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January 15th, 2015 - Tevet 27th, 5775
Un très Grand Rabbin By Guido Vitale* “Il y a une notion de blasphème pour le croyant, mais on ne peut pas projeter notre interdiction sur les autres. Si quelque chose est blasphématoire pour moi, je ne le regarde pas. Dire que Charlie Hebdo est allé trop loin, c'est commencer à justifier. Si vous commencez à dire, « liberté de la presse, mais », le «mais» est coupable. Il n'y a pas de «mais». Liberté d'expression et liberté de la presse sont des fondements de notre démocratie. L'humour juif consiste à rendre impensable le rejet de qui que ce soit”. (Haim Korsia, Grand Rabbin de France). Merci, Monsieur le Grand Rabbin! *Guido Vitale is the editor-in-chief of Pagine Ebraiche.   Italian Word of the Week BELLA CIAO by Daniela Gross If you followed the news last week about the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and its victims, maybe you encountered these two Italian words: “Bella Ciao”. It’s the title of a popular Italian partisan hymn played during the commemoration ceremony for Stephan Charbonnier. Charbonnier, also known as Charb, director of the weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo and a cartoonist himself, was brutally murdered by the jihadists. Why did the musicians there, most of them his close friends, choose to play that song? Maybe the answer is related to the long, and sometimes complicated, story of “Bella Ciao”. Sung by the anti-fascist resistance movement active in Italy between 1943 and 1945, it dates back to the beginnings of the ‘900. The author of the lyrics is unknown. The music is based on a folk song sung by rice-weeders on the River Po basin. After World War II, this hymn was now and then disputed, considered too lefty, too extremist, not meaningful and so on. But when the democracy is challenged, as a mysterious underground river, “Bella Ciao” reappears and once again speaks us of freedom. Incidentally, “Bella Ciao” was played also during the commemoration of Tignous, another of the Charlie Hebdo’s cartoonist slaughtered by the terrorists.		NEWS Learning the Value of Memory in Poland By Daniel Reichel To teach the new generation to be the keepers of the memory of the Shoah . This is the purpose of the two day journey (18-19 January) to Poland that the Italian Ministry of Education and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) has organized for 200 students from all over Italy. Read more NEWS After Paris Attacks, Italian Authorities Beefed Up Security Measures By Daniela Gross The Paris massacre continues to have troublesome effects. At least 27 terror suspects have been arrested in Europe in the past 48 hours, including two Belgian nationals who were trying to flee to Italy, sources said Friday. The Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said," "there were no specific terror threats to Italy," in the wake of last week's bloody attacks on journalists and Jews in France. Anyway, "there is a context that raises concerns," Gentiloni went on. "We must respond to terror and barbarism without fear, and without giving up the mainstays of our civilization. We must respond with the unity of our institutions and of the Italian people", he told the Senate. To prevent any risk the authorities have beefed up security measures in Rome's Jewish quarters and around the city's Jewish schools, embassies, monuments, places of worship and news media offices. Read more exhibitions Primo Levi’s Worlds By Ada Treves The Centro Internazionale di Studi Primo Levi (International Primo Levi Studies Centre) offers yet another occasion to deepen the knowledge of the Piedmontese writer: opening on Thursday in Turin, the exhibition “I mondi di Primo Levi” (Primo Levi’s worlds) is devoted to enlighten his life from a peculiar point of view. As he was able relate with the same clarity to extremely different experiences, from lager to poetry, from science fiction to sculpture the curators - Fabio Levi, director of the Centro Primo Levi, and Peppino Ortoleva - have organized the exhibition so that it will contain few texts but many documents, images, videos, objects, in a modular path. Read more OUT OF THE BOOT  Emanuele: Foreign Affairs, Fraternities and Shabbos dinners By Simone Somekh* Just minutes before Emanuele and I spoke, three terrorists stormed the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in downtown Paris and fatally shot 12 people. “Europe is asleep” commented Emanuele. “And once it will finally wake up, it will realize the enormity of this phenomenon.” Emanuele Boccia, 22 years old, was born and raised in Milan, Italy, and is currently finishing his undergraduate studies in Political Science and Criminology at the University of Manchester. “I’ve always been interested in foreign affairs. The more I study these subjects, the more I enjoy them,” he said, adding that he is mostly fascinated by terrorism studies. Emanuele also interned at the Israeli Chamber of Commerce and represented the Jewish students at the UN. “I’d love to do research about the Arab countries, the media, with a focus on their relationship with Israel.” Read more Português Crocodiles por Eliezer Di Martino* Geralmente as traduções comuns dizem que a vara que Aharon atirou para o Faró se transformou numa cobra. Esta tradução não está correta! A palavra usada é Tanin, não NaHash. NaHash é uma cobra. Quando Moshe foi abordado pela primeira vez, a sua vara se transformou numa cobra, uma criatura que simboliza o desejo do mal, o famoso Yetzer haRá. A mensagem era que D'us é poderoso e pode mudar quando quiser uma vara para uma força do mal - e vice-versa. *O rabino Eliezer di Martino é o rabino-chefe de Trieste Leia mais Double Life - Three voices, one little Jew By Daniela Fubini* When you have a double life like me, even triple at times, there are moments when you really risk a personality disorder. For example, during and after the Charlie Hebdo and Hypercacher terror attacks. Like many, I was glued to any possible screen after the massacre at the magazine, and just when I started coping with the idea that someone can decide to murder in the name of a god intellectuals not holding weapons beyond the usual pencils, the Jewish chapter of the horrific saga begun. As a former New Yorker, I wondered whether Europe would stand together now, like the US did after September Eleven. But somewhere deep down the line-up of leaders who took part to the massive march in Paris didn't raise much hope. No super-national commission was created, no summit was planned, nothing: marching like an orderly class of polite children evidently was enough, and that worries me. *Daniela Fubini (Twitter @d_fubini) lives and writes in Tel Aviv, where she arrived in 2008 from Turin via New York.   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.