By Daniel Leisawitz* We now find ourselves between two significant moments in the Jewish calendar: the 14th of Adar and the 15th of Nisan; in other words, the holidays of Purim and Passover. Both of these holidays ask us to remember important moments in Jewish history: moments in which the Jewish people found themselves in …
By Jonathan Zalman* In part, the re-election Wednesday of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, whom Hillary Clinton once considered as a vice presidential running mate, could be interpreted as a sign of consolidation within the Democratic Party. When half the ballots had been counted, The Los Angeles Times reported that Garcetti, the city’s first Jewish …
By David Gerbi* Representative of World Organisation of Libyan Jews (WOLJ) Dr. David Gerbi urges the international community on the issue of Libyan Jews. The WOLJ call the authorities of the GNA, the Parliament, the leader of Benghazi governments, to respect the rights and heritage of Libyan Jews and how they should be secured by …
By Elisabetta Povoledo* This much is known: In 70 AD the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, looted the temple of its treasure — including a seven-branched solid gold menorah — and brought at least some of the artifacts back to Rome in a triumphant procession. Depictions of the victorious Roman army and its booty are carved on …
Each year, Centro Primo Levi invites a guest cantor to lead a ceremony of music and singing from the Italian and Mediterranean Jewish traditions. This program features one of Italy’s leading cantors, Rabbi Elia Richetti, performing a selection of Ashkenazi synagogue songs from an array of Jewish communities in Northern Italy. Throughout his life, Rabbi …
By Menachem Wecker* Nearly 275 years after Alessandro Magnasco’s death, experts still aren’t sure what to make of his work — particularly four paintings of synagogues. Known as il Lissandrino, Magnasco was born 350 years ago Feb. 4th. He wasn’t Jewish, but synagogues were among his most frequent subjects, notes the Cleveland Museum of Art, …
By Rossella Tercatin Growing up in the small Sicilian coastal town of Palma di Montechiaro, Angelo Leone knew that his family was different. His great-grandmother Giovanna Milano would never go to church, lit candles every Friday afternoon, and baked unleavened bread around Easter. “Moreover, my family celebrated Christmas and other holidays with a lot less …
By Rossella Tercatin* On October 16, 1943, 45-year-old Settimio Calò left his wife Clelia and their nine children comfortably asleep in their apartment when he snuck out at dawn, hoping he would be able to buy some cigarettes — a rare treat in Nazi-occupied Rome. When he got home a few hours later, he found …
By JTA The Roman Catholic Church in Palermo is ceding to Jewish ownership the use of part of a church and monastery complex built atop the ruins of a medieval synagogue. The move is being viewed as a gesture of reconciliation more than 500 years after the expulsion of Jews from Sicily. The church will …
By Menucha Chana Levin* While not as famous as some other Holocaust heroes, Giorgio Perlasca saved more Jews than the 1,200 saved by the famous Oskar Schindler. Like Raoul Wallenberg, Perlasca boldly rescued Hungarian Jews from under the noses of the Nazis. Yet, while Schindler and Wallenberg are well-known names from this terrible era, heroic …
By Rossella Tercatin* In the early 1990s, a member of the tiny Jewish community of Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, Italy, pondered what could be done to ensure the community’s future. “Currently there are two Jewish families who reside in our town, plus a few dozen people who identify as members of the community despite living …
By Bonny Wolf* It’s all about the oil. Through the eight days of Hanukkah, it almost doesn’t matter what you eat, as long as it’s cooked in oil. A good case could be made for eating potato chips with every meal throughout the holiday. The story goes that in 165 B.C., the Maccabees, a small …
By Ben Sales* Although Poopa Dweck has never been to Aleppo, her New Jersey home evokes the smells of a kitchen in the now-ravaged Syrian city. Dweck was born after her parents left the once-bustling metropolis in 1947, but she still calls it her “homeland.” She has dedicated herself to maintaining and teaching the recipes …
By Daniela Fubini In my personal crossroads of nationalities, languages and political or cultural affiliations, it has been a heavy duty month. Let’s put it flat out there: a little over one month ago many, possibly most of my closest American friends, thought we would wake up on November 9 with Hillary Clinton as President …
By Daniel Leisawitz* Politics around the world, from the U.S. to Italy to the Philippines, have taken some troubling turns recently. Much virtual ink has already been spilt in an effort to get at the root of what has led to the current trends and to understand where they are heading. Two incisive analyses of …
By Rossella Tercatin On the morning of Friday, November 4, 1966, 18-year-old Andrea Belgrado was fast asleep in his family’s home across the street from the Great Synagogue of Florence. It was the Italian national holiday marking the World War I armistice, and like most teenagers, Belgrado was taking advantage of the occasion to sleep …
“Vielen ist bewusst geworden, dass Wahlen kein Spiel sind. Sie sind viel zu wichtig”. (Christian Oxonitsch,Wiener Sozialdemokraten)
by Susan Miron* It was a colorful affair last Thursday in Harvard’s Paine Hall in many senses. “Italian Baroque Music from the Jewish Ghetto” (mostly Salamone Rossi) featured scholar Christoph Wolff and conductor and harpsichordist Nicholas McGegan joined by an impressive array of forces including scholar Francesco Spagnolo and superb soprano Sherezade Panthaki. McGegan presented …
By Eli Kavon* Azariah dei Rossi, a pioneer of Jewish scholarship born into a distinguished family in Mantua, earned the condemnation of the rabbis of his time. The rabbinic leadership in the 16th century in Italy, Central Europe, and the Middle East were especially outraged by Meor Einayim (“Light to the Eyes”). This was Azariah’s …
By Daniel Leisawitz The morning following the US election, my college campus was eerily quiet. An almost funereal air permeated the quad and halls (and the cold steady rain didn’t help). In class, some students were visibly distraught, others quietly concerned, and a few others happy and hopeful. For one of my classes, in which …