By Rachel Silvera Who ever imagined the liberation of the Nazi death camps as a joyous moment of celebration should think again. Above the entry to the camp and beyond the offensive notorious sign that reads, “Work sets you free”, the vision is devastating: how can one rejoice when you weigh a little more than …
By Rachel Silvera There was the envelope with 44 letters and 19 postcards from the frontline. There was the bag that Grandma Graziella Anticoli jealously preserved as a symbol of her childhood with her parents and thirteen brothers in Rome, a childhood made up of small joys and effort. These items are the core of …
By Adam Smulevich The Jewish Community of Naples celebrates 150 years of existence there through an exhaustive exhibition on its history which is being hosted by the National Library and the State Archives. The Community was founded in 1864 thanks to the generosity of the Rothschild family who set up a Jewish center in the …
By Ada Treves Considering the Memory of the Shoah definitely acquired, after all the hard work aimed at making it a permanent heritage of civilization and awareness for all Italians, could be a serious danger. It is still necessary to intensify the work of information and cultural programmes and to invest in education. There must …
By Rachel Silvera “We want to grow a generation of unselfish entrepreneurs.” This is the mission of CER Internet Entrepreneurs Prize, the annual event celebrated last week inside the magnificent Ara Pacis in Rome. The Conference of European Rabbis (CER), the primary rabbinical alliance in Europe, was founded in 1956 on the initiative of British …
By Rachel Silvera The Della Seta family had a secret box kept in their house in Rome. Every time someone tried to open it, one of the family members would cry out loudly: “Be careful, it is fragile, it is flammable!” Claudio Della Seta knew what was inside the box: a piece of his past, …
By Simone Somekh* In the past few weeks, several newspapers around the world reported an inquiry originally published in the Israeli business magazine “The Marker” (a supplement of “Haaretz”). The inquiry claimed that many Israelis are emigrating, and that one of the favorite destinations is Germany’s capital Berlin. The reasons of this supposedly massive emigration …
By Francesca Matalon Nine books, one interactive DVD and more than three hundred berachot; this is the monumental work of Moise Levy, a doctor and maskil from Milan who just published a boxed set of books entitled “Halachà illustrata: guida illustrata alle norme ebraiche” (Illustrated Halachà: Illustrated Guide to Jewish Law). The eight books are …
By Rossella Tercatin Two years ago most of the village of Finale Emilia was destroyed by a devastating earthquake which hit Northern Italy in summer 2012. In an effort to offer its support to those suffering for the earthquake, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities allocated funds to help with the rebuilding of Finale’s school, …
By Simone Somekh* For the second consecutive year, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities announced that students interested in applying to Israeli universities will be able to take the standardized admission tests in Italian. The Psychometric Entrance Test – an equivalent of the American SATs – is a tool for predicting academic performance and is …
By Ada Treves Pordenonelegge is one of the most important Italian literature festivals and it is held in September in Pordenone, a small town situated less than sixty kilometres from Venice, in the region called Friuli Venezia Giulia. Pordenone, with its characteristic medieval centre, boasts the presence of an extraordinary audience keen on culture and …
By Adam Smulevich A match not like any other. For Rabbi Vittorio Della Rocca, known in the Jewish Community as “il Morè” (the teacher), Roma-Fiorentina, the opening match of the Series A soccer season 2014-2015, was much more than a challenge between two teams disputing the top place in the Italian soccer league. Back in …
By Rossella Tercatin The Universal Exposition will open in Milan in less than 9 months. Running from May 1, 2015, the event promises to make the city the capital of the world for six months. Not only Milan, but the whole country is getting ready for it, in spite of the repeated problems – namely …
By Daniela Gross Seventy years ago, on August 12th 1944, in Sant’Anna di Stazzema (an Italian village located in the northern part of Tuscany), 560 civilians, mostly women, children and elders, were killed by the Nazis. In an operation intended to break all ties between the population and the Italian Resistance movement, the soldiers surrounded …
By Rossella Tercatin Summer 2014 has marked the centennial of the outbreak of the First World War. This anniversary has been celebrated all over the world with multiple events, but also with cultural initiatives and reflections on the role of the conflict in shaping the history of the twentieth century. Italy entered the war shortly …
By Daniela Gross It happened about fifty years ago, but in light of what’s now happening in the Middle East it sounds dramatically actual. In June 1967 Libya expelled its Jews, when the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab neighbors broke out. The conflict triggered once again a series of dramatic anti-Jewish riots. In …
By Ada Treves Working as a journalist for the newsroom of the Union of the Jewish Communities of Italy is a challenging experience. Apart for the compelling evidence that you have to add to the moral and ethical principle of the job itself those of Judaism – and regular seminars on these subjects are part …
By Ada Treves Working as a journalist for the newsroom of the Union of the Jewish Communities of Italy is a challenging experience. Apart for the compelling evidence that you have to add to the moral and ethical principle of the job itself those of Judaism – and regular seminars on these subjects are part …
By Simone Somekh Italians know best: there are several types of tourists. There are “mainstream” tourists, who visit the most popular sites and think about the Facebook album they will upload once back home even before taking the pictures. There are “feel-at-home” tourists, who want to experience each place they visit eating in local places, …
By Simone Somekh The first impression that one gets after admiring one of Eva Fischer’s paintings is that she sees the world through a filter that makes everything seem more vivid. She might be looking at the same landscape that is laying in front of our eyes, but she sees it from a significantly different …