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September 21, 2015 - Tishri 8, 5776
Concordia/Discordia By Guido Vitale* Rosh Hashana 5776. “Concordia parvae res crescunt. Discordia maximae dilabuntur”. (Sallustio, Bellum Iugurthinum) *Guido Vitale is the editor-in-chief of Pagine Ebraiche.   SUMMER BOOKS Con le peggiori intenzioni By Daniela Gross This book was the successful literary debut of Alessandro Piperno, who won the Campiello Prize with it in 2005 and came to the national spotlight. “Con le peggiori intenzioni” - which means “with the worst intentions” – is the story of the Sonninos, a rich bourgeois Roman Jewish family. The life of three generations, from the post-war years to the Eighties, is depicted with all their successes, loves, and scandals. Praised and discussed, this book has the great merit of describing a contemporary Italian Jewish scenario.   Con le peggiori intenzioni By Alessandro Piperno Mondadori 157 pp.		EVENTS Between Bridges and Dialogue, a Celebration for Jewish Culture By Rossella Tercatin Thousands of people all over Italy took part in the European Day of Jewish Culture on September 6. From Florence, selected as the leading city for 2015, to Rome, Milan, Venice, Turin and dozens of other locations, Italian citizens joined the events organized by Jewish communities and institutions. The theme chosen for this year edition, “Bridges”, represented also a gateway to discuss one of the main current challenges of European societies: the refugee crisis. Renzo Gattegna, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, which organizes the day at the national level, announced the decision to dedicate the celebrations of the European Day of Jewish Culture in Italy to the refugees.   Read more NEWS Exhibition about Wojtyla and the Jews Moves from Rome to Krakow  By Francesca Matalon The exhibit “A Blessing to One Another – Pope John Paul II & the Jewish People” ended last week in the Vatican City and is ready to travel to Krakow, where it will find its permanent house at the John Paul II Center. The announcement of the donation came at the closing ceremony of the exhibition that portrays John Paul II’s footsteps from his childhood to his role as head of the world’s largest church. It also explores the Pope's contributions to relations between the Catholic and Jewish faiths. Read more CULTURE - Feeding the Soul: Reflections on Food and Tradition By Daniel Reichel The rules about food that were formed in the legal and theological tradition of Judaism, Islam and Christianity have become incomprehensible to many people. Why don't some people eat some kind of meat? Why do they have to fast during the day and eat only after sunset? The inability to understand the theological significance of these rules prevents understanding their ethical value. These considerations were the central issue of the conference "Feeding the Soul. Food, Law and Religion," organized in Milan by the Department of Juridical Science and the Center of Judaica Goren Goldstein and connected to the main theme of Expo 2015, "Feeding the planet. Energy for Life." Read more EVENTS Religions and Education By Rachel Silvera What added values can religions bring to education? How to reconcile the tradition of Jewish studies with new educational models? How to define the right behavior for a teacher and for a student? These questions were the focus of the two-day seminar (September 9-10) "Judaism and European culture. Religions as education systems” devoted to "Judaism and the Great Educators of the '900” and hosted in Rome by The Pitigliani Jewish Center with the supervision of University La Sapienza, the Jewish Community of Rome and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities. Read more Português Sucot, o festival da insegurança por Eliezer Di Martino* O que exatamente é uma sucá? O que é suposto representar? A questão é essencial para a próprio mitzvah. A Torá diz: "Vivam em Sucot por sete dias: Todos os israelitas nativos deverão viver em Sucot para que seus descendentes saibam que eu fiz viver os israelitas em Sucot, quando os tirei do Egito: Eu sou o Senhor vosso Deus "(Lev. 23: 42-43). Em outras palavras, saber,  refletir, compreender, é parte integrante da mitzvah. Por essa razão, diz Rabá no Talmude (Sucá 2a), uma Sucá que seja mais alta do que vinte Amot (cerca de nove metros de altura) é inválida porque quando o sechach, o "telhado", está muito acima da cabeça, não temos a consciência disso”. Então, o que é a sucá?   *O rabino Eliezer di Martino é o rabino-chefe de Trieste. Leia mais Silence, the "I" and the Other By Yaacov Mascetti* I have to confess that there are many moments, in my life here in Israel as a parent, a university lecturer, a citizen, and a member of a congregation, in which I feel both part of the collective, while a painfully acute little voice keeps reminding me how disconnected I also feel from those contexts, from those circles I live in. This week it happened in a meeting at my son's school, a well-known boys high-school here in Jerusalem, during which parents were presented with the pedagogical priorities by the new teacher. Among the main points, both the teacher and some of the parents expressed their concern for the high percentage of the school's alumni and students who are either weekly connected to religious orthopraxis, or completely disconnected from it. "What can we do?" asked, worried, one of the mothers, "These boys finish school and often give up all or part of their religious praxis!" And while the teacher and others expressed their concern, I sat there thinking what exactly they were so worried about. *Yaakov Mascetti holds a Ph.D. and teaches at the Department of Comparative Literature, Bar Ilan University. Read more
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