Bianca Nunes Vais Collection
Item
Nota de estado
Finalizado
Country
IL
Name of institution (English)
Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
heb
Contact information: postal address
Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91010
Contact information: phone number
00972 02-6586249
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
cahjp@nli.org.il
Reference number
P66
Type of reference number
Call number
Title (English)
Biana Nunes Vais Collection
Title (official language of the state)
Bianca Nunes Vais Collection
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Bianca Nunes Vais
Date note
1600/2000
Language(s)
ita
Extent
6 files
Type of material
Photographic Images
Textual Material
Scope and content
This collection comprises materials gathered by Bianca Nunes Vais. It contains photographs, miscellaneous documents, documentation concerning the Jewish University of Lippiano, draft statutes of the Jewish Community of Alexandria in Egypt, and a letter from Rabbi Elyashar of Jerusalem. It also includes a few essays by Bianca Nunes Vais with typewritten copies of documents entitled: "I Levi di Venezia" (The Levis of Venice), "Gli ebrei di Tripoli" (The Jews of Tripoli), and "Storia degli Arbib" (History of the Arbibs).
Administrative / Biographical history
Bianca Nunes Vais (1883-1970) was the daughter of Salvatore and Clotilde di Cesare Levi. Her paternal family was of Tripoline descent. Around the mid-19th century, Vita di David Arbib, Bianca's grandfather, who was married to Diamante Forgion, had moved to Venice, where he ran the firm "A. Bonlini & V. Arbib", a glass beads factory. Bianca's grandfather kept close family and economic ties with his homeland, and Bianca's father, Salvatore, an antiquarian, continued to conduct his stores similarly. In 1910, Bianca married Ercole Nunes Vais (1883-1967), the son of Adolfo and Rebecca Nahum and a member of one of the most prominent families in the Tripoli community.
Until 1925, Bianca lived in Tripoli, where, together with Fortuny Arbib, her father's cousin, she was among the founding members of a committee initially called the Israelite youth patronage "Work and Virtue" and later "Jewish Women's Society" with charitable and welfare purposes. Returning to Venice with her husband, she was among the first members of the Venetian section of the Association of Jewish Women of Italy (Venetian section ADEI, 1928), established by Amelia Fano. She became the bearer of the pleas of the underprivileged Jews of Tripoli, becoming the contact for resources collected in their support. She was also entrusted with organising the "nidiata di rondini" (brood of swallows) or the association's activities aimed at children.
Bianca participated assiduously in the cultural life of the General Fraterna, later the Israelite Community, which had its epicentre in the Jewish Studies Convention, led by Rabbi Adolfo Ottolenghi and Vittorio Fano. She also participated in the Venetian section of ADEI, fostering meetings, lectures and readings on doctrinal, historical and literary subjects.
After the interruption of the two-year period 1943-1945, Bianca, having escaped with her husband the deportations in which she lost her grandsons Adolfo Nunes Vais and Salvatore Vivante, resumed her studies of a historical and doctrinal nature. In the 1960s, she published in the "Rassegna Mensile di Israel" (Israel Monthly Review) two essays on the history of Jews in Venice during the Risorgimento.
Until 1925, Bianca lived in Tripoli, where, together with Fortuny Arbib, her father's cousin, she was among the founding members of a committee initially called the Israelite youth patronage "Work and Virtue" and later "Jewish Women's Society" with charitable and welfare purposes. Returning to Venice with her husband, she was among the first members of the Venetian section of the Association of Jewish Women of Italy (Venetian section ADEI, 1928), established by Amelia Fano. She became the bearer of the pleas of the underprivileged Jews of Tripoli, becoming the contact for resources collected in their support. She was also entrusted with organising the "nidiata di rondini" (brood of swallows) or the association's activities aimed at children.
Bianca participated assiduously in the cultural life of the General Fraterna, later the Israelite Community, which had its epicentre in the Jewish Studies Convention, led by Rabbi Adolfo Ottolenghi and Vittorio Fano. She also participated in the Venetian section of ADEI, fostering meetings, lectures and readings on doctrinal, historical and literary subjects.
After the interruption of the two-year period 1943-1945, Bianca, having escaped with her husband the deportations in which she lost her grandsons Adolfo Nunes Vais and Salvatore Vivante, resumed her studies of a historical and doctrinal nature. In the 1960s, she published in the "Rassegna Mensile di Israel" (Israel Monthly Review) two essays on the history of Jews in Venice during the Risorgimento.
Access points: locations
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Access, restrictions
The collection can be accessed in the reading room and in rooms with microfilm readers.
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Joana Rodrigues, 2023