The Jews of Mantua
The Rules and Regulations of the Society, Baale
B'rith Abraham (Members of the Covenant of Abraham). The Society was
founded in 1716 on the proposition that birth may be a personal, family
matter, but circumcision, entering the "Covenant of Abraham," was
an event of communal import and a cause for public celebration. To make it
possible for even the poorest families to welcome the newborn with the
traditional celebration, sixty individuals joined together to pledge their
interest and support. In addition to dues, each member contributed four
lire for each circumcision. From among the members, one was chosen by lot
to act as sandek (godfather) at the ceremony. He in turn was
responsible for careful use of the monies collected for the celebration and
for the needs of the newborn child. When all sixty had served, a new group
would come into being. In 1791, the fifth cycle was inaugurated, four other
editions of the Rules having been published in 1744, 1771, 1779, and 1784.
Besides the rules and regulations these pamphlets also listed the names of
the sixty members.
The rules and regulations of the Society of the
Covenant of Abraham in Mantua, which provided the wherewithal that enabled
each family, no matter how impecunious, to have a joyous celebration at a
son's brit milah (circumcision), Baale B'rith Abraham (Society
of the Covenant of Abraham), Mantua, 1791. Hebraic Section, Library of Congress Photo).
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The Baale B'rith Abraham was one of some twenty
such charitable, cultural, and religious societies in Mantua at the end of
the eighteenth century. Among them were those obliged to dower the brides,
heal the sick, visit the confined, bury the dead, console the mourners,
clothe the needy, redeem captives, educate the young, and offer hospitality
to the stranger, free loans to the hard-pressed, and midnight prayers for
the coming of the Messiah. Such a network of voluntary societies could be
found in every Jewish community of size, and the most basic ones existed in
every hamlet.
Mantau, 1818-1870
Seven vellum memorial plaques list the departed to be
memorialized with the dates of their death. These plaques, in candle stub
or cartouche form, were placed on the memorial wall under the Ner
Neshama (Lamp of the Soul) in the Scudo Cases Synagogue founded in
Mantua in 1590. Among those memorialized are four members of the old and
honored Finzi family and the equally aristocratic Levi, Bassani, and
Viterbo families. Descendants of the family would offer their personal
prayers of remembrance on the day of Yahrzeit (anniversary of
death). Hanging before the entire congregation, the plaques became a
congregational memorial as well.
These memorial plaques on parchment recording the name
of the deceased and the day of death, were hung on the day of Yahrzeit (anniversary of death) in the Scudo Cases Synagogue in Mantua. Represented
are teh Finzi, Levi, GBassani, and Viterbo families, Memorial Plaques,
Mantua, 1818-70, Hebraic Section, Library
of Congress Photo).
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Sources: Abraham J. Karp, From
the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress,
(DC: Library of Congress,
1991).
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