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October 27th, 2014 - Cheshwan 3rd, 5775
Waiting for Chagall by Guido Vitale* Thousands of people wait every day in a long line to have the possibility of visiting the largest exhibition ever dedicated to Marc Chagall. It takes place in the Palazzo Reale of Milan, and listening to the comments of those who stand in the long line, it is easy to measure their search to encounter Jewish identity. *Guido Vitale is the editor-in-chief of Pagine Ebraiche.   Italian Word of the Week MATRIMONIO by Daniela Gross In Italian the word for wedding is “matrimonio”, from the Latin “matrimonium”. In the Jewish world, to get married is always a complicated and delicate issue, but the complications of a Jewish wedding in Italy are even worse. Since the Italian Jewish world is not so big, a Jewish wedding is quite rare and always brings a great joy to all the community, along with many obstacles. The tradition is orthodox, but the habits may be diverse among the communities, also according to the prescriptions of the local rabbi. For instance, who has to accompany the bride to the chuppah? It is up to the father or a brother, as in many communities, or the mother with two friends, as others use? And what about the music inside the synagogue? And what exactly must be done with the food? A Jewish wedding implies kosher food, but it is not so easy to set up a kosher banquet in Italy (I’m not referring here to Rome or Milan, those are big communities marvelously organized also in this aspect). Yes, on some days a Jewish marriage looks like a nightmare, but all those headaches vanish when you get into the synagogue, and see your spouse waiting under the chuppah. Then it is only time for joy, especially if you have the privilege of getting married in a magnificent baroque synagogue as it happened last week to Micol and Tomer, about whom you can read further in this issue.		NEWS Italian Supreme Court Does Justice to War Crimes Victims By Rossella Tercatin Last week, the Italian Supreme Court declared a law that ruled that states are immune from civil law suits for war crimes and crimes against humanity unconstitutional. The law was promulgated in 2013 so as to implement a 2012 decision by the International Court of Justice in the Hague, which stated that Italian courts did not have jurisdiction over the crimes Germany committed in Italy during the Second World War. Read more FEATURES Bridal Veil in Carmagnola. A Synagogue Comes Back to Life By Daniela Gross Jewish Italy conceals many amazing treasures, often forgotten or ignored even by the Italian Jews themselves. The shrinking of the community, after the World War II, has also meant that during the years many synagogues and historic buildings were closed, since there were no more people to attend them. In fact now, some communities no longer exist or, in the best cases, are composed of only a few members, not enough for those architectural imposing sites. However, sometimes miracles do happen, as in Carmagnola, a little city in the province of Turin. Its synagogue – which is considered by some experts to be among the most beautiful in the world - last week extraordinarily opened its doors again for a wedding. Read more FEATURES ‘Berlin Alyiah’: Fact or Myth? By Simone Somekh* In the past few weeks, several newspapers around the world reported an inquiry originally published in the Israeli business magazine “The Marker” (a supplement of “Haaretz”). The inquiry claimed that many Israelis are emigrating, and that one of the favorite destinations is Germany’s capital Berlin. The reasons of this supposedly massive emigration to Berlin are both ideological and economic. The ‘Berlin Alyiah’ phenomenon – as it was named – revolved around the “Olim LeBerlin” Facebook page (20,000 likes), administrated by Israeli Naor Narkis. Pictures posted on the page compared food prices in Israeli and a German supermarkets, claiming that life in Israel is more expensive than in Germany, and that the tenor of life in Israel is severely affected by the threat of terror attacks. Read more FOOD The Ark of Taste Docks in Turin By Ada Treves The tenth edition of Salone del Gusto-Terra Madre, the five days event that transforms Turin in the capital of the food world will close today. With the Expo 2015 only six months away, in the year that the United Nations declared “International Year of Family Farming”, Slow Food, Regione Piemonte and the City of Turin - the organizers of the event - decided to devote it to the Ark of Taste and to Family Farming, and they can already declare it to have been a huge success. The 80 thousand square meters of the Salone del Gusto have been literally invaded by a huge quantity of people and a thousand two hundreds exhibitors coming from a hundred different countries have given life not only to five days when it was possible to taste all sort of different products, but also to spaces full of events, lessons, lectures, food stalls and where fantastic perfumes fill the air. Read more Français Pousse ton cri Francesca Matalon “Aujourd'hui, les cris qui font plus de bruit ce sont des cris élevés. Des cris animaux, stupides, des cris violents, discriminants. T'en a pas marre d'être silencieux? T'a pas envie de montrer qu'on n'a pas peur?”. C'est avec ces mots qui commence la vidéo de “Pousse ton cri”, la première campagne de lutte contre les discours de haine lancée par l'Union des Étudiants Juifs de France (UEJF), SOS Racisme, le Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples (MRAP) et la Ligue Internationale contre le Racisme et l’Antisémitisme (Licra), avec le soutien de Google. Lire la suite Relating the Holocaust to the New Generation By David Bidussa* How can I relate the Holocaust to future generations? This is a question that many people ask themselves. I will try to respond by asking another question: considering the continuous evolution of didactic strategies, how can we best propose a course of historical reflection that has the capacity to communicate the allure of research, of the dissection and reassembly of documents (be they visual, aural, written, electronic, digital, etc.)? *David Bidussa is an historian of social ideas. The article was translated by Sabina Muccigrosso and Jazmine Pignatello, students at the Muhlenberg College (Chew St. Allentown, Pennsylvania USA).   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, Anna Momigliano, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Sabina Muccigrosso, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Jazmine Pignatello, 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, Anna Momigliano, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Sabina Muccigrosso, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Jazmine Pignatello, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves.