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June 29th, 2015 - Tamuz 12th, 5775
Dishonor and War By Guido Vitale* “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.” (Winston Churchill). *Guido Vitale is the editor-in-chief of Pagine Ebraiche.   Refugees By Daniela Gross During the last weeks, international media has reported widely about the impressive wave of refugees reaching Italy’s coasts, from Africa and the Middle East. It’s a real humanitarian emergency for all of Europe, and unluckily this subject often faces the lack of answers from public institutions. In this scenario, the action recently taken by the Shoah Memorial and the Saint Egidio Community in Milan is highly symbolic. As Zita Dazzi writes, on the newspaper La Repubblica, thirty five refugees have been given shelter at Binario 21, the train track of Milan’s railway station from which the deportation trains departed. At the entrance of the Memorial there is a sign reminding how horrible indifference may be, said Roberto Jarach, president of the Shoah Memorial Foundation. “So, when we realized we could do something to help people in the middle of this tragedy, we said ‘here it is our mission, we cannot turn our head away’. There are people on the run, who saw their civil and human rights suppressed. We cannot close our eyes.” It was not an easy decision to make, because this place is conceived as a memorial and not as a shelter, pointed out Mr. Jarach. However, the step was taken, and now thirty-five beds lay near an armored car train used in 1945 to take Jews to extermination camps. The refugees, which are “Africans escaping from dictatorships and Syrians, for sure don’t know anything about the Holocaust and what happened at Binario 21”, writes Zita Dazzi. But providing solidarity in a place so full of painful memories is a way of fighting racism and prejudices that is more effective than many words.		NEWS A Woman Will Lead Rome’s Jewish Community  By Adam Smulevich Ruth Dureghello, 48 years old, leader of the list “Per Israele” (“For Israel”), is the first woman in history appointed as president of the Jewish Community of Rome, the oldest of the Diaspora. Dureghello was voted in by a large majority of the new Council of the Community which was elected two weeks ago (she received 24 out of 26 votes). Read more NEWS Pisa’s Synagogue Restored to Its Ancient Beauty By Francesca Matalon Restored to its ancient beauty, Pisa’s synagogue was re-inaugurated last week with the presence of representatives from Jewish institutions and communities, various rabbis and many citizens of the Tuscan town. “Today Pisa’s synagogue has been returned not only to the Jewish Community which after many years, will finally be able to use a space that had been fundamental to Jewish life for more than four centuries. Even more so the city and the whole society will benefit from the reopening of the synagogue; this will include many initiatives to promote and encourage dialogue,” said Renzo Gattegna, president of the Italian Union of Jewish Communities (UCEI). Read more  EVENTS - Science and Society, between Rome and Jerusalem By Rossella Tercatin Professors and researchers from Italy and Israel met and shared their studies on social, cultural and scientific transformations of the two countries in a conference at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem last week. The conference was organized by the European University of Rome, the Pontifical Institute of Notre Dame of Jerusalem Centre, and Hebrew University, for the second consecutive year. Opening the conference was demographer, Sergio Della Pergola. Among the topics discussed were issues relating to immigration and demography both in Italy and in Israel and environmental and energy aspects and policies. “Energy policies in Europe have undergone major changes in the last 30 years,” noted Fabiana Di Porto, professor at the University of Salento and European University of Rome, and member of the Council of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, who delivered a lecture on “Recent Trends in Legal Studies in the Framework of Energy Policies.” Read more MEDIA From the Golem to Harry Potter Magic in the Jewish Perspective By Rachel Silvera The July issue of Pagine Ebraiche was published at the end of last week. The monthly Special section is devoted to magic in the Jewish perspective, from the Golem to Harry Potter. Inside the section, professor Gideon Bohak explains the exhibition, "Magie. Anges et démons dans la tradition Juive", now open at the Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaism in Paris. Director and actress Miriam Camerini writes about the story of the Golem and the Dybbuk as it has been depicted in theaters through the years. The chief rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, who has written a book of Jewish anthropology called "The Nails of Adam", explains the difference between magic and ritual. Rabbi Levi Cooper, a teacher at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, offers his take on the relationship between Harry Potter and the Jewish tradition. Read more עברית קול הספרים - ביקור במצדה Sarah Kaminski, University of Turin עלינו למצדה ברכבל וצפינו באותם הזריזים וקלי הרגליים שטיפסו במעלה המדרון בקלות מפתיעה, נחושים בדעתם להגיע ברגל למרומי הצוק המפואר ואפילו לחזור למטה דרך שביל הנחש. אנחנו הגענו עם הרכבל, נסיעה מהירה ודחוסה שבעצם לא מאפשרת להינות מהנוף המדברי. המדריכה הסבירה על ארכיטקטורת מצור, מערכת מים משוכללת ומבני פאר הראויים לבית משפחת הורדוס ואורחיו. ואז הגענו אל המתחם אשר בו, לפי סיפור המיתוס הישראלי, נאם אליעזר בן יאיר, ראש קבוצת הסיקרים, את נאום ההתאבדות הקולקטיבית המפורסם שלו. הסיקרים ומשפחותיהם רצחו, נרצחו זה ע"י זה, והתאבדו בכדי לא לפול לידי הרומאים. ישבתי באותו מתחם עם קבוצה של תיירים איטלקים, ממולי הקשיבה קבוצת "תגלית" מאמריקה למדריך צעיר ובכניסה לחדר שהתה קבוצת קנדים שבאו לטיול סוסים בישראל. כל המדריכים  הדגישו את גרסת יוספוס פלאביוס: גבורת אלעזר אשר אחר שני נאומים חוצבי אש ופתוס, משכנע את לוחמיו הסיקרים הקנאים, לרצוח את משפחותיהם ולהתאבד כדי לא ליפול לידי הרומאים. כאשר היהדות הדתית מעלה את סוגיית ההתאבדות היא דנה בשאול המלך ואילו הציונות המודרנית עדיין ממשיכה להאדיר את המיתוס המוות הטראגי של מצדה. שנים עברו ומחקר ההיסטוריה של ארץ ישראל העמיק והתנתק מדוגמת ה"דם ואש". ועם זאת הנרטיב אותו אנו מעבירים לתיירים שבאים להינות ולהכיר את הארץ, עדיין שבוי בכבלי הפאתוס שאותו אהבו זאב זבוטינסקי ומשה שרת, אך בן גוריון התנגד לדקלומו! מאמר בעברית עם ציטוטים ומבואות: גילי חסקין, מיתוס מצדה-צמיחתו וקמילתו באתוס הישראלי 50 Years of Nostra Aetate By Allan Jacobs* It is my great privilege, as President of B’nai B’rith International, to thank you sincerely for your generous hospitality today. Like our interactions with your esteemed predecessors, our visit – as a delegation of B’nai B’rith representatives from cities across multiple continents – is meant to celebrate and affirm our organization’s profound investment in inter-communal relations, and particularly in the Catholic-Jewish friendship, at all levels in the more than 50 countries where B’nai B’rith maintains a grassroots presence. B’nai B’rith, founded nearly 172 years ago by German Jewish immigrants to the United States, is the oldest Jewish communal, humanitarian and human rights advocacy organization. Our heritage is one, rooted in the millennia of Jewish history, of dynamic civil-society engagement in promoting service and fraternity both within the Jewish community and in relations between diverse communities. *Allan Jacobs is the B'nai B'rith International President. A multinational delegation of B’nai B’rith leaders met privately with Pope Francis on June 25 at the Vatican.. Read more
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