La Comunita'Ebraica di Roma...

Il 1 novembre

Roma

Joan and Patricia left this morning to spend a couple of days in Pompeii and Margie and I set out after breakfast for la Comunita' Ebraica di Roma (the Jewish Quarter); it is here where one can walk the streets of what was once the Jewish Ghetto, visit Rome's major synagogue + the Jewish Museum, and pause in reflection and prayer at the spot of the Jewish deportation on October 16,1943. When I came here a year ago, I wasn't able to enter the synagogue because it was a Jewish holiday so I was very happy to finally walk inside this beautiful house of worship. Taking a guided tour taught me a lot about the Jewish community in Roma which has actually been in existence, although not in this exact location, for over 2,000 years. The earliest Jewish settlement in Italy was on the banks of the Tiber River and it was, actually, one of the earliest communities in Europe. Knowing that a deportation had taken place next to the synagogue, built between 1901 and 1904, I asked our guide why it had remained intact and wasn't destroyed during the war. I learned that the Pope had made an arrangement with the German government not to bomb the city as an attack might have destroyed the Vatican, as well as other churches.

After our morning in the synagogue and its accompanying museum, it was time for lunch in one of several kosher restaurants in the Jewish Quarter. Margie and I shared an appetizer of assorted fried vegetables {the carciofo-(artichoke) was delicious} and then ravioli filled with ricotta cheese and in a light sauce flavored with orange rind. Complete with white wine and crunchy bread (Every restaurant I ate in had great bread...and I'm a bread person!), it was a perfect meal...and a very special morning. www.ilgiardinoromano.it

After lunch, we decided to walk along the river and take advantage of the beautiful spring-like weather, letting our feet lead the way. We took one of the several bridges that cross il Fiume Tevere (Tiber River) and, after many twists and turns, we arrived at la Basilica S. Pietro at sunset. During the day, the Vatican is filled with crowds, but at this later hour, we were able to walk into the basilica without a wait and sit in the pews while a service was underway. Leaving the basilica when the first stars were coming out, I reminded myself that only a few days prior, I had seen the Pope in Assisi and now here I was in Roma looking up at the windows of the papal apartment...