{"id":4443,"date":"2017-11-06T12:49:50","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T11:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moked.it\/international\/?p=4443"},"modified":"2018-09-04T16:54:15","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T14:54:15","slug":"italics-story-padoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/","title":{"rendered":"ITALICS A Story about Padua"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"italics\"<\/a>By Alan Rosenbaum*<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is more to Dr. Anna Padoa, 48, of Tel Aviv, than meets the eye. Her last name is similar to the name of the northern Italian city where she spent much of her childhood, Padua, but in fact her family hails from a different Padua, located in Portugal or Spain, and she herself was born in Verona.<\/p>\n

Though she attended national religious B\u2019nei Akiva camps, her spiritual and political beliefs are more closely aligned with those of the secular Hashomer Hatzair movement. And while she is critical of efforts that seek to introduce religious elements into the public- school system, she is grateful to the late chief rabbi of Padua, who ensured that she underwent an Orthodox conversion to Judaism.<\/p>\n

To understand Padoa, one must trace her family\u2019s history to the events of the 1930s and 1940s. Speaking of her parents, she laughs and says, \u201cI think their story is more interesting than mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the 1930s, Padoa explains, \u201cJewish people were very integrated into the local population and felt very Italian.\u201d Her father was born in 1936 into a prosperous Jewish family from Bologna. Despite the menacing Nazi presence in Italy, her grandfather wanted to remain, but her grandmother insisted on leaving, and at the last minute the family fled to Switzerland, using their wealth to obtain new identity papers.<\/p>\n

They went to Milan and from there crossed the border into Switzerland, where they remained until the end of the war. Padoa\u2019s mother, who is Catholic, was born into a peasant family near Verona. Her parents dated for eight years until they were married in 1968, and Padoa candidly acknowledges that neither family wanted them to wed, because they practiced different religions.<\/p>\n

Padoa says that her mother \u201csaw no point in converting, because she would never be a religious Jew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite that, it was important to her parents to raise Padoa and her younger sister, Olga Dalia, as Jews with a strong Jewish identity. \u201cThey wanted to keep a tradition alive that had been in great danger just a decade before,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Padoa was born in Verona, whose Jewish community dates to the Middle Ages. By the 1960s, the Jewish community numbered just over 100. When she was nine, her family moved to Padua, which was once famous as a center of Talmudic studies. By the time that she and her family came to Padua, there were only 200 Jewish families there.<\/p>\n

The town\u2019s chief rabbi, Achille Viterbo, approached her parents and suggested that she and her sister undergo an Orthodox conversion to Judaism. Viterbo was concerned that an earlier conversion, performed in Verona, had not been done properly. Rabbi Viterbo, she says, was \u201ca very special person, who was respectful of my mother and accepted her.\u201d When Padoa eventually moved to Israel, her conversion was accepted by the Chief Rabbinate.<\/p>\n

Explaining what it was like growing up Jewish in Italy, Padoa relates, \u201cItaly is a very Catholic country. There is no diversity.\u201d Her parents wanted their children to observe the Jewish holidays, particularly those that coincided with Christian ones. Says Padoa, \u201cWe grew up knowing that we were Jewish and we never had Christian festivities at home \u2013 only Jewish. We had Passover and Hanukka instead of Easter and Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smiling, Padoa says that one benefit of growing up Jewish in Italy was her being excused from catechism classes in elementary school. Sometimes, though, she preferred to remain to make sure that the priest wouldn\u2019t say negative things about Jews. \u201cI made a lot of effort to explain what it means to be Jewish,\u201d she says, \u201ceven if I was never very religious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up, Padoa\u2019s strongest Jewish connection was her family\u2019s association with Israel, which she and her parents visited frequently. Her father\u2019s cousins had left Italy in the late 1930s and were among the founders of Kibbutz Givat Brenner near Rehovot, and later Kibbutz Netzer Sereni. This was named after Enzo Sereni, an Italian Zionist and Jewish Brigade officer who was captured by the Germans and murdered after parachuting into Nazi-occupied Italy during World War II.<\/p>\n

When she reached high school age, her interest in Israel remained high. The Bnei Akiva movement sent a representative to Padua who taught stories, songs, and the history of Israel to her and her Jewish friends. She attended Bnei Akiva camps, and though she did not become observant, the camp experience was important in her development and she still has many friends from that period.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 1987, when she was 17, she spent the summer volunteering at Kibbutz Netzer Sereni. By the time she turned 19, she had decided to make aliya and she wanted to study medicine. Her parents were supportive of her decision, because they themselves had wanted to move to Israel, and had even lived there for a few months when she was a toddler.<\/p>\n

Padoa returned to Israel in October 1988 as a temporary resident and spent the year at Hebrew University, enjoying the college experience. Wistfully, she recalls, \u201cIt was a very special time.\u201d When her one-year program ended, she was accepted into medical school at Tel Aviv University and became a full-fledged citizen. Padoa preferred to stay in Tel Aviv, because, as she puts it, \u201cJerusalem was too \u2018heavy\u2019 for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Padoa lived in Ramat Aviv with an Israeli roommate, and spoke Hebrew fluently. While on her one-year program, she had spent weekends at Netzer Sereni, and the residents would not allow her to speak Italian \u2013 only Hebrew. After completing medical school, Anna spent her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center and today she is the head of the hospital\u2019s uro-gynecology service. In her spare time, she sings madrigals with a Renaissance choir. Padoa has a facility for languages, and in addition to being fluent in Hebrew, Italian, and English, speaks Spanish and French, and knows enough Russian, Amharic, and Arabic to take a medical history from her different patients. \u201cWorking with people in Assaf Harofeh,\u201d she says, \u201crequires you to learn a little bit of many languages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today Padoa, who is divorced, lives in Tel Aviv with her partner and three children. She visits Italy annually and her parents, now in their 80s, visit Israel as well. After 29 years in Israel, does she consider herself Israeli or Italian? She pauses for a moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing Israeli and Italian is a double identity, which goes side by side. I think it\u2019s easier to keep things in proportion when you have two perspectives.\u201d
\n
\n*The article was published in The Jerusalem Post on November 5, 2017. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alan Rosenbaum* There is more to Dr. Anna Padoa, 48, of Tel Aviv, than meets the eye. Her last name is similar to the name of the northern Italian city where she spent much of her childhood, Padua, but in fact her family hails from a different Padua, located in Portugal or Spain, and… leggi <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4296,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7613],"tags":[],"position":[],"class_list":["post-4443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-italian-word-of-the-week"],"yoast_head":"\nITALICS A Story about Padua - Pagine Ebraiche International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ITALICS A Story about Padua - Pagine Ebraiche International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alan Rosenbaum* There is more to Dr. Anna Padoa, 48, of Tel Aviv, than meets the eye. Her last name is similar to the name of the northern Italian city where she spent much of her childhood, Padua, but in fact her family hails from a different Padua, located in Portugal or Spain, and… leggi \" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pagine Ebraiche International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-06T11:49:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-04T14:54:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rossellatercatin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rossellatercatin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/\",\"name\":\"ITALICS A Story about Padua - Pagine Ebraiche International\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-06T11:49:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-04T14:54:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/51e9fca2f211041a5817e3678547fee1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png\",\"width\":206,\"height\":92},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ITALICS A Story about Padua\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/\",\"name\":\"Pagine Ebraiche International\",\"description\":\"A Taste of the Italian Jewish World\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/51e9fca2f211041a5817e3678547fee1\",\"name\":\"rossellatercatin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a2261350e4b6436b942e97ff77816c779ef1acb7b5238174c7cd8d96e4d0d91?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a2261350e4b6436b942e97ff77816c779ef1acb7b5238174c7cd8d96e4d0d91?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"rossellatercatin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/author\/rossellatercatin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ITALICS A Story about Padua - Pagine Ebraiche International","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ITALICS A Story about Padua - Pagine Ebraiche International","og_description":"By Alan Rosenbaum* There is more to Dr. Anna Padoa, 48, of Tel Aviv, than meets the eye. Her last name is similar to the name of the northern Italian city where she spent much of her childhood, Padua, but in fact her family hails from a different Padua, located in Portugal or Spain, and… leggi ","og_url":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/","og_site_name":"Pagine Ebraiche International","article_published_time":"2017-11-06T11:49:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-04T14:54:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"rossellatercatin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rossellatercatin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/","url":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/","name":"ITALICS A Story about Padua - Pagine Ebraiche International","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png","datePublished":"2017-11-06T11:49:50+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-04T14:54:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/51e9fca2f211041a5817e3678547fee1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/files\/2014\/04\/italics.png","width":206,"height":92},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/2017\/11\/06\/italics-story-padoa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ITALICS A Story about Padua"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#website","url":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/","name":"Pagine Ebraiche International","description":"A Taste of the Italian Jewish World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/51e9fca2f211041a5817e3678547fee1","name":"rossellatercatin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a2261350e4b6436b942e97ff77816c779ef1acb7b5238174c7cd8d96e4d0d91?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a2261350e4b6436b942e97ff77816c779ef1acb7b5238174c7cd8d96e4d0d91?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rossellatercatin"},"url":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/author\/rossellatercatin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4443"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4445,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443\/revisions\/4445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4443"},{"taxonomy":"position","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moked.it\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/position?post=4443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}