Description
Book Synopsis2024 Catholic Media Association Book Award Winner in History
The Jewish community of Rome is the oldest Jewish community in Europe. It is also the Jewish community with the longest continuous history, having avoided interruptions, expulsions, and annihilations since 139 BCE. For most of that time, Jewish Romans have lived in close contact with the largest continuously functioning international organization: the Roman Catholic Church. Given the church’s origins in Judaism, Jews and Catholics have spent two thousand years negotiating a necessary and paradoxical relationship. With engaging stories that illuminate the history of Jews and Jewish-Catholic relations in Rome,
Intimate Strangers investigates the unusual relationship between Jews and Catholics as it has developed from the first century CE to the present in the Eternal City.
Fredric Brandfon innovatively frames these relations through an anthropological lens: how the idea and language of famil
Trade Review"A fascinating and readable history that's essential for those interested in Jewish or Italian history."—
Library Journal“[During] two millennia, the Jews of Rome both thrived and endured extreme hardship, their fate alternately buffeted by persecution and acceptance. . . . Frederic Brandfon skillfully tackles these stark contradictions. . . . [His book is] rich in detail.”—Jewish Book Council
"This is a scholarly work that any enthusiast of Jewish history will enjoy. Recommended for academic libraries as well as Jewish high school, community, and synagogue libraries."—Association of Jewish Libraries
“A fascinating story of the Jews’ unique resilience and strength living in Rome without interruption for twenty-two centuries.”—Riccardo Shemuel Di Segni, chief rabbi of Rome
“An absolutely new approach. Investigating an unusual relationship—the one between Jews and Catholics that in Rome could develop uninterruptedly over almost two thousand years—
Intimate Strangers frames it anthropologically while revealing notable knowledge about the life of Jews in Rome and their mutual relationships with the Catholic world. This is a well-written, well-documented, and well-argued book.”—Gabriela Yael Franzone, coordinator of the Department of Heritage and Culture of the Jewish Community of Rome
“An engaging and sometimes surprising exploration of the intriguing history of Rome.”—Mark Kurlansky, author of thirty-five books, including
Cod,
Salt, and
The Importance of Not Being Ernest“Most involving. There is always fascinating new material on the next page.”—Judith Roumani, author of
Jews in Southern Tuscany during the Holocaust: Ambiguous RefugeTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Giannina’s Glance
1. An Inconvenient Liaison: The Triumph of Titus and His Affair with Berenice
2. “Who Is a Jew?”: Jews, Pagans, Proselytes, and God-Fearers in the Roman Catacombs
3. A Torah for the Pope: Jewish Participation in Papal Processions
4. Houseguests and Humanists: Philosophers, Poets, Prostitutes, and Pilgrims in Late Medieval and Renaissance Rome
5. Divorce, Roman Style: The Ghetto
6. Love, Death, and Money: Daily Life in Sixteenth-Century Rome
7. “Till the Conversion of the Jews”: Church Attempts at Forced Baptism
8. Trading Places: Papal Exiles and Jewish Emancipations during the Nineteenth Century
9. Backyard Exiles: The Jews in Fascist Rome
10. The Other Knock on the Door: Jews and Catholics during the Nazi Occupation of Rome
11. The Arch of Titus Redux: Israel and Vatican II in Postwar Rome
Conclusion: A Walk through the Ghetto
Notes
Bibliography
Index
