NEWS Italian Jewish Communities Pay Tribute to Pittsburgh Victims

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

Events to commemorate the victims of the attack that claimed eleven lives in Pittsburgh were held in several Italian Jewish Communities last week. Attending, beside for Jewish leaders and members of the communities, were several representatives of the local and national authorities.

The names of the victims and the kaddish for them was recited in Milan, with the chief rabbi Alfonso Arbib that highlighted how anti-Semitism has been a constant threat throughout the centuries, in spite of changing its tone.

In Florence, the ceremony included Mayor Dario Nardella, the former prime minister and current senator Matteo Renzi, several members of the regional and city councils as well as the American consulate Benjamin Wohlauer.
“We feel closer than ever to the Jewish community of Florence and to the Jews of Pittsburgh and the world. Today we are all Jewish,” said Nardella.

“We are very well aware of what an attack like this means, of what its consequences for the life of a community are,” commented the chief rabbi of Rome Riccardo Di Segni. The rav remembered what happened in the city in 1982 during an event held at the Great Synagogue of the Italian capital. “If Jews are not in peace, it means that the world cannot be in peace,” he concluded.

Attending the ceremony were also the president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani and the American ambassador Lewis Eisenberg.