By Gadi Luzzatto Voghera* And so, the famous “Mahzor Luzzatto” was sold on auction, for the considerable sum of 8,307,000 US dollars. First of all, it must be said that Sotheby’s auction house does things just right. Anyone wishing to understand what it is about can read the highly accurate data sheet of the volume,… leggi
With the appointment of the three members of the Rabbinical Consulta, the new Council of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities will take on a definitive structure in the coming days. Twenty Councilors of reference of the Jewish Community of Rome were chosen on the occasion of the recent elections. The formation “Per Israele”… leggi
By Marc Szechter* If you were asked to hum a tune that sounded Jewish, what would you hum? An American might choose a song like “I Have a Little Dreydl” or “Hava Nagilah”. However, it is important to understand that regardless of your choice, the entire range of Jewish musicality cannot be summarized by just… leggi
The Italian Jewish community commemorated on Friday the 78th anniversary of the deportation of more than 1,000 Jews from Rome to the extermination camp at Auschwitz. The raid took place at dawn on 16 October 1943, when Roman Jews, including 207 children, were rounded up in the Ghetto and taken across the Tiber to the… leggi
I-TAL-YA Books is the innovative project resulting from the collaboration between the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), the National Central Library of Rome (BNCR) and the National Library of Israel (NLI) to create, for the first time ever, a unified catalog of all Jewish books in Italy. Made possible thanks to the support… leggi
By Liora Finkel* We have all been feeling the effects of the COVID-19 virus for over a year now. At this point, some people have celebrated two birthdays, anniversaries, and annual holidays under pandemic conditions. Simultaneously, as of May 8th, there have been more than three million deaths from COVID-19 worldwide. On February 20, 2020,… leggi
Jewish history and culture are deeply imbued by the concept of dialogue, both as awareness of others and as self-awareness. As President Sergio Mattarella remarked in a message on the occasion of the European Day of Jewish Culture celebrated Sunday in dozens of Italian cities and towns, dialogue is “a term filled with deep meanings.… leggi
By David Bidussa* “Omnia mutantur, nihil interit”. Everything changes, but nothing is really lost, writes the poet Ovid in his The Metamorphoses (Book XV, line 165). It is a verse that expresses bewilderment when reality suddenly becomes incomprehensible but yet seems to express with words that sound familiar to us. But it is not so.… leggi
Гади Полакко* В стране, где светскость находится на дистанции от либеральной идеи, где права всех (включая неверующих) декларируются как гарантированные, постановление объединенных гражданских секций Кассационного суда кажется замечательным новшеством. Опубликованный вчера, он указывает на концепцию “разумного приспособления” как способ уравновесить присутствие распятия в школьных кабинетах с другими религиозными символами. Исходя из этого, предложенный курс действий… leggi
By Anna Foa* Amidst so much mayhem; amidst the terrible statements of those who, already – and still – Shoah negationists, consider Nazi our country’s democratic government; amidst those asking for themselves the freedom to infect others and accusing who denies it to them of being against democracy and the Constitution… Amidst all of this,… leggi
By Alberto Cavaglion* A few months ago I recorded on this portal a podcast about Marina Jarre and her “Distant fathers”. I could not imagine what would happen, without my knowledge, over the next few weeks. A series of editorial initiatives that have brought back to the fore a solitary, fascinating writer, modern because of… leggi
By Anna Segre To name a street, a square or a park after someone is not like acquitting them in court: presumption of innocence is not enough, extenuating circumstances are not enough, invoking the peculiar historical circumstances in which that person found themselves is not enough. Otherwise the majority of human beings would deserve to… leggi
