By Daniela Gross Urtisti, the word of the week, is quite uncommon, and quite hard to understand if you are not Roman. It comes from the verb “urtare”, which probably derives from the Provencal, and it means to bump into someone or something. Since the end of the 19th century, the term “urtista” has been …
By Daniela Gross Unluckily, the Italian word of the day is “attentato”. The Treccani Encyclopedia, one of the most authoritative linguistic Italian sources, explains that the word derives from the Latin verb “attemptare”, that means “to attempt”. At this point, one would imagine that “attentato” indicates any attempt, either positive or negative. However, in Italian, …
By Daniela Gross It is a really old fashioned word. Nowadays, if in Italian you say “filmini” (the singular is “filmino”), the youths probably won’t understand what in the world you mean. It is a word that reminds us of some old aunt who, more than forty years ago, used to torture entire families in …
By Daniela Gross It happened a little over one century ago. La “Marcia su Roma”, the “March onto Rome” took place in 1922, from 22 to 29 October. The march itself comprised fewer than 30,000 men, but its symbolic and political consequences were devastating. It marked, in fact, the coming to power of the dictator …
By Daniela Gross In Italian the word for wedding is “matrimonio”, from the Latin “matrimonium”. In the Jewish world, to get married is always a complicated and delicate issue, but the complications of a Jewish wedding in Italy are even worse. Since the Italian Jewish world is not so big, a Jewish wedding is quite …
By Daniela Gross In Italy, as in any Jewish Community, the “cimitero” is among the most important services provided. The sound of it is very similar to the word “cemetery” because both the Italian and the English term derive from the Greek root koimetérion, i.e. “resting place”. But we don’t like talking about it, maybe …
By Daniela Gross “How many people are reunited here tonight … It’s so beautiful, so surprising”. To speak so was a gentleman with a fascinating white and huge hat, in a little synagogue in the South of the United States in the evening of Yom Kippur. It was a sort of déjà vu, because it …
By Daniela Gross Maybe nothing like Yom Kippur is able to stir and dissolve the infinite differences of the Jewish world. Beyond different ritual habits and melodies, in that day the Jewish people experience at each latitude a deep feeling of unity along with the hardness of the “digiuno”, as in Italian we call the …
By Daniela Gross The whole expression sounds as “Che sia un anno dolce come il miele” (“May this year be as sweet as the honey”) and translates the traditional Hebrew wish for Rosh Hashanah. It is quite common to hear it in these days in the Italian Jewish Communities even if it is maybe an …
By Daniela Gross The word of the day is “cultura” not for its linguistic implications, so intuitive (its translation is “culture”), but because today the “cultura” has been the leitmotiv both for the Italian and the European Jewry. Today, during the “European Day of Jewish Culture” (in Italian “Giornata europea della cultura ebraica”), the most …
By Daniela Gross This is a very easy word. “Museo” (to be pronounced Moo-zay-o) is the Italian version of “Museum” – a world, by the way, derived from the Latin and the ancient Greek that means “location sacred to the Muses”. Italy is a country renown and beloved for its Museums, and the Jewish Museums …
By Daniela Gross Maybe after World Cup fever, even if you don’t like sports, you have learned the word “calcio”. In Italy “Calcio” (to be pronounced with a sweet second “c”) is more than a national passion. Everybody knows this because it is one of the strongest stereotypes that exists about Italians; but it is …
By Daniela Gross As you can see, the Italian word for “rabbi” is not so different from the English and it is quite obvious, as both come from the common Hebrew root “rav”. To tell the truth we use the Italian “rabbino” as frequently as the Hebrew “rav”. It is one of the first Hebrew …
By Daniela Gross In some way the word of the week is strange. The Italian word “giornata” can only be translated as “day”. But “giornata” has a nuance and perhaps this is the reason that most non Italian speakers find it difficult when they learn the language. When you talk about a “giornata”, as we …
By Daniela Gross All of us know the term “Aliyah”: it means “ascent”, the act of going up that indicates the migration from the Diaspora to Israel. It is a Hebrew word that in the recent weeks has acquired a particular nuance of meaning. This is a troubled time for the Jews in Europe: war …
By Daniela Gross At first sight the word of the week has nothing to do with the Italian Jewry. “Viaggio” means “journey” and that’s absolutely not a specific Jewish characteristic: All the world travels, especially in the summertime. But the concept of travel is strictly connected to the Jewish way of life. I don’t want …
By Daniela Gross This is a word we learn since our childhood. The best pupils know also the etymology – from the Greek verb “diaspeiro”, that means to scatter or to spread – even before to be aware what does it mean to have an etymology. But, to say the truth, nobody needs much explanation: …
By Daniela Gross Sometimes geography reserves surprises. And if you look at the geography of the Italian Jews you can’t help but being surprised. There are in Italy 21 Jewish Communities. Seventy per cent of Italian Jewry is in fact concentrated in Rome and Milan and there are Communities in Ancona, Bologna, Casale Monferrato, Ferrara, …
By Daniela Gross I grew up in a Jewish community in the extreme northeast of Italy, Trieste, at the border with Slovenia. We were not more than five hundred people – so, in the reality of Italian Jewry a medium community – mostly composed by elderly. Before the World War II Trieste was a prominent …
By Daniela Gross The 14th International Architecture Exhibition put anew Venezia (Venice) in the spotlight. That magical city, where water and light are intertwined in a so unique way, has reached an important role of reference in the global cultural scenario. It is not only the heritage of her ancient and glorious history, but a …