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January 12th, 2015 - Tevet 20th, 5775
False Consensus by Guido Vitale* Strong emotions sometimes create a false feeling of consensus. But the terrible events that took place in Paris in the past few days force everyone, including Italian Jews, to face a clear choice. Not everyone has found the courage to state clearly that an unambiguous support for freedom of the press and for the right to satire - even in cases where it is a satire that we do not like - is the only possible defense of our identity and of our right to live in peace and security. *Guido Vitale is the editor-in-chief of Pagine Ebraiche.   Italian Word of the Week: LIBERTÀ by Daniela Gross The most frequent word to resonate, after the dramatic attacks in Paris, was “libertà”, as freedom is called in Italian. We talked, wrote and discussed about freedom of speech, of expression, of being who we are in a democratic society. As Italian Jews we know what it means to be under attack. We didn’t forget the attack to the Rome’s synagogue, in 1982, when Stefano Taché, a child only two years old, was killed and 37 people were wounded. We know what it means to attend our synagogues with their entrances always presided by the police, or to take our children to schools always under guard. We are all aware that many of our representatives are subjected to threats. What happened in Paris makes it clear that the fundamentalists’ logic doesn’t have to prevail, and that “libertà” is a value to preserve with all our might. In Paris, four Jews were killed. Their only crime was to be in a Jewish market, buying food for Shabbat. In Paris, members of the staff of the Charlie Hebdo were exterminated for making fun. Their work was provocative, grotesque, sometimes deeply disturbing. But their freedom of speech is also our “libertà”, that’s the freedom to be who we are, or to disagree, but not to destroy or kill.		NEWS "An attack against the values of the whole Europe"  By Rossella Tercatin Italian Jews expressed their shock and condemnation after the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris last week. “The appalling events of the past few days represent an attack against the fundamental values of France and of the whole of Europe,” said the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) Renzo Gattegna in a message sent to French President Francois Holland and to Roger Cukierman, president of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France on Sunday. Read more NEWS Pencils for Freedom By Ada Treves The first reaction, perhaps the most natural for those who really knew the French magazine Charlie Hebdo and its authors was of absolute disbelief: "A fake, this is the first thing I thought of when I got the news of attack. It was not possible, it had to be yet another provocation, I could not believe it." These were the words of Giorgio Albertini, illustrator and long time collaborator of Pagine Ebraiche. The Israeli cartoonist Michel Kichka, who in those very minutes was working with the journalists of the newspaper of Italian Jewry was able to say only "It is a deep shock", to later remember the times when he had the possibility to work and deal with those who have been murdered. (Artwork by Paolo Bacilieri) Read more NEWs New Stolpersteine in Rome By Adam Smulevich At the beginning of January, 20 new commemorative memorial plaques were placed in the city of Rome and other cities throughout Italy. Known as “stumbling blocks”, the "stolpersteine", cobblestone-sized memorials which were created by the artist Gunter Demnig, commemorate through the powerful message of art where the victims of the Shoah and of Nazi-Fascist cruelty lived.   Read more EXHIBITIONS The Great War and Italian Jews By Rachel Silvera There was the envelope with 44 letters and 19 postcards from the frontline. There was the bag that Grandma Graziella Anticoli jealously preserved as a symbol of her childhood with her parents and thirteen brothers in Rome, a childhood made up of small joys and effort. These items are the core of a huge treasure; extraordinary proof of Italian Jewish involvement in the Great War, that Esther Di Porto, Graziella's granddaughter decided to share with the Jewish community of Rome. By a series of fortunate events, this collection gave birth to the exhibition “Prima di tutto, Italiani” ("First of all Italians"), which can be visited at the Jewish Museum of Rome until 16 March 2015. Read more Français "C'est l'arme absolue de rire, c'est l'arme de la démocratie" “Comment vas-tu, Philippe?”, c'est tout simplement ce que Nicolas Demorand a demandé à Philippe Val, ancien directeur de Charlie Hebdo, au micro de France Inter à quelques heures de l'attaque à la rédaction du journal satirique à Paris. Val a rendu en larmes un vibrant hommage à ses camarades et collègues de Charlie Hebdo, avec un appel bouleversant à continuer à rire pour que les valeurs de la liberté et de la démocratie survivent. Ci-dessous le texte intégral. (Francesca Matalon) “Je vais très mal. Mais c'est normal, non? J'ai perdu tous mes amis aujourd'hui. C'étaient des gens tellement vivants, qui avaient tellement à cœur de faire plaisir aux gens, de les faire rire, qui avaient à cœur de leur donner des idées généreuses. C'étaient des gens très bons. Les meilleurs d'entre nous, forcement, comme tous les gens qui font rire, comme tous les gens qui sont pour la liberté, comme tous les gens qui sont pour qu'on puisse aller et venir librement, en sécurité. Ils ont été assassinés, c'est une boucherie épouvantable. Il faut pas laisser le silence s'installer". Lire la suire Loneliness and Faith A Personal Rumination By Yaakov Mascetti* Years ago, in the Beit Midrash of the Hesder Yeshiva of Shilo, while feeling out of place in yet another context I had put myself into, I started a havruta with one of the rabbis there – subject of our study sessions was “The Lonely Man of Faith” by Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik. The words I read and discussed with my teacher still echo in my daily religious experience. Humbly I wish to reiterate the Rav's three-word sentence in this piece, with a short poem I wrote this summer. But first things first: "I am lonely." *Yaakov Mascetti holds a Ph.D. and teaches at the 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, Amanda Benjamin, Monica Bizzio, Angelica Edna Calò Livne, Eliezer Di Martino, Alain Elkann, Dori Fleekop, Daniela Fubini, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Jonathan Misrachi, Anna Momigliano, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Sabina Muccigrosso, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Jazmine Pignatello, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Colby Robbins,  Danielle Rockman, Lindsay Shedlin, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves, Lauren Waldman. 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, Amanda Benjamin, Monica Bizzio, Angelica Edna Calò Livne, Eliezer Di Martino, Alain Elkann, Dori Fleekop, Daniela Fubini, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Jonathan Misrachi, Anna Momigliano, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Sabina Muccigrosso, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Jazmine Pignatello, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Colby Robbins,  Danielle Rockman, Lindsay Shedlin, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves, Lauren Waldman.