Medical Diploma of Israel Barukh Olmo, Manuscript on vellum, Padua, Italy; 1755

Vivian B. Mann, ed. Gardens and Ghettos: The Art of Jewish Life in Italy, 1989, p. 235; Natalia Berger, Jews and Medicine: Religion, Culture, Science, 1995.

From the 16th through the 18th centuries, the prestigious medical school of the University of Padua was one of the only European institutions of higher education that allowed Jews to attend. According to university records, only 230 Jews graduated in the more than two centuries between 1517-1721. It was customary, upon graduation, to commission diplomas in the form of small richly decorated booklets and the format and style of these diplomas was unique to universities in Northern Italy. The text of the standard diploma, however, included references to Christianity which were unsuitable for the Jewish graduates.  As may be seen in the present lot, the university, demonstrating considerable tolerance, allowed for the alteration of the customary Christian formulae.  Whereas the standard diplomas from Padua began with the words "In Christi Nomine aeterni" and recorded the date as "Anno a Christi nativitate," diplomas created for Jews substituted these phrases with "In Nomine Dei aeterni" and "currente anno."  

The coat of arms of the Olmo family, featuring a spouting fountain and a stalk of wheat on either side of a verdant tree, is prominently depicted on the frontispiece within a gilt medallion.  Israel Barukh Olmo, the recipient of this diploma, was born in Ferrara to Jacob Daniel Olmo (1690-1757), a noted Italian rabbi and poet. Jacob served as the head of the yeshivah in Ferrara and also as the rabbi of the Ashkenazi synagogue. He authored numerous works including occasional poems and hymns, legal decisions, a poetic drama entitled Eden Arukh, as well as a volume documenting the rabbis of the Ashkenazi synagogue of Ferrara.  Israel Barukh Olmo followed in his father's footsteps and, in addition to his medical studies, authored occasional poems such as the one celebrating the wedding of Asher Chefetz (Anselmo Gentili) and Abigail Luzzatto circa 1750 (JTS library MS 9027 V1:9).