From matzos to wine, from donuts to Parmigiano Reggiano. Over 250 food packages are being distributed throughout Jewish Italy to help less well to do families celebrate the upcoming Pesach holiday. The effort is coordinated by Jacqueline Fellus, the Union of the Italian Jewish Community councilwoman in charge of Kasherut. “From the companies that provided …
Behind him is the hall where, in the Sixties, the first sessions of one of the most important trials against Nazi criminals responsible for the Final Solution were held. In front of him is a stained glass-window showing the building where, in 1848, the constituent assembly to further the founding of a unitary German state, …
Chag hamatzot (feast of unleavened bread), zeman cherutenu (feast of freedom), chag aviv (feast of spring). These are the names by which Pesach is known, but what is the difference between these meanings? An answer can be found in the new edition of the Haggadah of Pesach by the publisher Belforte, characterized by a stimulating …
For centuries Venice was the capital of Jewish publishing, with the first complete Talmud, Torah commentaries, mysticism and, in 1609, a famous Haggadah in several languages. In 2015, marking the Ghetto quincentennial, Beit Venezia – A home for Jewish culture invited eight international Jewish artists to design a New Venice Haggadah after a full immersion …
By Adam Smulevich To know how to seize opportunities during a crisis is a very Jewish challenge. We have tried to raise to it with various voices’ contribution in the dossier “A year with Covid”, on Pagine Ebraiche’s March issue. From education to the publishing industry, from theater to the restaurant business: no field has …
Five new exemplary figures were honored last week on the European Day of the Righteous in a ceremony in Monte Stella – Milan. They are Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary General of the United Nations Nobel Peace Prize winner who lost his life during a mission to solve the Congolese crisis; Carlo Urbani, the Italian doctor …
The first Conversations/Conversazioni of the calendar year of the American Academy in Rome was focused on ghettoes and on their historical and metaphorical meaning. The recent lecture features David Nirenberg, professor of Medieval History and Social Thought at the University of Chicago and the recently appointed American Academy in Rome director Avinoam Shalem, who speaks …
By Anna Foa* On March 6, Europe celebrates the Day of the Righteous of Humanity. The establishment of this day was the result of a long battle waged by the Gariwo association and its president Gabriele Nissim. In many places, the very idea of the Righteous of Humanity has been contrasted with that advocated by …
Fascisms of yesterday, fascisms of today. This dual perspective characterized the online round table held ahead of the Holocaust Remembrance Day on the initiative of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities. The focus, addressed by some experts, was a theme outlined as follows: “There is a …
The number of Italians who consider the Holocaust Remembrance Day an essential democratic defense and a barrier against the advance of hate speech is increasing. It is the conclusion of the new survey conducted by the SWG Institute in collaboration with the editorial staff of Pagine Ebraiche. The research was presented last week in a …
Exhibitions and documents related to the Holocaust and the persecution of Jews during fascism are now on display online thanks to the platform Shoah Museum just launched by the Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation (CDEC). To inaugurate the new digital space is an exhibition redesigned for the occasion titled “The persecution of the Jews in …
The Union of the Italian Jewish Communities stated: “The crimes of fascism and King Vittorio Emanuele III’s signatures on the racial laws constituted an abomination, a tragic offence in Italian history and they’ll serve as an admonition for generations to come. The republican Constitution reminds us this so clearly, and its very existence is the …
By Adam Smulevich* “I have gone through many dramatic experiences in my life. A broken childhood at the age of eight as a result of racist laws. Expulsion from school, war, deportation. The horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau. And as if that was not enough, Covid-19. A harrowing experience, with so many people who unfortunately die alone, …
“For nearly ninety years, my father has been a promulgator of the Memory. Ironically, the ability to remember was the first thing he lost because of his disease. I then found myself with a father who bore the wounds from the beatings received from the SS, but could no longer remember what they were. Unfortunately, …
Over the years, the working definition for antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance – IHRA, while not legally binding, has become a widely used tool around the world to educate people about antisemitism, as well as recognize and counter its manifestations. The recent publication of a specific handbook on this issue, commissioned by the …
By Adam Smulevich Italy has lost Nedo Fiano, one of the last witnesses of the Shoah who was still alive. Born in Florence in 1925, he passed away in Milan, the city where he started to live a dozen years after the war, in the elderly residence of the local Jewish community, which announced his …
By Pagine Ebraiche staff For twenty years, the first Sunday of Hanukkah has been a big celebration in the Jewish Community of Casale Monferrato, involving a joyful party and the addition of new Hanukkah lamps to the Museum of Lights unique collection. And despite the pandemic, the tradition was respected also this year. A week …
In December 2017 Elèna Mortara met Philip Roth in New York and an extraordinary conversation ensued. The first volume of the Meridiani Mondadori, the prestigious series dedicated to the American writer that she curated, had just been released focusing on Roth’s narrative production between 1959 and 1986, with novels like Goodbye, Columbus (1959), Portnoy’s Complaint (1969), …
The project “Together at home – Insieme a casa” is back. Realized by the Israeli NGO Machshava Tova (in Hebrew Good Thought) along with the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, the program addresses specifically the elderly, who the pandemic prompted to bridge the digital gap in order to overcome age-related obstacles (mobility difficulties, reduced social …
The project “Not in my name. Jews, Catholics and Muslims against violence on women” finds and exceptional testimonial in Gessica Notaro, a former model who after being scarred with acid by ex-boyfriend became in Italy a symbol of the fight against prejudice and discrimination. The announcement came last week on the International Day for the …