Sunday, November 30, 2008
Florence -- Haggling in the Synagogue
I had an experience last week that threw into even sharper relief the contradictions of caricature and irony found in the insider vs outsider use of Jewish stereotypes.
I was in Florence for a very interesting and wide-ranging conference on representations of Jews in European popular culture, organized by young scholars at the European University Institute in nearby Fiesole.
Before the official start of the conference, a group of us visited Florence's synagogue and the Jewish museum housed in its women's gallery. The synagogue is a stately Moorish-style structure with an ornate interior and towering green dome. A grandiose symbol of Jewish emancipation, it was designed by the architects Marco Treves, Mariano Falcini and Vincenzo Micheli and inaugurated in 1882.
The Jewish museum is on two levels -- the lower level is mainly a display of Judaica. The upper level was revamped and reopened last year as a multi-media history exhibit using objects, panels, sound and projected images to tell the story of the Jewish community in Florence.
After visiting the museum, I stopped in the gift shop (I love museum gift shops.) It's small, but has a lot on offer -- jewelry, ritual objects, stationery, etc. All seemed rather expensive, but, with Hanukkah gifts on my mind, I found a nice little pair of earrings for €15.
I wanted to get another piece, apparently made by the same designer. The saleswoman showed me a pendant -- for €20.
I didn't want to spend that much, I told her. Her response was immediate. "What would you like to pay? How much do you want to spend?"
Well, the earrings were only €15 -- I didn't want to spend more than that.
"OK -- €15 -- the pendant is yours!"
Damn, I thought. She gave me 1/4 off, just like that. I could have got it for less!
Then I thought about the last place I had come into contact with a reference to bargaining in a Jewish context -- the "At the Golden Rose" cafe in L'viv, where no prices were put on the menu so that patrons could haggle ("like Jews") as to what they would pay...
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As for the conference -- I will try to write something on it later. For now, you can see the program by clicking HERE.
Labels:
Dohany St. Synagogue,
Florence,
L'viv,
museum,
stereotype
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