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July 28th, 2014 - Av 1st, 5774
Propaganda Should Not Be Required by Guido Vitale* The editorial staff at the Union of Italian Jewish Communities has intensified its work as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, and the terrorist attacks on the Israeli civilian population. In addition to the usual online and print publications, we have now added flash updates on an hourly basis. This is a job that the crisis has rendered essential, but that we sincerely hope to be able to stop as soon as the situation allows. Israel, in fact, does not need propaganda, but only honest and fair reporting. All Jewish journalists suffer in reporting news of war and will rejoice when they will be able to report news of peace and civilization. *Guido Vitale is the editor-in-chief of Pagine Ebraiche.   Italian Word of the Week: VIAGGIO by Daniela Gross At first sight the word of the week has nothing to do with the Italian Jewry. “Viaggio” means “journey” and that’s absolutely not a specific Jewish characteristic: All the world travels, especially in the summertime. But the concept of travel is strictly connected to the Jewish way of life. I don’t want to go into historical issues, here, explaining how and until what point the migrations influenced the Jewish people through the centuries. My point here is different and has to do exclusively with the actuality of being today an Italian Jew. We are not a big community: less than 30,000 people spread throughout a country of 57 millions. Almost half live in Rome, less than 10,000 in Milan and the other in medium or big communities. In these conditions to explore and better understand your identity, to find new ideas, new hints and to connect with new friends you have there’s no choice but move: mainly if you live in a small community and you grew up, since the kindergarten, with no more than three or four peers. This is why many projects built by the Italian Jewish Communities are designed to put people in communication developing meetings and travels. The young are traditionally the main protagonists. Every year summer camps are promoted in Italy and there are travels to Europe and to Israel. In this issue we write about Taglit, the traditional trip to Israel that even in these difficult days doesn’t stop.  The article reports the voices of a group of Italian youths: Even the preceding generation would have told the same stories but now it has certainly a different and deep meaning.		FEATURES Taglit, the Experience Goes On By Rossella Tercatin “If the trip goes on like this, nobody will be willing to go back home!”. The comment made by Noemi Ascarelli and Diletta Camerini is pretty common among people who are attending Taglit-Birthright Israel, an educational trip which offers young adults (aged 18-26) from all over the world the opportunity to visit Israel and confront their Jewish identity (“`Taglit” means discovery in Hebrew). The girls’ words are even more remarkable in the fact that their Taglit is happening during one of the most difficult crisis Israel has had to face in the past few years. But Birthright trips are still going on: some people have decided not to go, but not a single group was canceled.  In the same way life in Israel goes on, perhaps not as usual, but with the willingness of not letting the terrorist attacks win. Read more newS Europe and anti-Semitism By Daniela Gross These are troubled and obscure days for the European Jewry and for all those who, in Europe but not only, still believe in the possibility of peaceful coexistence among cultures and religions. The dramatic news that day by day arrive from Israel join an awful wave of anti-Semitism that sweeps the Occidental countries with unexpected violence. The signals of a renewed anti-Semitism in that area – mainly in France and Belgium - were evident even in the last years. But the Middle East conflict sparked violent and angry reactions both in the world of Arabic extremism and in the area of extreme left. So, too often pro-Palestine public protests degenerated in anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic demonstrations, as it happened in Paris. Read more NEWS AJC: "UN Human Rights Council Absolves Hamas" “AJC is dismayed by the adoption of a UN Human Rights Council resolution that sharply criticizes Israel, while totally absolving Hamas of any role or responsibility in the current conflict” read a statement issued by the American Jewish Committee after the resolution was adopted with 29 nations voting in favor, the United States opposed, and 17 countries, primarily from Europe and Africa, abstaining. Read more FEATURES Redazione Aperta, an Open Workshop By Ada Treves Working as a journalist for the newsroom of the Union of the Jewish Communities of Italy is a challenging experience. Apart for the compelling evidence that you have to add to the moral and ethical principle of the job itself those of Judaism - and regular seminars on these subjects are part of the journalists’ life - being the lucky few dealing professionally with information in such a contest is not easy. Not easy in normal times, and frankly difficult during these sad and worrying days when the journalists working for the portal of Italian Jewry have added special initiatives to cover the situation in Israel, on top of normal, everyday work. One lucky coincidence has made all this possible: for once all the journalists working for Pagine Ebraiche, DafDaf, Italia Ebraica and moked.it were together. Every year since the Information Department of Ucei was born, two weeks – the second half of July – are devoted to a special experience, cherished by everyone: Redazione Aperta, a sort of an open workshop, a special time for working together, discussing problems and finding solutions”. Read more DEUTSCH „Ich bin alarmiert“ von Anton Rainer* Elisabetta Rossi Innerhofer , Präsidentin der jüdischen Gemeinde Meran über antisemitische Proteste, den Konflikt im Gazastreifen und den Friedenswunsch der israelischen Bevölkerung   Tageszeitung: Frau Rossi, seit in ganz Europa Proteste gegen den israelischen Staat ausgebrochen sind, mehren sich die Klagen über antisemitische Aktionen. In Paris stand ein jüdischer Lebensmittelladen in Brand, in Berlin wurden rassistische Rufe wie „Jude, Jude, feiges Schwein“ skandiert. Sind Sie besorgt? Elisabetta Rossi: Ich bin mehr als nur besorgt, ich bin alarmiert, auch weil es keine neue Entwicklung darstellt. Vor Jahren war ich selbst davon überzeugt, dass der ganze Antizionismus, die Rufe gegen Juden etc. nur die Kritik an der Politik Israels widerspiegeln. Jetzt nicht mehr. Die antisemitischen Bewegungen und Aktion, die sich in Italien glücklicherweise noch in Grenzen halten, haben auf europäischer Ebene zerstörerische Ausmaße angenommen. (Die Neue Suedtiroler Tageszeitung, 22. Juli 2014) Weiter lesen The Land of Israel and Us By Eliezer Di Martino* Recently we have seen a renewal of Aliyah to Eretz Israel from several parts of the world. The desire to do Aliyah is a result of various reasons and contexts, but whatever reason brings a Jewish family or person to emigrate to Israel it is absolutely astonishing that  they do so, even while Israel is going through a period of harsh struggle. The desire to do Aliyah keeps on. In the parashah that we read last Sabbath in our synagogues, we read:  "And you will take possession of the land, and dwell in it, because I have given this land to you to ensure that you possess it" (BeMidbar 33, 53) This brings us to one of the great tensions in Judaism and in Jewish history: the religious sense of the land of Israel.   *Eliezer Di Martino is the Chief Rabbi of Trieste Read more
Follow us on    This newsletter is published under difficult conditions. The editors of this newsletter are Italian journalists whose native language is Italian. They are willing to offer their energy and their skills to give international readers the opportunity of learning more about the Italian Jewish world, its values, its culture and its traditions. In spite of all our efforts to avoid this, readers may find an occasional language mistake. We count on your understanding and on your help and advice to correct these mistakes and improve our publication. Pagine Ebraiche International Edition is published by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI). UCEI publications encourage an understanding of the Jewish world and the debate within it. The articles and opinions published by Pagine Ebraiche International Edition, unless expressly stated otherwise, cannot be interpreted as the official position of UCEI, but only as the self-expression of the people who sign them, offering their comments to UCEI publications. Readers who are interested in making their own contribution should email us at desk@ucei.it  You received this newsletter because you authorized UCEI to contact you. If you would like to remove your email address from our list, or if you would like to subscribe using a new email address, please send a blank email to  desk@ucei.it stating "unsubscribe" or "subscribe" in the subject field. © UCEI - All rights reserved - The articles may only be reproduced after obtaining the written permission of the editor-in-chief. Pagine Ebraiche - Reg Rome Court 199/2009 – Editor in Chief: Guido Vitale - Managing Editor: Daniela Gross. Special thanks to: Francesco Moises Bassano, Susanna Barki, Monica Bizzio, Angelica Edna Calò Livne, Eliezer Di Martino, Alain Elkann, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves. Questo notiziario è realizzato in condizioni di particolare difficoltà. I redattori di questo notiziario sono giornalisti italiani di madrelingua italiana. Mettono a disposizione le loro energie e le loro competenze per raccontare in lingua inglese l'ebraismo italiano, i suoi valori, la sua cultura e i suoi valori. Nonostante il nostro impegno il lettore potrebbe trovare errori e imperfezioni nell'utilizzo del linguaggio che faremo del nostro meglio per evitare. Contiamo sulla vostra comprensione e soprattutto sul vostro aiuto e sul vostro consiglio per correggere gli errori e migliorare. Pagine Ebraiche International Edition è una pubblicazione edita dall'Unione delle Comunità Ebraiche Italiane. L'UCEI sviluppa mezzi di comunicazione che incoraggiano la conoscenza e il confronto delle realtà ebraiche. Gli articoli e i commenti pubblicati, a meno che non sia espressamente indicato il contrario, non possono essere intesi come una presa di posizione ufficiale, ma solo come la autonoma espressione delle persone che li firmano e che si sono rese gratuitamente disponibili. Gli utenti che fossero interessati a offrire un proprio contributo possono rivolgersi all'indirizzo  desk@ucei.it Avete ricevuto questo messaggio perché avete trasmesso a Ucei l'autorizzazione a comunicare con voi. Se non desiderate ricevere ulteriori comunicazioni o se volete comunicare un nuovo indirizzo email, scrivete a: desk@ucei.it indicando nell'oggetto del messaggio "cancella" o "modifica". © UCEI - Tutti i diritti riservati - I testi possono essere riprodotti solo dopo aver ottenuto l'autorizzazione scritta della Direzione. Pagine Ebraiche International Edition - notiziario dell'ebraismo italiano - Reg. Tribunale di Roma 199/2009 - direttore responsabile: Guido Vitale - Coordinamento: Daniela Gross. Realizzato con il contributo di: Francesco Moises Bassano, Susanna Barki, Monica Bizzio, Angelica Edna Calò Livne, Eliezer Di Martino, Alain Elkann, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves.