JEWISH CULTURE – The Talmud and the books shaping our future took center stage in Rome

A translation in Italian of the treatise Makkot (Corporal Punishment) of the Talmud will be available in bookstores starting October 10. During the Rome event for the European Day of Jewish Culture in Rome, the audience enjoyed a preview thanks to two rabbis, Riccardo Di Segni and Gianfranco Di Segni, who, prompted by journalist Stefania Piras, reflected on themes such as justice, responsibility, and respect for human dignity. “The theme chosen for this edition of the Day, ‘The People of the Book,’ encapsulates the essence of our identity. Jews are the people who have made the book their land and the word their border,” said Victor Fadlun, president of the Jewish Community of Rome, as he opened the event in the gardens of the Great Synagogue. Among the authorities present were Federico Mollicone, president of the Culture Committee of the Chamber of Deputies; Israeli Ambassador Jonathan Peled; and Andreas Krüger, cultural attaché of the German Embassy. The exhibition “Study and Prayer: The Oldest Books of the Jewish Community of Rome,” organized in collaboration with the community’s historical archive, opened this morning at the nearby Jewish Museum.

Fadlun also emphasized how books strengthen “our identity” and make us proud “to be Jewish.” They prepare us for a future “in which war has given way to peace, the kidnapped have returned to their families, and good has once again prevailed over evil.”