Padua is a city with a long distinguished Jewish history although there are no records indicating an early Jewish there. The surname Judaeus appears in twelfth century documents, but it is not certain that it refers to Jews. By 1255, however, Jewish settlement is known with greater certitude, for in that year Jacob Bonacosa, a Jewish physician, translated a medical text, Averroes Colliget, from Arabic into Latin. A hundred years later we hear of Jewish loan banks, as well as merchants, jewelers, and second-hand dealers, attracted by the tolerant Carrara court and the university. Under Venetian rule the condition of Jewish life began to deteriorate. The community’s experience was not dissimilar from many other Jewish communities in Italy and need not be addressed here, except to note that a ghetto was established in the first half of the sixteenth century, although residence in it was not strictly enforced, and that the Talmud was burned in Padua in 1554. Padua also had the distinction of being home to a yeshivah led by the eminent R. Judah Minz (c.1408-56).

The Padua congregation, owing to its size, intelligence, and readiness to make sacrifices, has repeatedly made its influence felt in public affairs, and has been a careful guardian of the interests of the Jews. It participated in the Congress at Forli in 1418; it also fought to protect Hebrew books from the Inquisition. The first synod held for this purpose, at Ferrara in 1554, was presided over by R. Meïr Katzenellenbogen, then rabbi of Padua. A congress was held in 1585 in Padua itself, at which were discussed the measures to be taken to obtain permission for the printing of Hebrew books. Prominent men repeatedly drew the attention of Jewry and of the civilized world to the congregation of Padua. R. Elijah Delmedigo, celebrated for his philosophical and medical knowledge, lectured in 1485 at the University of Padua. At the same time the school of R. Judah Minz attracted numerous pupils from Italy, Germany, and Turkey; and the fame of the school was maintained by his son Abraham, as well as by R. Meïr Katzenellenbogen, who was Abraham's son-in-law. Later rabbis, like R. Samuel Archevolti and Isaac Hayyim Cantarini, were noted for their Talmudic learning combined with scientific scholarship. From 1829 to 1870 Padua was the seat of the Istituto Rabbinico Lombardo-Veneto, the reputation of which spread over the entire world, especially through the brilliant achievements of S. D. Luzzatto. A Hebrew printing establishment existed temporarily in Padua during the eighteenth century.