‘Seize the Day in Rome’
Five British born entrepreneurs, Bruce, Oliver, Harry, Russell and Colin, founders of Carpe Diem Rome, are educating tourists from all backgrounds, about the history of the Jews of Rome, by collaborating with the Jewish guides there.
Ghetto tours are more popular than ever, says Colin Walsh, co-founder of Carpe Diem Rome. In fact, international tourist companies and licensed tour guides from all faiths are now providing Ghetto tours on their websites.
“My partners and I are excited to launch our new Heritage and Culture tours by collaborating with Italian guides from the Jewish community, in addition with Jewish scholars who live in Rome. Most tour companies have tour guides explaining a quick overview of the Ghetto from ‘outside’ the Great Synagogue and its museum. However, we collaborate with Italian Jewish guides who take you into their authentic story and into to their community” says Colin.
Carpe Diem Rome agrees with my point of view (the author) that tours offered by Italian educators from the Jewish Museum of Rome, licensed tour guides from the community and Jewish scholars living in Rome, offer specific insights into Roman Judaism which is special and unique, as compared with the information offered by non-Jewish tour guides and scholars. They will provide a fun and cultural education about another religion existing long before Christianity and its relationship with the eternal City of Rome.
Known officially as the Ghetto, the Jewish Quarter of Rome is one of the most vital areas to visit in the Eternal City. In the imperial age, the Jewish community of Rome developed into significant importance. The Jews were grouped into communities around Rome, with social and institutional positions, teachers, and rabbis. There were artisans and merchants, women and men of culture, frequenting the twelve synagogues in ancient Rome.
Great literary men of ancient Rome, such as Ovid, Tacitus, Tibullus, Juvenal and Cicero described, without fully understanding, the Jews. They recounted Jewish customs such as the Sabbath or dietary laws, while the historian Suetonius recalls the Jews of Rome participating in the funeral of Julius Caesar, who protected and supported them. After Caesar’s death, his edicts in favor of the Jews were renewed by senatorial decree and reaffirmed by the commanders of the Roman army in various parts of the Roman empire. The Jews in ancient Rome were generally accepted like other religious groups, as long as they did not create confusion or problems.
With the Emperor Constantine in 312 of the Common Era (CE), the Christianization of the Roman empire began, in which the West (Rome) came to an end by the fifth century CE. Power in Rome gradually passed into the hands of the local bishop, the Pope, thus inaugurating the papal rule which would last in the Eternal City until 1870.
With this amazing history of the Jews of Rome, Carpe Diem Rome is honored to offer their new Heritage and Culture tours, pragmatic tours of Rome from a Jewish perspective by those who inherently understand the meaning.
Carpe Diem Judaea Rome:
‘Seize the Day in Jewish Rome’
“Our guided tours are designed to last approximately up to three hours. They are highlighted tours, not lectures. Our approach is rooted in conversational interpretation. The tours should provide visitors with a general overview and share insights into the Judeo-Christian history of the museums, architecture, archaeological sites, and collections/artifacts within, says Carpe Diem Rome.
THE JEWISH MUSEUM, ITS TWO SYNAGOGUES AND THE JEWISH QUARTRER WALKING TOUR
The Jewish Quarter educational tour covers the former Ghetto history (1555-1870). Our guide, being from the Jewish community of Rome, shares a unique and personal insight into the life of the Jews of Rome and an invaluable historical and topographical view into the origins of Europe’s oldest Jewish community known as the Ghetto.
In examining how the Romans in antiquity, and the Catholic Church during the Renaissance, related to the Jews of Rome, we can learn much about how one of the most ancient and unique Jewish communities in the world, though neither Ashkenazi nor Sephardic, continues to thrive today.
VATICAN MUSEUMS & SAINT PETER’S BASILICA FROM A JUDEO-CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
Jesus and his followers were practicing Jews, and Christianity is rooted in the Jewish belief of monotheism.
Christianity spread with the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in 312 C.E. In the fourth century of the common era, Constantine built a basilica over the tomb of the apostle Simon Peter. Simon Peter was a fisherman from Galilee and one of the twelve original followers of Jesus
There is a popular Jewish thought that Peter self appointed himself to preach to his Jewish brethren. This was part of the plan of the perushim — to make sure he would be thorough in changing the early Christian religion, to differentiate this “new sect” from its Jewish origins in order not to create confusion among the Jews.
This tour looks at the Vatican Museum and its artwork from a Jewish perspective. As the elderly brother to Christianity, many facets of the art contain Jewish images, but from Torah and Talmud interpretation and not from the Christian Old Testament, as it is a slight difference in explanation, says Carpe Diem Rome. This was done to honour and respect the origin by some arts and theologians of the time and interesting to compare to other images where the artists may not have the knowledge of this difference.
ROMAN JEWS IN ANTIQUITY
The most significant era of ancient Rome is 66 CE. This was the year of the four emperors, when four different emperors served as Emperor of Rome. According to Roman state law (philosophy), the emperor was divine, and he had the right to be honored. Most people throughout the empire worshiped more than one divine being. However, the Jews had only one almighty GOD. Their faith forbade them to see the Roman emperor as more than a mortal man.
The tour walks through the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum, and explains Ancient Rome and the presence of the Jews there in relation to what you see. In addition, we also discuss the Jews in Judea, where the situation was different and how all this came to a climax with the horrible destruction of the Second Temple and the Bar Kokhba revolt, and how the Jews of Rome still managed to survive, says Carpe Diem Rome.
In addition, Carpe Diem Rome offers a variety of kosher food tasting tours organized with a guide from the community.
The Italian Jewish culinary culture tradition is still very much alive and vibrant today. Tourists from all over the world are more curious about Judeo-Roman cuisine than ever before.
Judeo-Roman cooking originates in local traditions combined with Judeo-Spanish customs, added at the end of the 1400s .
It is closely related to religious life and time-honored ritual. Every festive moment is marked by traditional foods and established menus, featuring unique full-course meals, crowned by luscious desserts, for every conceivable occasion. The ingredients come from simple foods customarily eaten by the poor: vegetables (artichokes, chicory and endive), low-cost fish (for instance, sardines, and anchovies), entrails and inexpensive cuts of meat ( magically and masterfully rendered into salted dried meat and pot roasts), ricotta cheese, candied fruit, figs and dates, graced with honey.
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