Italy


 

Publication Date: November 1999

Publisher: Hadassah International Research Institute on Jewish Women

Author(s): Micaela Procaccia

Research Area: Culture and religion; Population and demographics; Social conditions

Keywords: History; Women; Culture

Type: Other

Abstract:

The author presents an outline of the history of Jewish women in Italy, going back to their involvement with Jewish and Christian courts in the late Middle Ages. Highlights include womenÂ’s struggles against forced conversion, anti-Semitism, and the creation of the Italian ghetto; womenÂ’s involvement in GaribaldiÂ’s Resorgimento; the early popularization of the Bat Mitzvah celebration; the first Italian Jewish woman to have a rabbinic education; womenÂ’s role in the anti-Nazi resistance and later in Holocaust awareness; and finally womenÂ’s active leadership in the modern Italian Jewish community.