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November 11th, 2014 - Cheshwan 16th, 5775
The Magic Mountain by Guido Vitale* In a brief touring production that included engagements in Italy, the amazing actors of the Slovenian National Theatre of Ljubljana and of the Slovenian Theatre of Trieste presented an exciting new adaptation of Thoman Mann's novel The Magic Mountain. In this masterpiece of twentieth-century literature, a stunning tableau of the foundational ideas of Western identity and of our identity as contemporary Jews, the role of Lodovico Settembrini - the Italian intellectual whom Mann uses to symbolize freedom of thought - is interpreted by the great actor Igor Samobor. The same actor also recently starred in the film Class Enemy, directed by twenty-nine year old Rok Biček, which following its victory at the Venice Film Festival is now playing in European cinemas. The scene where his character - a strict high school teacher of German - explains to his students the essence of Nazism is one of the most memorable moments among this season's films. *Guido Vitale is the editor-in-chief of Pagine Ebraiche.   Italian Word of the Week: FILMINI by Daniela Gross It is a really old fashioned word. Nowadays, if in Italian you say “filmini” (the singular is “filmino”), the youths probably won’t understand what in the world you mean. It is a word that reminds us of some old aunt who, more than forty years ago, used to torture entire families in order to film them during a dinner or a trip. “Filmini” is, in fact, the Italian diminutive of the English word “film/movie”, and it mainly indicates “family movies” aimed at preserving memories and  faces through the years. Neglected and often thrown away by families, those old movies represent a fundamental and irreplaceable patrimony for historians. Thanks to those images, one can capture details or habits otherwise impossible to be detected along with new unexpected details. This is the reason why, in the last decades, much research aimed at finding audiovisual materials about the Italian Jewish world have started across Italy, Israel and other countries. If you consider how dramatic the Shoah’s impact was, and how many documents, pictures, book, or journals were then destroyed, it’s easy to understand how rare those fragile visual materials are. The study of many of these filmini has brought about many important discoveries. However, the recent discovery and restoration of the “filmini” of two Roman Jewish families, which you can read about in this issue, is something really special, joyful and helpful to the reconstruction of our history. .		NEWS For the Future Rome Holocaust Museum, a Step Forward  By Rossella Tercatin The winner of the tender for the construction of the Rome Holocaust Museum was announced last week. As reported by the Italian press, the building firm SAC, headed by the Roman entrepreneur Emiliano Cerasi was selected from among 23 other companies. The firm also built the Opera House in Florence and the Maxxi, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome. For the yet-to-be-built Rome Holocaust Museum, the past few months have not been easy. Read more MEDIA The First Pages of Europa Ebraica By Francesca Matalon “We talk about Jewish Europe more and more often. Aside from the significance that Europe has for the Jews, and the geopolitical role that the region and its institutions play, there are many other reasons to talk about it.” This is how the editor-in-chief of the editorial staff of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities Guido Vitale presents the creation of the new Europa Ebraica newspaper which is published in collaboration with the European Jewish Fund. The first issue marks an attempt to gather together all news regarding Jewish Europe into a fully dedicated magazine. It is currently distributed with all the editions; printed and electronic, in the November issue of Pagine Ebraiche. Read more EVENTS The Value of Memory By Ada Treves The international conference entitled, "Memory and the Loss of Property," was held in Trieste last week as part of the activities of the "Laboratorio permanente sulla Memoria e sull’uso della Storia” (The Permanent Workshop on Memory and the Use of History). The center, supported by the provincial administration in accordance with the municipality, the Department of Humanities of the university of Trieste and the Jewish community is devoted to promoting and deepening the reflection on historical themes, with a special interest of the twentieth century. This is a long-term project which aims to reaffirm the centrality of Trieste not only as a meeting place for all minorities, but also as a place for reflection and knowledge of those who have suffered, seeking to return to the Adriatic city - the capital and meeting place of minorities in Europe - a sense for history and memory. Read more FEATURES Restored Footage Shows pre-Holocaust Italian Jewish Life By Rachel Silvera The Della Seta family had a secret box kept in their house in Rome. Every time someone tried to open it, one of the family members would cry out loudly: "Be careful, it is fragile, it is flammable!" Claudio Della Seta knew what was inside the box: a piece of his past, a piece of his roots; family footage of his grandparents Jewish wedding which took place in Rome in 1923. However the film was too old to be screened so he had never been able to see the movie. Until today.   Thanks to Maria Cristina Misiti, director of the ICRCPAL, the Central Institute of Restoration and Conservation of Archive and Library Heritage (Institute of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage - MiBAC) and Mario Musumeci from the National Film Archive, the Della Seta family movie was restored and digitalized. Read more עברית קול הספרים Sarah Kaminski, University of Turin בכל שנה בסוף אוקטובר מתנהל בטורינו "סלון הטעם", עם מאות דוכנים המציעים מיני אוכל שיחודם בהיותם טבעיים, קשורים אמיצות למסורת חקלאית עתיקה או מחודשת ומקדמים תרבות קולינארית שאינה נחלת מביני דבר בלבד. וכך בין גריסיני מפיימטונה להרינג מנורבגיה חשבתי על ספרה של קלאודיה רודן על האוכל היהודי. "הפוך בה והפוך בה וכולה בה", כל מטעמי היהדות וסיפורי הקהילות בספר אחד. אולי כדאי לערוך יריד בין לאומי לאוכל יהודי?   קלאודיה רודן, ספר הבישול היהודי – מזרח ומערב, מודן, 1998. Double Life - Jerusalem By Daniela Fubini* Jerusalem is burning, again, and there is barely anything new to report except for the fireworks. Yes, fireworks: used as a weapon instead of an expression of joy. This time around, the underemployed youth of East Jerusalem are given borderline weapons, abandoned the usual stones who can really hurt but have no visual effect. In the era of the selfies, in the age of the mandatory recording on video of anything we do, beginning with what we eat or cook, with whom we meet and how beautiful the daily sunset from our window, the street fighting against the Israeli police needs to make noise, and better if sound and light are involved too. Hence, the fireworks are just perfect. They sound like bombs, and reach a perfect effect when mixed with Molotov bombs, adding a long lasting fire on the ground. *Daniela Fubini (Twitter @d_fubini) lives and writes in Tel Aviv, where she arrived in 2008 from Turin via New York. 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, Daniela Fubini, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Anna Momigliano, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Sabina Muccigrosso, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Jazmine Pignatello, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Rachel Silvera, 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, Daniela Fubini, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Anna Momigliano, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Sabina Muccigrosso, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Jazmine Pignatello, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves.