silver, repousse and filigree
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.1.1

Amulet with filigree petals surrounding a round center plaque,

inscribed in Hebrew with the letters alef-gimel-lamed-alef,
anacronym for the liturgical phrase, You are mighty forever,
Lord.

[16]

D R AW E R T WO

Rabbis and Doctors

Ioannes Aloysius Foppa de Rota (Giovanni Alvise Foppa di
Rota, active 16471688)
Medical diploma of Emmanuel Colli
Padua, Italy, 1682
Ink and gouache on vellum, leather and board bound with cotton thread
[Reproduction of the original]
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederic Weiss in honor of Mrs. Leon Mandelson, 73.8

The University of Padua, established in 1222, began attracting

Jewish medical students from across Europe and the Venetian
territories in the 15th century. Between 1617 and 1740, Jewish
medical graduates numbered to over two hundred.
As was typical at the time, this diploma was designed as a small
illuminated book, with highly ornate front and back covers
tooled in gold. Aloysius Foppa decorated its four leaves with
floral borders. A portrait of the graduate, Emmanuel Colli (son
of Isaac) of Ancona, appears in a central oval on the verso of the
first leaf. Above, a small cartouche depicts two men, which may be
identified as a rabbi and a physician. At the bottom, a somewhat
larger shield presents the Colli family crest, which depicts a seabird
standing at the top of three hills (colli, in Italian). Many Italian
Jews used family crests on such personal possessions as spice boxes,
Hanukkah lamps, and manuscripts.
Following his graduation in Padua, Emanuel Menachem Yechiel
Colli (Ancona 1657Venice 1718) practiced medicine in Venice,
studied with Shelomoh Nizza, and was the author of Hebrew and
Italian poems (printed in Venice, 16791680) and of the preface to
Maseh Tuviyah (Venice, 1707).
(Original on loan until November 2016 to the Doges Palace in Venice, Italy, for the
exhibition, Venice, the Jews and Europe).

[17]

D R AW E R T H R E E

Making Modern Italian Women

Embroidery sampler of Esther Sahadun
Italy, Livorno 1827
Cotton, silk embroidery floss and ribbon
75.183.307

Sampler on loose woven fabric, displaying the letters of alphabet in

Latin script, numbers, and figures, and boats. Modern education,
comprising Jewish and secular subjects, was imparted to young
women in the Sephardic-Portuguese community of Livorno, Italy,
since the 18th century. It also included embroidery and other
domestic activities, such as painting and music.

D R AW E R F O U R

European Intellectual Circles

Samuel David Luzzatto and Isaia Luzzatto papers
Italy, Padua, 18121894
Gift of Gideon Sorokin, LIB 91.18

Samuel David Luzzatto (also known under the acronym of

SHaDaL, Trieste 1800Padua 1865), was an Italian Rabbi, poet,
grammarian, and scholar of Hebrew letters. He wrote his first
Hebrew poem at the age of nine, and by 1815 he had composed
thirty-seven poems. His translation of the Ashkenazi prayer
book into Italian appeared in 182122, and that of the Italian rite
in 1829, the year in which he joined the faculty of the Collegio
Rabbinico of Padua, where he taught bible, philology, philosophy,
and Jewish history. Among his many works (in Hebrew and Italian)
are commentaries on the Pentateuch and Haftarot (187176)
and several other biblical books, as well as pioneering studies on
the Hebrew language and on Hebrew liturgical poetry (piyyut),
the groundbreaking introduction to the Italian Machzor (1856),
Hebrew plays, and philosophical tractates. Luzzatto corresponded
with virtually all the leading Jewish scholars of his day.

[18]

The Luzzatto collection at The Magnes includes early manuscript

poems (two are dated 18121813) and personal and professional
letters by and to Samuel David Luzzatto, dating from the 1817 until
his death in 1865. Among the correspondents are some of the major
rabbinical figures of 19th-century Italy, including Marco Mortara
(18151894) and Moses Ehrenreich (18181899), and European
Jewish scholars like Gabriel Jacob Polak of Amsterdam (1803
1869), and A. G. Samiler of Brody (17801854).

1. Samuel David Luzzatto (18001865)

Poem in Honor of Andrea Gollmayr

Hebrew
Padua, Italy, n.d. (before 1849)
91.18.001

Undated Hebrew poem in eight stanzas (incipit: ashirah na

shir ha-shirim) preceded by a dedication to Andrea (or Andre)
Gollmayr (17971883), archbishop of Gorizia and Gradisca, and
Bible scholar. The dedication refers to the Kingdom of Illiria,
established in Istria after the Congress of Vienna, under
Austrian rule between 1815 and 1849.

2. Samuel David Luzzatto (18001865)

Play (fragment)
Hebrew
n.d.
LIB 91.18.005

3. Moses L. Ehrenreich (18181899)

Letter to Samuel David Luzzatto

Latin
Padua, Italy, August 18, 1841
LIB 91.18.264

Moses Levi Ehrenreich (Brody, Galicia, 1818 Rome, 1899)

left Eastern Europe to study at the Rabbinical College of Padua
under Samuel David Luzzatto. After graduation (1845), he
lived in Gorizia and Trieste, and was a rabbi in Modena and
Casale Monferrato. In 1871, he became the first Chief Rabbi
of Rome after Italys unification, and the founding director of
the reconstituted Italian Rabbinical College. In this letter, he
honored his mentor in Latin, attesting to the broad educational
scope of Paduas rabbinical school.

[19]

C H A R L E S M I C H A E L G A L L E RY

Gender and Jewish Modernity.

The Emergence of Women in Italian
Jewish Life
Ritual objects and documents often underscore the emerging
role of women within Italian Jewish society since the early
modern period. Illustrated marriage contracts (ketubbot)
and Torah binders, (textiles created to wrap the scrolls of
the Hebrew Bible used in synagogues) are important documents that bear womens names. Binders and prayer shawls
(tallitot) are the work of women, and they often mark their
social status by allowing to publicly display precious t extiles
and ornamented patterns in the context of synagogue life.
Since the early modern period, Italian Prayer Books
included an additional prayer recited to publicly praise
women whosew textiles for the glory of the Torah (i.e.,
forsynagogue use).

[20]

Marriage Contracts (ketubbot)

The ketubbah (Heb. written thing; pl. ketubbot) is a Jewish
marriage contract which confirms the covenant of wedlock,
stipulates the duties of a husband towards his wife, and
guarantees a wifes financial rights in case of divorce or her
husbands death. It lists the place and date of the wedding,
the names of the bride and groom, and is signed by the groom
and by those witnessing the covenant. Ketubbot may also be
decorated with written, painted, or printed visual motifs that
vary in each community of the diaspora, and evolve through
time, reflecting a number of different aesthetic sensibilities,
societal rules, as well as the status of the couples getting
married.
Since the Renaissance, Italian ketubbot have reflected a
predilection for elegant artistry. These documents are
drawn and decorated in parchment, and their texts are
usually found within ornamental frameworks that combine
Italian and Jewish cultural traits, making the meaning of
the documents themselves accessible to those unable to read
Hebrew. Ornaments may include images of gateways, and
illustrations of biblical scenes, as well as allegorical images
representing married life and fertility, such as the depictions
of clasped hands, hearts, birds, and fish, but also of figures
drawn from Greek and Roman mythology.
1. Ketubbah (marriage contract)
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Italian
Corfu, Greece, Wednesday, September 21, 1831
Ink and tempera on parchment
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.6.8

Decorated with depictions of sunflowers and garlands, and a

coat of arms portraying a crown above two shields. Created for
the wedding of Avraham Benyamin Rosenthal to Esther bat
Eliyahu Ashkenazi, members of the Italian synagogue on the
Greek island of Corfu.

2. Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew, Aramaic, and Italian
Venice, Italy, Wednesday, June 21, 1679
Ink and tempera on parchment
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.6.2

Created for the wedding of Yehudah ben Yaaqov Ashkenazi

(also known as Leon Todesco Giacob), to Esther bat Simchah
Ashkenazi. The ceremony was witnessed by a man named
Venturin ben David. Decorated with a border depicting floral
and geometric patterns, and an unfinished family crest.

3. Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew and Aramaic
Venice, Italy, Friday, April 13, 1753
Ink and watercolor or tempera and gold paint on parchment
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.6.5

Manuscript set in an architectural frame with twisted gold

columns on each side, connected by a blue arch. Created for
the wedding of Barukh ben Shlomoh Caprilis and Rachel bat
Shemaryah Levi Soncin, witnessed by Avraham ben Yitzchaq
Pacifico and David ben Avraham Bonanno.
[21]

4. Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew and Aramaic
Corfu (Kerkyra), Greece, Sunday, October 11, 1840
Tempera and ink on parchment
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.6.7

Created for the wedding of Yaaqov Nissim ben Eliyahu

Ashkenazi to Stamo Vachna bat Vainiri Osmo, witnessed
by Shemuel Levi and Natan David, members of the Italian
synagogue on the Greek island of Corfu. The manuscript is
divided in two columns and decorated with red and green
patterns, and two six-pointed stars above each column.

5. Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew and Aramaic
Rome, Italy, Wednesday, January, 1739
Ink and pigment on parchment
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 96.26.1

Manuscript framed by a green border, floral motifs, and an

outer border containing blessings for the bride and groom,
created for the wedding of Chananyah ben Yaakov Hayyat and
Mazal Tov bat Manoach Zvi, witnessed by two men, named
Avraham and Gershon.

6. M. Daniel Passigli

Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew, Aramaic, and Italian
Siena, Italy, Friday, October 4, 1816
Watercolor, ink, and gold metallic paint on parchment
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.6.6

Manuscript painted on rounded-top parchment, decorated

with an outer line border and sides ending in tassels, and
depicting a canopy containing a cherub and two figures labeled
Hymen (left) and Concordia (right), after the Greek and
Roman gods protecting marital agreement. Blessings for the
bride and groom are inscribed along the border. Created for the
wedding of Michael ben Shemaryah Borghi and Smeralda bat
Daniel Passigli. The maker, David Passigli, signed his name
(inItalian) at the bottom of the document.
[22]

7. Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew and Aramaic
Rome, Italy, Friday, March 29, 1809
Egg tempera and ink on parchment
69.0.9

Illustrated with intricate floral motifs, and an unidentified

crest at the top. The day of the week (be-shishi, the sixth
day of the week, or Friday) is highlighted on top of the text.
The document was created for the wedding of Yitzhak Mosheh
ben Benyamin Della Rocca with Stella bat Shmuel Terracino,
which took place next to the Tiber River, and was witnessed by
Shmuel Yehudah ben Gavriel Di Castro and a man named Yosef.

8. Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew and Aramaic
Lugo, Italy, Wednesday, March 15,1786
Ink and pigment on parchment
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.6.4

Manuscript framed with plant and floral motifs and garlands

with flying doves, and a blank heart-shaped shield flanked by
two angels located at the top center. The outer border contains
a Hebrew inscription from the Book of Ruth. Created for the
wedding of Mordechai ben Yosef Del Vecchio and Berakhah bat
Rafael Pesach, witnessed by Shabtay ben Yitzhak Jacchia and
Rafael ben Yitzhak Forl.

[23]

9. Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew and Aramaic
Ancona, Italy, Monday, April 2, 1855
Ink and pigment on parchment
Gift of Herbert and Nancy Bernhard, 2003.7.8

Decorated with floral motifs and inscribed with wedding wishes

in Aramaic. Created for the wedding of Shemuel Chayyim ben
Yechiel ha-Kohen and Matilde bat Yoav Chio, and witnessed by
Yosef Piazza.

10. Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew and Aramaic
Trieste, Italy, 18991900
Black and red ink on parchment
Gift of Herbert and Nancy Bernhard, 2003.7.5

Decorated with biblical quotations and blessings for the bride

and groom framed within a red border, created for the wedding
of Otto ben Enrico Fischel and Marta bat Shelomoh Forges.

11. Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew and Aramaic
Lugo, Italy, Friday, March 24, 1801
Ink and pigment on parchment
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.6.3

Manuscript decorated with floral borders and inscribed with

wedding wishes, created for the wedding of Elisha Arieh ben
Mordechai Del Vecchio to Sarah Ricca bat Shabtay Shlomoh
Zalman.

12. Ketubbah (marriage contract)

Hebrew and Aramaic
Piran, Slovenia, Friday, November 29, 1669
Tempera and ink on parchment
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.6.1

Created for the wedding of Aharon bar Yochanan Morpurg[o]

to Giustina bat Uriyah Kokhav [Stern], decorated with a thick
border of floral and geometric designs and wedding wishes.
The roundels at top and bottom of the manuscripts include the
Morpurgo family crest (depicting Jonah and the fish), and a
visual pun on the brides family name (kokhav, Heb. for star).

[24]

Torah Binders
Torah binders are ritual textiles used to wrap the scrolls
of the Hebrew bible stored in a synagogue. In Italy, since the
early modern period, they were often created, and inscribed
by women. The inscriptions of the binders in The Magnes
Collection can be categorized according to three different
typologies, each revealing a different gender dynamic.
Young girls would create binders to celebrate family rituals;
brides would inscribe them to honor their future husbands;
and married women, who signed themselves with their
maiden names, would donate Torah binders to their community, thus revealing their participation (and social standing)
in communal affairs.
The Torah binders included in this exhibition were
purchased by the former Judah L. Magnes Museum
with funds provided by Stephen Rudman in memory of
Cynthia Rudman.
1. Mazal Tov Fano

Torah binder
Italy, 5518 (17571758)
Cotton with cotton embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.11

Bridal gift made by a woman who signed herself Mazal Tov

Fano, wife of Ezriel Sullam. Hebrew wedding poems for the
couple, composed by Aviad Shar Shalom Abulafia and by
Zerach Yaaqov ben Refael Naftali Hakohen, are part of the
library of the Jewish Theological Seminary (New York).

2. Nechamah Canton[i]

Torah binder
Italy, 5521 (17601761)
Cotton with cotton embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.6

Donated to a synagogue in Northern Italy by a woman who

signed herself Nechamah Canton, wife of Shabtay Franchetti.

3. [...] Gentili

Torah binder fragment

Italy, n.d. [18th century]
Cotton with cotton embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.9

The remaining fragment of this textile bears the northern

Italian Jewish family name, Gentili.

[25]

4. Esther Tovah Colonia [Cologna]

Torah binder
[Mantua], Italy, [5]502 (17411742)
Cotton with cotton embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.12

Made by a young woman named who signed herself Esther

Tovah, daughter of Yehuda Barukh Colonia [or Cologna].

5. Bella Sforno

Torah binder
Italy, 5510 (17491750)
Linen with silk embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.8

Donated to a synagogue by a woman who signed herself

BellaSforno, wife of wife of Uri Shear Aryeh [Portaleone].

6. Laura Norzi

Torah binder
Italy, 2 Marcheshvan [5]506 (October 28, 1745)
Linen with silk embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.5

Made by a young woman, named Laura, daughter of Rafael

Norzi, who began working on the embroidering on October 28,
1745, in preparation for the upcoming Fast of the Firstborns,
the day of fast preceding Passover, which fell in April of the
following year.

[26]

Prayer Shawls from the Cassuto Family

The Cassuto family of Florence and Livorno, of Sephardic
origins, included influential rabbis and scholars. Among
them were Umberto (Mosheh David; 18831951), a literary historian and biblical commentator educated at the
University of Florence. Notably, he was a Professor of Hebrew
Literature in Florence and Rome before being dismissed
following the anti-Semitic laws of 1938, and subsequently
taught at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His son,
Nathan (19091945), a medical doctor and the Rabbi of
Florence during the Holocaust, died following his deportation to Auschwitz. Nathans son, David (b. 1938), an
architect, was a deputy Mayor of Jerusalem. Members of the
Livorno branch of the Cassuto family immigrated to the
United States and settled in the San Francisco Bay Area.
They donated some of their family heirlooms to The Magnes.
1. Tallit
Italy, 19th century
Silk
Gift of Alex Cassuto, 99.36.1

2. Tallit
Italy, Livorno, 17th century
Silk
Gift of Arnold Cassuto, 78.7.1

Prayer shawl with white floral pattern and fringe at its four
corners.

3. Tallit
Italy, 19th century
Silk
Gift of Alex Cassuto, 99.36.3

4. Tallit
Italy, Livorno, 17th century
Silk
Gift of Arnold Cassuto, 78.7.2

Blue and white silk shawl with embroidered flowers and the
monogram, A.C.

[27]

[28]

[29]

Spice container (Italy, 18th century), silver

Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 79.47.1 a-b

THE MAGNES COLLECTION OF JEWISH ART AND LIFE

The University of California, Berkeley
2121 Allston Way
Berkeley, California 94720-6300
bit.ly/italyah