Free and responsible

By David Bidussa*

Ceasing of being slaves does not mean to be free. We become free when we learn how to be responsible.

*Social historian of ideas…

A colorful Haggadah answers your questions

Chag hamatzot (feast of unleavened bread), zeman cherutenu (feast of freedom), chag aviv (feast of spring). These are the names by which Pesach is known, but what is the difference between these meanings? An answer can be found in the …

On display in Brera, the Fantasies
by Mario Mafai are a scream against
the horrors of Nazi-Fascist crimes

From mid-February the paintings “Le Fantasie” by Mario Mafai, twenty-two paintings donated to the museum in 2018 by engineer Aldo Bassetti, president of the Amici di Brera from 2007 to 2020, are on display in Brera. The Fantasies – tablets …

Exhibition – Marc Chagall
“My Russia will love me too”

Until March 14th the whimsical world of the artist Marc Chagall is in display in Italy’s Palazzo Roverella in Rovigo. Titled “My Russia will love me too”, the exhibition focuses on the origins of his unique style and the relationship …

Exhibition – Marc Chagall
Jewish identity and universal messages

By Rav Scialom Bahbout

Marc Chagall’s artworks were multifarious. Many traces from various sources of inspiration can be found in his paintings. It is worth remembering that Chagall was born in Eastern Europe, where different cultural and spiritual tendencies coexisted …

“Thinking Europe in Yiddish”

The Fondazione Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea-CDEC of Milan recently published the 17th issue of “Quest. Issues in Jewish Contemporary History”, its online journal. It is a monographic issue dedicated to the idea of Europe as seen by that vast …

From July the Israeli historian Avinoam Shalem
to be director of the American Academy in Rome

Starting from July, the Israeli historian and educator Avinoam Shalev is the 24th Director of the prestigious American Academy in Rome. He is currently the Riggio Professor for the Arts of Islam in the Department of Art History and Archaeology …

Jews in Catania, before the Spanish expulsion

For Jews of Catania, Sicily, the day of June 18th 1492 marked an ultimatum. The Alhambra Decree, the Spanish edict that forced thousands to leave and others to convert to Roman Catholicism, became executive. From then on, their millenary presence, …

Jewish stories from the island of Rhodes
among the winners of the Fiuggi Storia Prize

The names of the authors who won the eleventh edition of the Fiuggi Storia prize, created by the historian Piero Melograni and promoted by the Giuseppe Levi-Pelloni Foundation, have recently been announced. Among the winners is Marco Di Porto with …

The story of Ida awarded
Adei Wizo Italy Prize

Katharina Adler’s Ida, a historical novel set in Vienna in the first half of twentieth century, has won the XX edition of the Wizo Italy Prize, in the name of Adelina Della Pergola. The book, recently translated into Italian and …