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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.

Arabic world

From the late medieval and early modern period onwards Jews, the only remaining dhimmi, were increasingly confined to ghettolike quarters, such as the mellah in Morocco, the hara in Algeria and Tunisia and the qa'a in Yemen.^[3]^[4] The mellah of Fez, founded in the fifteenth century, became the prototype of the Moroccan ghetto. Though it was probably founded in order to protect and not to punish the Jews, they resented the transfer and viewed it as bitter exile and manifestation of a painful segregation.^[4]

Later foundation were founded with the explicit intent of ostracism rather than protection.^[5] As such, Jews often had to wear distinguishing clothes and were not allowed to wear shoes outside the mellah.^[6] In cities, a mellah was surrounded by a wall with a fortified gateway, often close to kasbah of the king or governor, whereas rural mellahs were separate villages inhabited solely by the Jews.^[4]

Europe

Jewish quarters in Europe existed for a number of reasons. In some cases, Christian authorities wished to segregate Jews from the Christian population so that Christians would not be "contaminated" by them ^{[citation needed]} or so as to put psychological pressure on Jews to convert to Christianity. From the Jewish point of view, concentration of Jews within a limited area offered a level of protection from outside influences or mob violence. In many cases, residents had their own justice system.

When political authorities designated an area where Jews were required by law to live, such areas were commonly referred to as ghettos, and were usually coupled with many other disabilities and indignities. The areas chosen usually consisted of the most undesirable areas of a city.

In the English city of Norwich, the Jewish quarter was close to the castle, as a source of protection in times of local pogroms. This pattern was seen in other English towns, where Jews were under the protection of the Normans.^[7]

In the 19th century, Jewish ghettos were progressively abolished, and their walls taken down, though some areas of Jewish concentration continued and continue to exist. In some cities, Jewish quarters refer to areas which historically had concentrations of Jews. For example, many maps of Spanish towns mark a "Jewish Quarter", though Spain hasn't had a significant Jewish population for over 500 years.

Over the course of World War II, Nazi Germany reestablished Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe (which they called Jewish quarters) for the purpose of segregation, persecution, terror, and exploitation of Jews, mostly in Eastern Europe. According to USHMM archives, "The Germans established at least 1,000 ghettos in German-occupied and annexed Poland and the Soviet Union alone."^[8]

Austria

Hohenems: Jewish Quarter [de]
Salzburg: Judengasse [de]
Vienna: Judenplatz (1280-1421); Leopoldstadt

Belarus

Dziatlava: Zhetel ghetto
Minsk: Minsk ghetto (appr. 100,000 Jews, local and deported from Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic, during the Second World War)

Belgium

Antwerp: Joods Antwerpen (35,000 Jews before 1940, 15,000 nowadays)

Czech Republic

Kolín: Jewish Quarter [de]
Prague: Josefov

France

Bordeaux: Saint-Seurin
Draguignan: La Juiverie de Draguignan (fr)
Lyon: La Juiverie de Fourvière and La Guillotière
Marseille: La Carrière-des-Juifs and Mont-Juif or Montjusieu
Paris: the Pletzl in Le Marais district
Les Josiols is a former Jewish quarter situated north of Mirabel-aux-Baronnies

Germany

Berlin: Judengasse [de] and the Bayerisches Viertel [de]
Cologne: Judengasse [de]
Frankfurt: Judengasse
Hamburg: New Town, Grindel [de], and Eimsbüttel (History of the Jews in Hamburg)
Hanau: Nordstraße [de]
Koblenz: Koblenz [de]
Leipzig: Brühl)
Speyer: Jewish community of Speyer
Stuttgart: Judengasse [de]
Trier: Judengasse [de]
Worms

Greece

Rhodes: La Juderia

Hungary

Budapest: Erzsébetváros

Ireland

Cork: "Jewtown" around Albert Road^[9]^[10]
Dublin: Portobello

Italy

Caltagirone: Iudeca (Giudecca)
Catania: Judeca Suprana, Judeca Suttana and Piano di Giacobbe
Enna: Iudeca (Giudecca)
Messina: Tirone and Paraporto
Naples: Giudecca
Padua: Paduan Ghetto
Palermo: Meschita and Guzzetta
Reggio Calabria: La Judeca (Giudecca)
Rome: Roman Ghetto
Syracuse — La Jureca (Giudecca)
Venice: Venetian Ghetto
Ferrara: Ghetto di Ferrara

Netherlands

Amsterdam: Jodenbuurt; Jodenbreestraat (until World War II); Buitenveldert (contemporary)

Poland

Kraków: Kazimierz
Warsaw: Muranów (during World War II, the Warsaw Ghetto)

Portugal

Belmonte: Judiaria
Braga: Judiaria Velha (Rua do Poço) and Judiaria Nova (Rua de Sto. António das Travessas)
Castelo de Vide: Judiaria
Coimbra: Judiaria Velha and Judiaria Nova (Fonte dos Judeus)
Lisbon: Alfama and Judiaria
Oporto: Judiaria Velha, Judiaria Nova do Olival and Bairro de Monchique
Tomar: Judiaria

Romania

Bucharest: Văcăreşti/Dudeşti

Spain

Ávila — Judería
Barcelona — El Call^[11]
Bellpuig — Call
Besalú — Call
Caceres — Judería
Calahorra — Judería
Córdoba — Judería
Estella-Lizarra — Judería
Girona — Call Jueu de Girona
Hervás — Judería
Jaén — Judería
León — Judería
Monforte de Lemos — Judería
Oviedo — Judería
Palma de Mallorca — Call
Majorca – Call Jueu d´Inca
Plasencia — Judería
Ribadavia — Judería
Segovia — Aljama
Sevilla — Judería
Sos del Rey Católico — Judería
Tarazona — Aljama
Toledo
Tortosa — Call
Tudela — Judería
Valladolid — Aljama

Turkey

European Istanbul: Balat

United Kingdom

Africa

Egypt

Cairo — Harat Al-Yahud Al-Qara’In and Harat Al-Yahud

Morocco

Tunisia

Djerba island — El Ghriba
Tunis — Hara

Asia

China

Shanghai — Shanghai ghetto, a temporary Jewish refuge during World War II.

India

Kochi – Jew Town, traditional Cochin Jewish district and location of the spice market.

Lebanon

Beirut — Wadi Abu Jamil

Turkey

Asian Istanbul — Kuzguncuk
İzmir: Karataş

Iraq

Baghdad — History of the Jews in Baghdad
Sulaymaniyah – Jewlakan^[12]

Syria

Damascus – Ḥārat al-Yahūd, a recently restored tourist destination popular among Europeans before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war where vacationers can stay in the neighborhood and beautified former homes of the completely vanished ancient Jewish community.^[13]

Americas

Argentina

Buenos Aires — Once

Brazil

São Paulo — Bom Retiro, Higienópolis

Venezuela

Caracas — San Bernardino, Los Chorros, Altamira, Los Caobos and Sebucán

Mexico

Polanco

United States

Boca Raton, Florida – There are over 175,000 Jewish people in southern Palm Beach County.^[15]
New York City – Williamsburg and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, (historically) the Lower East Side and parts of The Bronx. Northern New Jersey, Long Island, and Rockland County have been home to large Jewish populations since the 1940s and 1950s.^[16]^[17]
Pinch District, Memphis, Tennessee — From the 1890s to the 1930s, it was the center of Memphis' Jewish community, with many synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses.
Pittsburgh – Squirrel Hill, with some spillover into bordering Greenfield, Regent Square, and Shadyside.

Uruguay

Montevideo — Villa Muñoz

Canada

Montréal, Québec – Mile-End/Outremont and Côte-des-Neiges/Hampstead/Snowdon, Côte-Saint-Luc, Saint-Laurent Boulevard
Toronto – The Ward was the original Jewish district in the 19th century followed by Kensington Market in the early to mid 20th century.

Other regions

In the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa there are a number of neighborhoods or small towns, generally in large cities or outlying communities of such, which are home to large concentrations of Jewish residents, much in the manner of old-world Jewish quarters or other ethnic enclaves, though without exclusive Jewish population.