By decree of the President of the Council of Ministers the new Italian Committee for Bioethics (Comitato Nazionale per la Bioetica – CNB’) was established last week. The committee, which address ethical dimensions and emerging problems of health sciences, life sciences, and health care, will be presided by Angelo Luigi Vescovi, a biologist, pharmacologist, and …
Mettre en œuvre le Dialogue interreligieux, faire en sorte que juifs et chrétiens soient des partenaires de plus en plus cohésifs dans la construction “d’un avenir meilleur”. C’est le défi de Kishreinu, terme hébreu traduisible par “Nos liens”. Un nouvel engagement promu par le World Jewish Congress y présenté récemment au Vatican dans la Salle …
“After the horrors and the distress of the Second World War, the Nations were able to stitch the deep wounds caused by the war and, through multilateral talks, to create the United Nations, the result of an ambition that, today more than ever, is a necessity: peace. People must continue remembering that war, the parent …
“Memory is the ability to acknowledge things, to treasure them, to educate, and to go beyond. But to do that, it is necessary to plant strong pickets. And that of today, seems to me the strongest”. So Italian Minister of Education Patrizio Bianchi last week at the opening of an extraordinary day of testimony: the …
“Every step that brings peace between people is blessed and desirable”. So rabbi Menachem Mendel Chitrik, Istanbul Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi and leader of the Islamic countries rabbinical alliance. “It is clear that if relations between Israel and Turkey improve, it will have a positive impact also on Jewish life in the country”, he pointed out …
In the heart of Milan, a place of Remembrance, to carry out historical research, teach, where to debate and reflect on our society. Last week, when new spaces were inaugurated and the new headquarters of the Centre of Contemporary Jewish Documentation (in Italian, CDEC) opened to the public, the Milan Shoah Memorial became such a …
“Knowledge is crucial to fight against prejudices that through antisemitic and hatred actions have influenced, and unfortunately, still influence today’s history. This is why we want to improve a mutual understanding in our nation”. So Secretary general of the Italian Episcopal Conference Stefano Russo, about a significant initiative organized by the representatives of the Catholic …
A new tool, rich in ideas and substance, to help teachers “to face the old and new prejudices that weaken coexistence at school and in society”. This is the purpose of the Guidelines on the fight against antisemitism in schools presented last week with the presence and participation of the Italian Minister of Public Education …
“Neutrality and inactivity in the face of evil are by itself evil”. So Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis, called to action against the false religious prophets who revive “barbaric and inhuman practices from over a thousand years ago” in his address to leaders of the world’s religions and government leaders …
On Sunday 10 October, Padua will be the leading Italian city of the 22nd European Day of Jewish Culture, which this year is dedicated to the theme of “Dialogues”, a theme that lends itself to a range of possible declensions. “Sometimes we are tempted to imagine Jewish history as a succession of centuries in which …
Three were the synagogues once in operation in Padua. In addition to the German one, once damaged by the Fascists and seat of the Jewish Padua Museum today, also the Sephardi one, converted into a private home, and the Italian one, still in use today, animated the praying and worshiping life. The latter, as documented …
Davide Romanin Jacur – council member to the financial statements of the UCEI with a career as councillor spanning forty years and one as president spanning fourteen – has many stories to tell. His first thoughts go to Rav Achille Viterbo, Rabbi of Padua from 1955 to 1999. One of the most representative figures of …
“The greatest heritage of the Jewish Community of Padua does not consist of its objects, albeit beautiful and highly valuable. It consists of the people who lived there”. This is the idea behind the Museum of Jewish Padua, inaugurated in June 2015, as emerges from the reflections of the then president Davide Romanin Jacur. A …
“I am very honored but also deeply impressed. It is an opportunity to meditate on my long and painful path of reconciliation with Germany”. So Senator for life and Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre welcomed the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on behalf of the German government, which she was presented last …
Fifty-five years ago, this week Pope Paul VI promulgated Nostra Aetate, the declaration that marked a historical change in Christian-Jewish relations. Among others, it exonerated the Jewish people of the collective blame of Jesus’ death – one of the main sources of religious anti-Semitism throughout history. An exchange of messages between Rabbi Noam E. Marans, …
By Pagine Ebraiche staff* “We’re living in a moment of great conflict, including in the Middle East. All of this is creating an atmosphere in which many discriminations will probably continue to thrive. We need a lot of work at the grass-roots level to change hearts,” said Paul Gallagher, Vatican’s Secretary of Relations between States …
Pagine Ebraiche staff Era un amigo del pueblo judío, una persona con la mente abierta y con la que era posible mantener un diálogo franco, tenía una profunda sensibilidad religiosa. Algunas voces del judaísmo italiano han querido recordar así en nuestras noticias al exarzobispo de Milán Dionigi Tettamanzi, que falleció a los 83 años. Tettamanzi …
By Noemi Di Segni* This year’s European Day of Jewish Culture will involve as many as eighty-one localities from the north to the south of Italy, featuring hundreds of cultural initiatives. This increasingly-successful event, established eighteen years ago, is promoted by the Union of Italy’s Jewish Communities, in the attempt to respond to ever-widespread requests …
By Pagine Ebraiche staff A delegation of representatives of the Union of Italian Jewish Students (UGEI), the Islamic Confederation of Italy and the Community of Sant’Egidio met with the Italian Minister of Interior Marco Minniti at the Viminale, the headquarters of the Ministry last week. “The future should not be taken hostage by the …
By Daniel Reichel Fighting intolerance and religious radicalism in prison: this is the main goal of the project “Understanding and Managing Religious Pluralism in Lombardy Prisons.” The Milan Jewish Community has been involved in this project since last year. The initiative sees different religious realities (Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, together with the Jewish Community …