Jews in the Italian Renaissance | Dr. Katherine Aron Beller | Absorption into Northern Italy

Jews in the Italian Renaissance
Dr. Katherine Aron Beller
What did the Renaissance mean to the Italian Jews of the time? Most scholars argue that the history of the Jews in any given country is organically linked to the general history of that land. Jews during the Renaissance have been depicted by scholars as participating in a world where tolerance was shown by non-Jewish society. Were these scholars correct in thinking so? I will examine the internal structure of the Jewish community and the seemingly selective adoption of Renaissance intellectual development, culture and visual art. I will also show how Italian Jews were willing to share their own educational developments with the non-Jewish world. Finally, I will ask if Jewish women at this time were affected by the Renaissance or experienced some level of emancipation themselves.

Absorption into Northern Italy
The general change in intellectual thinking in Italy at this time created an opening for a pragmatic vision of skepticism and tolerance towards Jews. Between the 1300s and 1500s, the establishment of Jewish “bankers” who were often also scholars, doctors and rabbis constitutes one of the most fascinating themes in the history of Italian Jewry. Their migration to Northern Italy spread rapidly through Umbria, the Marches, and Tuscany, creating communities in areas where Jews had never previously settled with a vigorous cultural, religious and linguistic identity.

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My mother's family came from the central part of Italy, the region called Abruzzo. I've been fortunate to visit Italy twice.