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October 6th, 2014 - Tishrei 12h, 5775
The Messages of the Rabbis by Guido Vitale* Yom Kippur is an important opportunity for Jews in Italy and all over the world to listen to and to evaluate what their rabbis really have to say. *Guido Vitale is the editor-in-chief of Pagine Ebraiche.   Italian Word of the Week: SORPRESA By Daniela Gross “How many people are reunited here tonight … It’s so beautiful, so surprising”. To speak so was a gentleman with a fascinating white and huge hat, in a little synagogue in the South of the United States in the evening of Yom Kippur. It was a sort of déjà vu, because it suddenly reminded me that the same comment resonates every year in every Italian synagogue, big or small. It may sound weird, but regularly Yom Kippur brings - with all its sea of thoughts, repentance, and good intentions - also a paradoxical “sorpresa” (as in Italian sounds “surprise”). It is surprising how crowded is your synagogue, especially during the Neila, at the time of the solemn blessing that in Italy reunites whole families – men, women, kids, elderly - under the Talleth of the head of the family.  You may see people that you never saw at any Tefillah during the year, you may discover kinships and ties never suspected before, and you appreciate how many babies were born in the last year. It is the appeal of the Day of the Atonement, so deep, irresistible and sometimes surprising for every Jew, even the most secular and far from the tradition.		NEWS Rome, the Shoah Museum Goes Back to the Villa  By Daniela Gross “We are facing a decision that has a profound ethical value towards the last survivors of the extermination camps and we have to decide even considering the emotion for the Mario Limentani’s death, the tears of Sami Modiano and the touching words of Piero Terracina (among the testimonies of the Shoah in Italy ndr). But as Municipality we must decide also taking into account the legal constraints, and then must observe the initiated procedure opening the envelopes of the European call to build the Museum, as also pointed out by the chairman emeritus of the Constitutional Court Maria Flick.” Read more EVENTS  Milan, Capital of Jewish Welfare By Rossella Tercatin Jewish leaders from all over Europe are expected to gather in Milan for the fifth Meeting of Presidents of Jewish Organizations, which will take place from November 21st to November 23rd. The event organized by the European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC) together with the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) as well as the collaboration of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities with the Jewish Community of Milan, will focus on sharing experiences and the best methods in fields such as Jewish education, welfare, and the fight against anti-Semitism.” Read more Education For Italian Students, a Special Opportunity For the second consecutive year, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities announced that students interested in applying to Israeli universities will be able to take the standardized admission tests in Italian. The Psychometric Entrance Test – an equivalent of the American SATs – is a tool for predicting academic performance and is required by all major Israeli universities to screen applicants to various departments. Along with Hebrew, English, Russian, French, and Spanish, since 2013 the exam can be taken in Italian, as well, thanks to a project promoted by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities. Students willing to study in Israel will be able to take the test on February 17th, 2015, in three different locations: Rome, Milan and Israel. Read more CULTURE Marc Chagall, When Color is Everything By Ada Treves Two events organized during the international Jewish festival in Milan, Jewish and the City, have introduced it and now, a short time after the official opening, it is clear that “Marc Chagall, a Retrospective 1908 - 1985” is an amazing exhibition. It will be open until the first of February 2015 at Palazzo Reale, and it brings together more than two hundreds works of the Belarusian-born French artist, coming from internationally renowned museums such as the MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the National Gallery in Washington DC, the of Russian National Museum in St. Petersburg, the Pompidou in Paris and from more than fifty collections around the world. Read more עברית קול הספרים Sarah Kaminski, University of Turin רומן נהדר על חייה של מלקטת שקדים מכפר קטן בסיציליה, רוזליה אינצרילו, שבנערותה, בגיל שלוש עשרה נמסרה ע"י משפחתה הענייה לידי האדונים  אלפהליפה (Alfallipe) ושרתה אותם בנאמנות במשך שלושים שנה. תחילה עבדה כמלקטת שקדים במטעים שמעבר לחומת האבן של בית החווה הגדול ועם חלוף השנים הפכה בתבונתה הרבה למנהלת משק הבית בעוד האלמנה ובניה חייהם בנינוחות את השפע והדקדנטיות של סיצילה הלכאורע מודרנית.. המשך Kol Nidrei - Freeing the Individual to Change His Mind 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 inexistent? *Ph.D., Department of Comparative Literature, Bar Ilan University. Read more
Follow us on    This newsletter is published under difficult conditions. The editors of this newsletter are Italian journalists whose native language is Italian. They are willing to offer their energy and their skills to give international readers the opportunity of learning more about the Italian Jewish world, its values, its culture and its traditions. In spite of all our efforts to avoid this, readers may find an occasional language mistake. We count on your understanding and on your help and advice to correct these mistakes and improve our publication. Pagine Ebraiche International Edition is published by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI). UCEI publications encourage an understanding of the Jewish world and the debate within it. The articles and opinions published by Pagine Ebraiche International Edition, unless expressly stated otherwise, cannot be interpreted as the official position of UCEI, but only as the self-expression of the people who sign them, offering their comments to UCEI publications. Readers who are interested in making their own contribution should email us at desk@ucei.it  You received this newsletter because you authorized UCEI to contact you. If you would like to remove your email address from our list, or if you would like to subscribe using a new email address, please send a blank email to  desk@ucei.it stating "unsubscribe" or "subscribe" in the subject field. © UCEI - All rights reserved - The articles may only be reproduced after obtaining the written permission of the editor-in-chief. Pagine Ebraiche - Reg Rome Court 199/2009 – Editor in Chief: Guido Vitale - Managing Editor: Daniela Gross. Special thanks to: Francesco Moises Bassano, Susanna Barki, Monica Bizzio, Angelica Edna Calò Livne, Eliezer Di Martino, Alain Elkann, Daniela Fubini, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves. Questo notiziario è realizzato in condizioni di particolare difficoltà. I redattori di questo notiziario sono giornalisti italiani di madrelingua italiana. Mettono a disposizione le loro energie e le loro competenze per raccontare in lingua inglese l'ebraismo italiano, i suoi valori, la sua cultura e i suoi valori. Nonostante il nostro impegno il lettore potrebbe trovare errori e imperfezioni nell'utilizzo del linguaggio che faremo del nostro meglio per evitare. Contiamo sulla vostra comprensione e soprattutto sul vostro aiuto e sul vostro consiglio per correggere gli errori e migliorare. Pagine Ebraiche International Edition è una pubblicazione edita dall'Unione delle Comunità Ebraiche Italiane. L'UCEI sviluppa mezzi di comunicazione che incoraggiano la conoscenza e il confronto delle realtà ebraiche. Gli articoli e i commenti pubblicati, a meno che non sia espressamente indicato il contrario, non possono essere intesi come una presa di posizione ufficiale, ma solo come la autonoma espressione delle persone che li firmano e che si sono rese gratuitamente disponibili. Gli utenti che fossero interessati a offrire un proprio contributo possono rivolgersi all'indirizzo  desk@ucei.it Avete ricevuto questo messaggio perché avete trasmesso a Ucei l'autorizzazione a comunicare con voi. Se non desiderate ricevere ulteriori comunicazioni o se volete comunicare un nuovo indirizzo email, scrivete a: desk@ucei.it indicando nell'oggetto del messaggio "cancella" o "modifica". © UCEI - Tutti i diritti riservati - I testi possono essere riprodotti solo dopo aver ottenuto l'autorizzazione scritta della Direzione. Pagine Ebraiche International Edition - notiziario dell'ebraismo italiano - Reg. Tribunale di Roma 199/2009 - direttore responsabile: Guido Vitale - Coordinamento: Daniela Gross. Realizzato con il contributo di: Francesco Moises Bassano, Susanna Barki, Monica Bizzio, Angelica Edna Calò Livne, Eliezer Di Martino, Alain Elkann, Daniela Fubini, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves.