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May 2, 2016 - Nissan 24, 5776

NEWS

Italian Parliament Set to Vote on a Bill
to Punish Holocaust Denial

By Adam Smulevich

The Italian Senate is about to discuss a new text of a law which increases the punishment for those responsible of promoting incitement or committing acts of racial discrimination based in part or entirely on the denial of the Holocaust.
Examined for many years by the Parliament, the law in its final formulation should be approved by the Senate on Tuesday. If approved the bill must be examined for a final review by the Chamber of Deputies.
Senator Silvana Amati, a member of the Democratic Party and the first person to propose the bill since 2012, told Pagine Ebraiche that there was a “strong urgency” for the law to be approved, “without any further loss of time.”

NEWS

Italy Celebrated Liberation Day,
Remembering the Jewish Brigade

By Daniel Reichel

On April 25, 2016, Italy celebrated the 71th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. In different cities, rallies commemorating the Liberation of the country from the Fascists and the Nazis were organized as usual.
In Milan, the Jewish Community participated in the main rally, remembering the contribution of the Jewish Brigade. The Jewish Brigade was a military faction of the British Army that employed Jewish volunteers from the British Mandate of Palestine and played a key role in the liberation of some Italian regions. As it happened in the past, a small group of demonstrators protested against the presence of the Jewish Brigade's flags, shouting slogans against Israel and in support of the Palestinians. “They were a small group of ignorant people who don’t know history,” commented the vice-president of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities Roberto Jarach during the rally.

BOOKS

Naples: 150 Years of Jewish History

By Francesca Matalon

The story of the first 150 years of the Jewish Community of Naples is the focus of a new book, “La Comunità ebraica di Napoli 1864-2014: centocinquant’anni di storia,” (The Jewish Community of Naples 1864-2014: 150 years of history), curated by Giancarlo Lacerenza, director of the Center of Jewish Studies of Naple's University L'Orientale. The volume is a catalogue made after two exhibitions held at the National Library and at the State Archives, including a selection of essays that describe the Jewish heritage in the city. This initiative was made possible by the cooperation of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, the Foundation for Jewish Cultural Heritage in Italy and the Jewish Community of Naples, together with the State Archives and the Ministry of Culture.
“The Jewish Community of Naples has a very ancient story, that dates back way beyond 1864”, said Lacerenza at a presentation of the volume held at the Naples’ National Library, in the same room that housed the exhibition last year. Jewish presence is connected with the Naples’ area since distant times, and one of its most important legacies is the many manuscripts and print books produced since this time. The two exhibits have gathered together family pictures and decorations from the synagogue, and mixed public documents with private ones, representing the strong roots of Neapolitan Jews with local society.

VENICE AND THE GHETTO

A Prestigious Culture and History

By Luca Zaia*

The presence of Jewish people in the land that would have become the Republic of Venice dates back several centuries. Over time, the Jews had turned to be a relevant core of Venice, which was the commercial crossroad between East and West. In 1516, the Serenissima chose to settle the presence of Jews through a decree that limited them in a well-defined area of the city. Venice was the birthplace of the first Ghetto in Europe; it also gave birth to a world, “ghetto”, that we currently use to indicate all the forms of exclusion. Nevertheless, the Ghetto of Venice was also cultural melting pot. Thanks to the flourishing of printing works in Hebrew, for example, Venice became a relevant publishing center in Europe and one of the most important cities in the Jewish cultural context of that time. Even today, the Ghetto is not just a symbol of the Jewish History, but is also the set of a wide range of activities aimed at promoting the Jewish history, culture and tradition.
As a relevant point of reference, the Jewish Community of Venice is actively involved in the cultural field, also through the promotion of projects of great interest. Past and present dissolve in a common flow, which is marked by a transition made up of history, art and culture.

*Luca Zaia is the governor of the Veneto Region. This article has been translated by Isabella Favero, student at the Scuola superiore interpreti e traduttori di Trieste, ‎who is doing her apprenticeship in the newsroom of Pagine Ebraiche.

BECHOL LASHON - Deutsch Das letzte Geheimnis der Finzi-Contini Von Dirk Schomer* Bucher über die Ermordung der europäischen Juden gibt es viele, und es sind - dem unendlich großen Verbrechen entsprechend - nie genug. Berichte, die direkt von Gaskammern und Erschießungen handeln, stehen neben subtileren Erzählungen, in denen die Leser sich das Grauen vorstellen müssen. "Die Gärten der Finzi-Contini" von Giorgio Bassani ist solch ein meisterhafter Roman, in dem auf den ersten Blick gar nicht viel passiert. Doch gerade wegen der fast idyllischen Isolation der Protagonisten in ihrem ummauerten Anwesen mit Park und Tennisplatz mitten in der Altstadt von Ferrara ist dieses schwebende Stimmungsbild am Vorabend des Grauens ein Meisterwerk der modernen Literatur geworden. Zu Bassanis Diskretion passt es, dass die handschriftliche Urfassung von "Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini" erst jetzt an die Öffentlichkeit kommt. Bassani hatte seine sechs Notizmappen, darunter vier große Bilanzhefte für Buchhalter, einer Frau geschenkt, die mit Fug als Vorbild der rätselhaften Micol aus dem 1962 erschienen Roman zu verstehen ist: Teresa Foscari Foscolo. *Die Welt, 30.04.2016. Weiter lesen	pilpul Freedom By Benedetto Carucci Viterbi* According to Toledot Jaacov Josef, freedom is awareness of what we lack, of our limits. Without it, we are still irreparably slaves. *Benedetto Carucci Viterbi is a rabbi. Read more

IT HAPPENED TOMORROW All the Difference By Guido Vitale «Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference» (Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken) Read more	altrove/elsewhere The Talmud in Italy By Daniel Leisawitz* The latest edition of Pagine ebraiche featured a series of articles dedicated to the progress of the years-long Babylonian Talmud Translation Project. Earlier this month a ceremony was held at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome to celebrate the completion of the first tractate of the Talmud to be translated fully into Italian. It is striking to reflect on the fact the this massive initiative to translate the entire Babylonian Talmud into Italian, which began in 2010, is moving forward thanks to the contributions of “roughly 50 scholars, translators, editors, and curators,” the financial support of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and the Italian government, and the utilization of a computer program developed specifically for this project by Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche’s Institute for Computational Linguistics. Although this is a momentous occasion it is not the first time that a large-scale and coordinated publishing project of Jewish texts has taken place in Italy. *Daniel Leisawitz, professor at Muhlenberg College (Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA). The artwork is by Abraham Cresques a 14th-century Jewish Spanish cartographer. Read more

moked è il portale dell'ebraismo italiano

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
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© 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.

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© 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.