news

Milan Leads the Way to Explore
Jewish Languages

By Daniel Reichel
 
The Italian Minister of Defense Roberta Pinotti chose the word Shalom, peace, to open the European Day of Jewish Culture, celebrated last Sunday all over Italy. Speaking at the Great Synagogue of Milan - selected as the leading city for 2016 - the Minister underlined the role of the Jewish minority in society and the necessity to teach the value of coexistence to the new generations.
“The leitmotiv of the 2016 edition, 'Jewish Languages and dialects', is particularly significant and fascinating;” said the president of the Union of Italia Jewish Communities Noemi Di Segni during the opening ceremony in Milan. "It allows us to remember and speak about the souls and cultures that characterize Jewish society in Israel and throughout Diaspora."

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NEWS

Italy Celebrates Jewish Culture

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

Long lines outside Jewish venues, packed auditoriums, a wide selection of lectures, exhibits, performances and concerts: the 2016 edition of the European Day of Jewish Culture was held all over Italy last Sunday, and as per usual, it attracted thousands of people from all over the country. Celebrating the event were not only cities which currently have a viable Jewish community, but also locations were Jews used to live, or still do but without the official presence of Jewish institutions; from Piedmont to Calabria and all the way to Sicily. 
The theme chosen for this year, Jewish languages, offered an opportunity to explore stories and the nuances of languages like Hebrew and Yiddish which are associated with the Jewish life everywhere in the world. Furthermore, attention was devoted to Italian-Jewish patois, starting from Giudaico-Romanesco (Roman-Jewish).

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news

Italy (at Last) Makes Holocaust Denial a Crime

By Giorgio Sacerdoti*

By law n. 115 of 16 June 2016 Italy has finally enacted as law the crime of denying the Shoah or "negationism". We say "at last" because the law concludes a legislative process that has lasted more than three years, with the Senate and the House of Deputies almost playing ping pong with a bill that was alternatively amended by one or the other Chamber which were each time unhappy with the text tentatively approved by the other. Indeed, the swift passing of the law, which was finally approved by a large majority, with a number of abstentions and almost no negative vote by the Chamber in the text finalized by the Senate, was hampered by perplexities from different parties as to the alleged limitations to freedom of expression that the prohibition of Holocaust denying would create under threat of criminal penalties.
Moreover, the supporters of the bill had to overcome the vocal opposition of an influential group of contemporary history specialists exposing the well-known argument that historical debates, even on theories which are clearly baseless and biased, should be left to historians, from which the legislator should keep out. A theory that ignores the blatant bad faith of the deniers and the danger that outrageous Holocaust denial through Internet represents, as the Italian Jewish community has tirelessly pointed out in support of the statute.

*Giorgio Sacerdoti is the president of the Center of Jewish Contemporary Documentation (CDEC) in Milan.

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EVENTS

September, the Month of Culture

By Ada Treves

September, in Italy, means culture festivals. After the Festivaletteratura in Mantua, as usual, opened the month (this year with Mantua selected as the Italian Capital for Culture 2016), last week, it was time for Pordenonelegge, "la festa del libro con gli autori" (the book party, with the authors). Even if the location - the extreme North East of Italy - could not seem ideal for such an event, Pordenonelegge has been able to gain the interest and the participation of an amazingly big number of people over the years. The town turned again yellow - the official color of the festival - and thousands of visitors took advantage of more than three hundred events that were held over the course of five exciting days, with every space filled to the top of its capacity.
Pagine Ebraiche, the Italian Jewish magazine, was present in Pordenone with hundreds of copies distributed in the Info-Points by the organization.

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bechol lashon - deutsch

Hapoel Beer Sheva
besiegt Inter Mailand

von Philipp Peyman Engel*

Überraschung in der Europa-League: Der israelische Fußballmeister Hapoel Beer Sheva hat beim Auswärtsspiel gegen Inter Mailand souverän mit 2:0 gewonnen. Die Tore gegen den favorisierten italienischen Verein schossen der portugiesische Abwehrspieler Miguel Vitor (54. Minute) und der israelische Nationalspieler Maor Buzaglo (69. Minute).
Nach dem Sieg im ersten Spiel der Europa-League belegt Beer Sheva nun im zweitwichtigsten europäischen Pokalwettbewerb den zweiten Gruppenplatz. Das nächste Spiel bestreitet der israelische Verein in zwei Wochen in Beer Sheva gegen den FC Southampton, der am Donnerstagabend Sparta Prag 3:0 bezwang und sich damit an die Spitze der Tabelle setzte.

*Judische Allgemeine, 16.09.16.


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pilpul

Soccer Commentator Suspended from TV Role over Mussolini Tattoo

By JTA*

A former Italian soccer player known for his pro-fascist views has been suspended as a TV commentator after displaying a tattoo on the air referring to Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
The satellite channel Sky Sports Italia suspended Paolo Di Canio after he appeared on camera while reporting on a match Sunday wearing a short-sleeved shirt that allowed the tattoo on his arm reading “DUX” to be seen. “Dux,” the Latin term for leader, is the origin of the Italian term “Il Duce” — the title chosen by Mussolini, who ruled Italy for two decades and was an ally of Adolf Hitler.



*This article was published in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on September 15, 2016.

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VENICE AND THE GHETTO

La Serenissima on Exhibit at Israel Museum

By Rossella Tercatin

After the exhibits inaugurated in New York and California, the Jewish Ghetto of Venice and the history of Venetian Jews are going to be on a special display at the Israel Museum of Jerusalem. 
From September 16, 2016 to June 30, 2017 the Israel Museum Synagogue Route will feature a selection of ritual objects, that will lead the way to the synagogue at Vittorio Veneto, a town close to Venice. The synagogue is part of the permanent collection.
"For all of its restrictions, the ghetto paradoxically enabled the flourishing of spiritual, cultural, and artistic richness," says Gioia Perugia-Sztulman, curator of “Venetian Splendor: Marking 500 Years of the Venice Ghetto.” "Once established, the Ghetto drew a diverse variety of Jewish ethnic groups: German, Italian, Spanish, and Levantine. Each with its own distinct synagogue. Great efforts were devoted to beautifying their synagogues and adorning them with lavish ceremonial objects which embodied a distinctive Venetian taste."

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IT HAPPENED TOMORROW

Creating Words

By Guido Vitale

"And he went on creating words, / And his fast quill didn't rest, / And the language grew / And didn't recognize itself in the morning. / Eliezer Ben Yehuda, / An amusing Jew. / Words, words, words / He invented with his feverish brain”. (Yaron London, Matti Caspi: “Eliezer Ben Yehuda”)

























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altrove/elsewhere

Ferrara

By Daniel Leisawitz*

This summer, my family and I visited the beautiful synagogue in via Mazzini.  After our visit we stopped in a nearby yogurteria for lunch.  When I ordered a “piadina with hummus, hold the prosciutto,” the owner looked up at me.  Maybe it was the way I pronounced “hummus,” or the fact that I asked for my sandwich without the prosciutto (who in their right mind passes over the chance to eat prosciutto in Italy!?), but the owner’s curiosity was piqued.

“Where are you from?”
“The U.S.”
“Are you regular American, or something else?”
“Well, I’m Jewish.”
“Ah, I thought so.  Me, too.”

So, we struck up a conversation, falling into that mode of tribal familiarity that often occurs when two Jews meet each other in an unexpected place. Davide, the owner of the yogurteria, was eager to share with me the story of his family and that of the Jewish community of Ferrara – a small but illustrious community with a fascinating history dating back to at least the thirteenth century.

*Daniel Leisawitz is a professor at Muhlenberg College (Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA). The artwork is by Abraham Cresques a 14th-century Jewish Spanish cartographer.

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