Jewish Ghetto

This morning we took a trip to the Jewish Museum of Rome, which is adjacent to the Via Catalana synagogue. We had a guided tour of the museum and synagogue, and received a thorough rundown of the different components of a synagogue and historical artifacts from Jewish history in Rome. We learned about Jewish traditions and viewed Nazi documents regarding the capture and killing of Jews. Chilling stuff. The synagogue was quite spectacular, with a lofty square-dome ceiling painted all the colors of the rainbow. While in the synagogue, all the men were required to have their heads covered. I had my hat, but everyone else was given temporary skullcaps to wear. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures of the museum and synagogue, as the museum has not allowed such since an attempted terrorist attack in the 1980s.

After that tour, we had a second tour of the Jewish ghetto. We walked around the streets of the ghetto, seeing where entry/exit gates were placed, and what buildings still remain. There is really only one block of buildings that remain unchanged from the original Jewish ghetto. When it was first constructed, the buildings of the ghetto had their foundations literally in the Tiber River. The community was thus quite susceptible to flooding. Severe taxes and occupation limits were placed on the Jews, and even beyond that, they were treated very poorly.

Walking out of the ghetto, we realized that it is situated literally minutes away from the Campo de Fiori. We've walked right past the ghetto many times before.

I had a lunch of mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes on (semi-)fresh bread. Cheap and tasty!

In the afternoon we had an abbreviated Islam and Italian cities class in which we finished our discussion about Trickster Travels. We talked at length about "tricks" of face - outward acting to fit in to a foreign environment - and the meaning of identity and nationality. I had a thought that national identity is not wholly unlike choosing a major. Before you identify yourself in a major, all you have is your perceived talents, likings, and interests. After you choose a major, people seem to want to define you by that. And sometimes you naturally fall right into the stereotypes of the label given to/chosen by you.

In the early evening we listened to a faculty lecture by our own Prof. Resat Kasaba (the UWRC puts on an annual lecture series). He talked about Mediterranean cultural interactions in the past and present; the lecture felt very similar to our "regular" class sessions. Also, congrats to Prof. Kasaba for being Chair of the UW Jackson School of International Studies!

After the lecture, I returned to the apartment to steam the perch I'd bought on Monday. I had to get creative, using two pots for steaming (only one of which had a steam rack), and one for rice. It all worked out, though, and I topped the fish with green onions and heated oil (olive oil was all we had).

The fish turned out very nicely, and Mauna, Yuting, Sydney, Emily, Shurui, Emilio, and Daniel all had some of it. I was quite pleased that it worked so well (the perch was very tender but not mushy), and everyone was very complementary. Mission accomplished!

Anyhow, time for bed! We've an early start tomorrow morning. G'night, all.