By Anna Momigliano Recently a journalist friend of mine asked me a question about the number of Jews in Italy. He was editing an article in which the author was claiming that according to “official sources”, there are only 23,000 Jews in Italy. “This seems a little strange, are there that few Jews in Italy?”, …
By Yaakov Mascetti* This is something I’ve wanted to write for years so please bear with me yes? Ya’akov Avinu, or Jacob, is fundamentally a liar. His mother Rivka, or Rebecca, encourages him to lie. He tricks his brother Esau twice, stealing first his birthright and then his blessing. There, I got it out of …
By Daniela Fubini Life in Israel brings out all your multiple identities. Some of us new (or veteran) immigrants keep several identities and live happily ever after, while others find it harder to blend in and keep expecting Western politeness and customer service in a place where those concepts are so far away to seem …
By David Bidussa* In his latest book to appear in Italian translation, Judas, Amoz Oz writes of the idea of treason that maybe it is only through a book that one can speak and find the way to be heard–much more effectively than in a public speech or on television. This is the message that …
By Roberto Della Rocca* The annual reunion of the last word of the Torah, “Israel,” with the first word, “Bereshit” (“In the beginning”), constantly reminds us that our work is never finished and that living is a continuous renewal. *Roberto Della Rocca is a rabbi and the Director of the Education Department at the Union …
By Daniela Fubini* Jerusalem is burning, again, and there is barely anything new to report except for the fireworks. Yes, fireworks: used as a weapon instead of an expression of joy. This time around, the underemployed youth of East Jerusalem are given borderline weapons, abandoned the usual stones who can really hurt but have no …
By Yaakov Mascetti* The narration representing the creation of the universe leads the reader, I think, from the nothingness that precedes moment of Divine speech, “Let there be light,” through the gradual separation and simplification of created matter. While in the first verse of Genesis God is presented as creating the heavens and the earth, …
By David Bidussa* How can I relate the Holocaust to future generations? This is a question that many people ask themselves. I will try to respond by asking another question: considering the continuous evolution of didactic strategies, how can we best propose a course of historical reflection that has the capacity to communicate the allure …
By Roberto Della Rocca* One of the fundamental requirements for constructing a kosher sukkah is that its roof must create more area of shadow than light. Rabbeinu Behaye [c. 1255-1340, Spain] states that the Creator is the Great Shadow, and not wanting that any one person denigrate the importance or authority of another, He gave …
By Daniela Fubini* If you don’t know anything about Israel and Jewish life, it’s best to not come around the holiday of Sukkot. You would get a very strange idea of how we live here. We go to synagogue bringing bundles of branches and leaves and a box protecting an abnormally large citrus (a cedar, …
By Yaacov Mascetti* What is the point of staging a public ceremony at the very beginning of the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, by virtue of which all obligations, all “nedarim,” namely all those verbally established behavioral frameworks which the individual decides to fashion regardless of the existing orthopraxis, are annulled and considered as …
By Daniela Fubini* In the middle of the complicated process that bridges any human being from the status of simple passport holder to that one of traveler on a plane, I stood like a perfect idiot recently, at Ben Gurion Airport. Pardon me: International Airport. I had just replied successfully to the supposedly tricky interrogation …
By Anna Momigliano* First of all, a confession: I Facebook-stalk my friends. Ok, it’s not stalking, because it’s all information they choose to share with people like me. My point is that I often enjoy looking at what’s going on in the lives of people I once used to see almost everyday and whom now …
By Yaacov Mascetti* Another year has gone by, and it’s Rosh HaShana again. While every year I sit in shul, and experience the liturgical moment of Divine judgment, “yom ha-din,” the day in which G-d opens the book of Life and initiates a process of examination of every human being, there’s an alternative story which …
By Anna Segre* This year the theme of the European Day of Jewish Culture (September 14) does not seem on the surface to pose problems of interpretation. There is no ambiguous “2.0”; no doubts as to what constitutes Jewish humor (or even if it exists); no discussions about how the term “nature” should be understood. …
By Angelica Edna Calò Livne Yesterday (few days ago), we got an email from coordinator of a project with Jordanian and Palestinian groups. She asked each of us to send her a few lines about our assessment of the current situation in regard to our project: Partnership of Regional Leadership. Dear all, these are difficult …
By Yaacov Mascetti* Teaching literature in general is not an easy task – teaching literature in the Middle East is close to impossible. Every year I invest a gargantuan amount of physical (in class I walk around a lot, yell, gesticulate, drink, stand on tables, etc.) and psychological energy to challenge my very bright students …
By Daniela Fubini* My theory is simple: Israel is a drug. Once you start taking it, your judgment over reality and manners is twisted forever. When moving to Israel, it’s best to embrace this new status soon, and the new life will become a chain of pleasant surprises, with some puzzling moments easily past with …
By Anna Momigliano* I’ve never seen Italy’s Jewish community as united as during Operation Protective Edge. This highly diverse and tiny community, composed of secular and Orthodox, Sephardi and Ashkenazi, conservatives and progressives, natives and immigrants, for once seemed to have found a common voice. Almost everyone, albeit with different nuances, seemed to support Israel’s …
By Yaacov Mascetti* This week my son, Yedidia, put on tefillin in shul for the first time, thus inaugurating the first step into the halachic realm of adulthood. A bar mitzva is a long process, for the boy and for his parents – this is my own very intimate and genuine expression of love to …