Religious precepts and cholera: the case of the Jewish community of Ferrara during the epidemic of 1855

The authors present some historical research into the Jewish community of Ferrara, indicating the causality relationship between hygienic and alimentary norms and the cholera epidemic of 1855. The results for the Jewish community, which lived closed within four gates in a limited area of the city of Ferrara (the ghetto), were compared in particular with those for the Christian population of Ferrara. Although the small number of cases (n. 14) did not enable any statistically acceptable conclusions to be drawn from a methodological viewpoint, it appears clear in any case that the Jews, although living in worse conditions than the Christians, were less susceptible to infection. It may have been the living habits dictated by their religion that protected them from cholera. Their living conditions, on the contrary, probably favoured the lethal results of infection. Other similar experiences confirm that ritual precepts associated with complex diet restrictions have a positive influence on t...