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February 8, 2016 - Shevat 29, 5776

NEWS

Nice Remembers Angelo Donati,
an Italian Hero

By Adam Smulevich

The city of Nice celebrated the bravery of Angelo Donati (1885-1960), a Jewish Italian banker, philanthropist and diplomat. Donati saved many Jews from the Nazi persecution in Italian-occupied France between 1942 and 1943. To honor his memory, a two-day event was held, including a conference at the university, a religious ceremony at the synagogue, and the dedication of a plaque on the building where he lived on the Promenade des anglais.
Among the participants at the events, coordinated by Viviane Viterbo Harrosh, there was the famous Nazi hunter, Serge Klarsfeld, Mayor Christian Estrosi, Counselors of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities Giorgio Sacerdoti and Giorgio Mortara.

FEATURES

The Jewish Community of Milan Celebrates
Its 150th Anniversary

By Francesca Matalon

It is time for celebrations for the Jewish Community of Milan, as 2016 marks the 150th anniversary since its foundation. The presidents Milo Hasbani and Raffaele Besso announced that the Community will be sharing this important moment with all the city, with a festival of Jewish Culture – called “Jewish and the City”, at its third edition – entirely dedicated to the event in the upcoming spring.
The history of Milan's Jewish Community started in 1866. Back then Italy was a newborn country still fighting its wars of independence, which Milan had been one of the main theaters. Before that, as the city was still under the rule of the noble families of the Viscontis and the Sforzas, Jews were prohibited to stay in Milan for more than three days for business.

NEWS

Friends of Tel Aviv Art Museum Honor
Father Virginio Colmegna

By Daniel Reichel

Father Virginio Colmegna was nominated Man of the year 2016 by the Friends of the Tel Aviv Art Museum Association (also known as AMATA).
The AMATA awarded the prize to Father Colmegna, president of the Milan Charity House Angelo Abriani, for his commitment in helping people, such as refugees, to integrate in the society. The ceremony took place at Palazzo Marino, the Milan municipality palace, and was attended by the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv Mehereta Baruch-Ron, the municipality councilors Ruggero Gabbai and Filippo Del Corno and the president of AMATA Anna Sikos.

CULTURE

The Mysterious Origin of the Word 'Ghetto'

By Elon Gilad*

Five hundred years ago, in the year 1516, the first official ghetto was established, in Venice. It isn't that Jews hadn't lived in isolation in Europe's cities before. They had, by choice. The nature of their religious observance requires Jews to live near a synagogue, a Jewish butcher, and Jewish ritual baths, among other specialized services. But the Venetian Ghetto was something new: It was obligatory, walled in, and the gateways were guarded by armed men who enforced a curfew. From there, the practice of isolating the Jews in ghettoes would spread to other Italian cities, then throughout Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. But the origin of the word "ghetto" itself is an etymological conundrum. First recorded in a papal bull issued by Pope Pius IV in 1562, "ghetto" was subsequently used throughout Christendom. The pope was clearly using the already established name of the Venetian Ghetto, but the question still begs, why it was called "the Venetian Ghetto". Of the many theories for the word's emergence, none are satisfactory. Some scholars think it derives from get, the Hebrew word for "divorce papers." But it is hard to see how a word meaning divorce papers would gain wide currency as the name a "walled-off area of town where Jews live." Another explanation, probably the most cited one, is that the word comes from the Italian word getto (“foundry”).

*This article was published in Haaretz on January 31, 2016.

BECHOL LASHOn - Español Libertad de Benedetto Carucci Viterbi* Recientemente hemos empezado a leer el libro de Shemot, Exodo, que cuenta la liberación de la esclavitud en Egipto. De todas formas, no hay liberación total hasta que no puedas sentarte seguro, en un bar en Tel Aviv, para celebrar un cumpleaños. *Benedetto Carucci Viterbi es un rabino. Este artículo ha sido traducido en español por Giulia Castelnovo, estudiante de la Scuola superiore traduttori e interpreti di Trieste, que está haciendo su práctica para la revista Pagine Ebraiche. Leia mas	PILPUL A Common Cause By Susanna Calimani* I had somehow promised myself I would have not mention him again, but my new Muslim officemate is giving me so many new emotions. He was telling me how an Israeli girl who was taking a course with him at the university and used to smile at him, looking for his complicity, whenever anecdotes about being from the Middle-East popped up. He did not really understand why: he had hostile feelings and just wanted to keep his distance, to make distinctions clear between them, while she was smiling at him, as if they actually had something in common! *Susanna Calimani is a wandering economist, currently based in Frankfurt. Read more

IT HAPPENED TOMORROW Croire, savoir By Guido Vitale "Il n'est pas demandé de croire, mais de savoir" (Bernard-Henri Lévy) Read more	italics Fighting Anti-Semitism in 21st Century By Pagine Ebraiche staff Italian historian Manuela Consonni has been appointed as Director of the International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In an interview with journalist Alain Elkann published in the Italian daily La Stampa, she explains her vision for the fight against Anti-Semitism in the 21st century. “Despite the fact that Jews are integrated into the societies they live in, this doesn’t negate the rise of anti-Jewish prejudice in moments of tension, conflict, and crisis like the one we are experiencing today,” Consonni said. Read more

moked è il portale dell'ebraismo italiano

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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.

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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.