Chief rabbi of Venice works for return of Jewish community

Five centuries ago the Jewish people of Venice were forced to live in a segregated community that became known as the first-ever ghetto, a cramped but bustling community that at its height boasted nine synagogues.

But as the population of Venice has fallen over the years due to mass tourism and spiraling costs, so too have the number of Jewish people.

Now the chief rabbi of Venice, Scialom Bahbout, says the city’s Jewish community has to reinvent itself. Only 500 Jewish people remain in Venice, with another 500 in the nearby towns of Padua, Verona, and Trieste—a small percentage of the country’s 30,000 Jewish population.