Sorgente di vita, 50 years on air exploring Jewish life and culture

Half a century ago, on January 4th, 1973, the first episode of the television program dedicated to Jewish life and culture was aired by the RAI, the Italian national public broadcasting company. Realized in collaboration with the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities, Sorgente di vita (The source of life), as the series is titled from the Book of Psalms, was back then, along with a series dedicated to Protestantism, the first space of religious pluralism within Italian television, which until then was entirely focused on Catholicism.
Sorgente di vita has now broadcasted 1300 episodes and over four thousand reporting exploring Jewish history, religious traditions, philosophy, and culture with interviews, reportages from Israel and the world, and coverage from the Italian Jewish communities. Its itineraries lead the viewers to discover the magnificence of the Italian Jewish heritage, while its insights on the Holocaust and the antisemitic persecutions contributed to raising awareness of the past and its complicated legacy.
For the Italian Jewish community, it has been a way to make itself known beyond stereotypes and prejudices. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sorgente di vita, a special event has been organized in Rome by UCEI with the participation of the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano. Among the participants, UCEI President Noemi Di Segni; RAI Ceo Carlo Fuortes; Emanuele Ascarelli, who for a long time authored the series; the director of RAI Culture & Educational Silvia Calandrelli; the current author of Sorgente di vita, Marco Di Porto; the television critic Aldo Grasso; the writer Lia Levi, and the television author Daniel Toaff, who directed the program.
On the 50th anniversary, a special edition of Sorgente di Vita was aired. Here the link.

From top, a beautiful image in black and white from the first airing of Sorgente di vita and the images of the opening sequence by the re-known artist and scenographer Emanuele Luzzatti.