In Rome, the European Day of Jewish Culture began at the garden of the monumental Great Synagogue, which this year celebrates 120 years since its inauguration. One of the three exhibitions organized for the occasion,\u00a0Centoventi anni di matrimonio al Tempio Maggiore. Famiglia e tradizione degli ebrei di Roma<\/i> (One hundred and twenty years of marriage at the Tempio Maggiore: Family and Tradition of the Jews of Rome), was displayed along its gates.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0photographs span different periods: some from to the era of the racial laws, others from the aftermath of the Palestinian attack on the Great Synagogue in October 1982 \u2013 the attack claimed the life\u00a0of young Stefano Gaj Tach\u00e9 \u2013 and some were taken after the end of the pandemic. \u201cThese photos teach us that life must go on at all costs, by having new children and growing the family even in the most tragic moments,\u201d emphasized Victor Fadlun, president of the Jewish Community, opening the European Day of Jewish Culture with vice-president Antonella Di Castro and the Regional Culture councilor Simona Renata Baldassarre.<\/p>\n
Fadlun extended this message to all of Italy, a country in perpetual demographic crisis: \u201cWe must believe in the future; we must believe in the<\/span> family.\u201d Fadlun’s thoughts turned to some families he described as “paradigmatic,” referring to those with loved ones still held captive in Gaza, in the tunnels of horror, where hostages \u201care tortured and enduring the impossible.\u201d He expressed special concern for the Bibas family, whose four members were\u00a0kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.\u00a0Yarden. The father was taken separately from his wife and their two young children, Kfir and Ariel, who were just 9 months and 4 years old at the time<\/span>. They are all still held in Gaza.<\/p>\n Finally, vice-president Di Castro, who oversees Culture, reminded attendees that in Judaism family is the foundation of education and \u201cthe primary place where Jewish identity is shaped.\u201d This commitment, she said, did not stop \u201cafter the tragic events of October 7,\u201d with the Jewish community and its young people, \u201cworking together every day to plan and build new families that will serve as the foundation for a prosperous future, with the hopeful belief that culture, democracy, and unity will lead us to better times.\u201d<\/p>\n Two additional exhibitions opened at the Jewish Museum. The Del Monte family through the centuries: Art, history, and memory<\/i>,<\/b><\/i> <\/b>curated by the museum itself, highlights the contributions to culture by the Del Monte family, even during the most challenging periods. Organized by the Community\u2019s<\/b> Jewish Cultural Center, Bonds: Family portraits of 20th-century Jewish artists<\/i> provides an intimate and profound look at the Jewish family backgrounds of several 20th-century artists.<\/p>\n