For nearly twenty years, from the post-WWII period until the reopening of a new Temple in Piazza Benamozegh in 1962, the Yeshiva Marini served as the synagogue of the Jewish Community of Livorno, in Tuscany. Once the headquarters of charitable organization, it then became a school for teachers and students expelled from schools in 1938 after Italy adopted racist, anti-Jewish laws. Later, the community gathered there to celebrate Shabbat and religious and social occasions.
Although the oratory is now a museum, it has never stopped functioning as a synagogue. To underscore this, the city\u2019s Chief Rabbi, Umberto Piperno, brought the celebration of Hanukkah back inside the Yeshiva Marini.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This had not happened in 63 years. In its own way, it was a historic event, even though the yeshiva has continued to be the focal point for other rituals over time. One such ritual is Tashlich. It is performed on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This holiday begins the \u201cDays of Repentance,\u201d which conclude with the Yom Kippur fast, or the Day of Atonement. Tashlich consists of reciting special prayers and symbolically casting one\u2019s sins into flowing water. In Livorno, the rite is carried out around the ancient well of the oratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n