By the middle of the first century Rome had many synagogues; their members were actors, blacksmiths, butchers, businessmen, musicians, painters, pedlars, singers and tailors. They were no small ethnic minority but a large and important part of the population, perhaps ten per cent, on a par with 20th-century prewar Prague, Vienna, Warsaw or Budapest. And there were Jews across the empire.
When the empire divided, its Jews were divided into those of the East and those of the West. Centuries later they mingled in central Europe and fused to make a civilisation, the Yiddish people, with its own culture, language and at times local autonomy. They eventually outnumbered Danes, Estonians, Latvians, Slovaks and Swiss, not to mention the Irish, the Scots and the Welsh. They did everything from farming to finance, from wine-making to travel agency and science. Their civilisation was Jewish but they lived among Cath- olics and Orthodox Christians — and later Protestants. Their civilisation also reflects those religions and their cultures, especially that of the Slavs. When Christian Europe was affected by the Enlightenment, so was the Yiddish civilisation.
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article.