Jewish quarter (diaspora)

An 1880 watercolour of the Roman Ghetto by Ettore Roesler Franz.

In the Jewish diaspora, a Jewish quarter (also known as jewry, juiverie, Judengasse, Jewynstreet, Jewtown, Juderia or proto-ghetto)[1] is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were often the outgrowths of segregated ghettos instituted by the surrounding Christian or Muslim authorities. A Yiddish term for a Jewish quarter or neighborhood is "Di yiddishe gas" (Yiddish: די ייִדישע גאַס ), or "The Jewish quarter."[2] While in Ladino, they are known as maalé yahudí, meaning "The Jewish quarter".

Many European and Near Eastern cities once had a historical Jewish quarter and some still have it. The history of the Jews in Iraq is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities.

  1. ^ Dik Van Arkel (2009). The Drawing of the Mark of Cain: A Socio-historical Analysis of the Growth of Anti-Jewish Stereotypes. Amsterdam University Press. p. 298. ISBN 978-90-8964-041-3.
  2. ^ "The Virtual Jewish History Tour – Vilnius". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 10 October 2012.