Venezia, Part Due (2)

February 16, 2016

Huzzah! We found the kosher meat restaurant! On our last day in Venice, we mixed up the religious historical site visits to include the kosher restaurant and synagogues. We had lunch at Gam Gam, the kosher meat restaurant in the Jewish ghetto. It is very easy to find, almost directly across from the water taxi stop.

This is the menu: Everything was DELICIOUS, fresh, well-priced and the portions were generous!

I had the chummus with meat as an appetizer with the accompanying fresh pita bread.

The table shared the Israeli platter which consisted of about 12 different salads and dips.

Tagliatelle with Mushrooms

Salmon Pasta

Couscous with Meatballs

Me with my meat and wine! Tagliatelle with Meat Sauce

The flipside of our menus had a map of the wine regions of Italy.

Chicken soup with matzo ball!

Fresh pita

The house red - Bartenura Umbria. (If anyone wants to send me a bottle or 3, I'd accept them with empty glasses!)

The Jewish ghetto

Standing outside the Jewish museum (below)
Inside the museum were three floors of Jewish relics, doors to two of the ghetto's synagogues, a gift shop, and cafe.

Wimpels: In German tradition, families took a hand-decorated piece of white cloth to wrap around a Torah scroll at a baby boy's circumcision ceremony. This cloth is used at other significant times during his life: wrapped around a Torah at his bar mitzvah and used as a ritual item at his wedding.

An old ketubah - a Jewish marriage contract. The couple's names and marriage agreement are detailed on this document, and it's signed by witnesses on the day of the wedding.

A megillah, the scroll read on the holiday of Purim. Written in Hebrew, this is the entire book of Esther.

19th-century gravestones recovered from the Jewish cemetery.

We took a synagogue tour of the Jewish ghetto, and the first one on the walk was up the stairs from the Jewish museum.

VIDEO: German Synagogue

The second synagogue on the tour was up the stairs and around the corner from the German synagogue. It's called "Canton" ("corner" in Italian) because it is in the corner of the ghetto.

From the outside, you can see the 5-window facade of the Jewish Museum. The German synagogue occupies 3 of the 5 windows. Two windows are blocked permanently due to the move of the bimah (prayer stand) from the center of the floor back to the wall.

VIDEO: The Jewish Ghetto

Around the corner from the Jewish museum was the Levantine Synagogue. It was closed to tours for the day, but it is used 6 months out of the year for Shabbat services.

This is the entrance to the Spanish Synagogue, the third on our tour.

VIDEO: Spanish Synagogue

Leaving the ghetto, we noticed a waterlogged pigeon that was trying to get out of the canal.

Since it couldn't fly, the little guy needed some help. The woman in the brown coat flagged down the man in the boat (below) to fish the bird out with a net.