Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

November 16, 2015 - Kislev 4, 5776
Paris is about Life By Guido Vitale* "Friends from the whole world, thank you for your #prayforparis, but we don’t need more religion! Our faith goes to music! Kisses! Life! Champagne and joy! #parisisaboutlife" (Joann Sfar) *Guido Vitale is the editor-in-chief of Pagine Ebraiche.   Unheeded Signals By Daniela Gross “We thought we could get away with a million people walking on Paris’s boulevards, last January, after the manslaughter at Charlie Hebdo, all together, all of us repeating ‘Je suis Charlie’, and later forgetting, removing what happened, apologizing[…]. Then it happened in Copenhagen, where an armed commando attacked a convention regarding the freedom of expression: again we pretended that nothing had happened. We pretended that nothing was happening also in Canada, when the Parliament went under siege. But Canada was far away, as was also Australia. Isis seemed so remote. And what could ever happen in Italy? Certainly not that a Jew would be stabbed in Milan, in front of a kosher restaurant, as kosher as the supermarket where, after the manslaughter at the magazine which dared to publish the cartoons about Muhammad, another massacre hit French Jews. Now, the apocalypse […]. But it was really so unpredictable?” So, the journalist Pierluigi Battista harshly criticized, on the Corriere della Sera in a long essay titled “Unheeded Signals”, the indifference that accompanied the escalation of terroristic attacks all around the world. Europe was under siege, he wrote, and all of us ignored what was going on. “Instead, it was possible to understand.  It would be enough to pretend that nothing was happening. It would be enough to understand why they [the terrorists] want to hit London, Amsterdam, Paris. And Milan, in front of a kosher pizzeria.”		NEWS After Paris Attacks, the Solidarity of Italian Jews By Adam Smulevich Regarding the terror attacks in Paris, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities Renzo Gattegna said: "There is a terrible threat against our democratic societies, a threat that was underestimated for too long. In front of this threat no hesitation is possible, but it is indeed crucial to join efforts to protect the most valuable asset we have: freedom. Today more than ever it is important to be united. Today more than ever it is important to say 'Je suis Paris', but also to translate these words into a concrete commitment. We are facing a real war of civilizations."  Gattegna discussed security issues with Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who received him together with European Jewish Congress delegate Alessandro Ruben.   Read more newS From Paris to Rome, A Vessel That Overcomes the Storm  By Francesca Matalon “Fluctuat nec mergitur”, Tossed but not sunk: it is the motto of Paris, referring to its symbol, a ship sailing through a stormy sea. But the same symbol represents Paris in the sky of the twinned city Rome, where a bronze statue stands bringing a little bit of the City of Light in the Eternal City, because “Only Paris is worthy of Rome, only Rome is worthy of Paris”. The vessel was erected on the top of a column close to Paris Street, in front of the National Order of Journalists, the Castro Pretorio, the Grand Hotel and the red church of Maria degli Angeli. The motto of France's capital has now become also the slogan of the world's battle against terrorism. Read more NEWS - Jewish Man Stabbed in Milan “We Will Not Yield to Threats” By Rossella Tercatin The Italian Jewish Community is shaken but determined not to give in to fear after a 40-year-old Jewish man was stabbed in Milan last Thursday night. Nathan Graff, a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch community, was attacked in front of a kosher pizzeria. “There are those who would like to scare us, to force us to change our habits and our daily life, to change what we have been for thousands of years. However, their battle is lost. We will go on, we will not yield to threats,” said the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities Renzo Gattegna. Read more Français Un véritable acte de racisme Anna Foa* En France, le MRAP, le Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples, a décidé de poursuivre en justice pour racisme Georges Bensoussan, historien français juif d'origine marocaine, tout en demandant la révocation de son poste de rédacteur en chef du Mémorial de la Shoah. Ce n'est pas la première fois que le MRAP s'engage dans des actions sur le terrain juridique: beaucoup ont déjà été dénoncés, et parmi eux Oriana Fallaci, Arno Klarsfeld, et le sociologue Pierre Taguieff. Né après la guerre pour la lutte contre le racisme et l'antisémitisme, le MRAP s'est de plus en plus transformé en un mouvement pour combattre le seul racisme anti-musulman. Mais il semble que maintenant, il ne connaisse même plus ce que le mot “racisme” signifie et qu'il soit devenu un mouvement pro-islamique et d'attaque violent contre Israël et les juifs en général, ce qui a entraîné une scission avec d'autres mouvements anti-racistes. Ceux qui connaissent les écrits de Georges Bensoussan, qui ont lu ses livres, tous de grand niveau et intérêt, savent que dans leurs pages, on ne trouve même pas l'ombre du racisme.    *Anna Foa est une historienne. La traduction est de Francesca Matalon. Lire la suite "We are all French" By Benedetto Carucci Viterbi* We are all French by solidarity and also because we really are all in the same position of being potential targets. For us Jews, this has been true for quite a while. *Benedetto Carucci Viterbi is a rabbi. The article was translated by Annette Lockart.
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, Michael Sierra, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves, Lauren Waldman, Sahar Zivan. 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, Michael Sierra, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves, Lauren Waldman, Sahar Zivan.