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December 12, 2016 - Kislev 12, 5777

NEWS

Italian Jews Congratulates Minister Gentiloni
on the Mandate to Form New Government

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

The president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities Noemi Di Segni sent a message to Paolo Gentiloni, the country’s current Foreign Minister, to congratulate him on his mandate to form a new government. Gentiloni received the mandate from Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Sunday, after the resignation of prime minister Matteo Renzi in the light of the results of the constitutional referendum held on December 4.
“We hope that the Quirinale’s choice will receive the widest possible support of the Parliament and we hope that his government will be able to work in a serene political environment with the cooperation of all parties and groups who believe in the values expressed by the Constitution. In this way, we can better face the challenges that await the country,” Di Segni wrote.

culture

Design Chanunukkiot on Exhibit in Milan

By Daniel Reichel

The exhibition “The Lights of Chanukkah. History, Art and Design” will open on December 13 at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan. The leitmotiv of the artifacts is to give a modern interpretation of the meaning of an ancient holiday.
Forty chanukkiot designed by Italian and international artists and designers that are part of the collection of the Jewish Community of Casale Monferrato will be presented to the public in the prestigious venue of the Triennale. Through the Chanukkioth, the visitors will have the opportunity to learn the message of this Jewish holiday and to encounter an innovative project that merges art and Jewish tradition.

NEWS

Ten Italian Classes Choose ‘Mein Kampf’
as Their Favorite Book

By Adam Smulevich

The number is relatively small, but the signal is still alarming. Ten Italian classrooms, among the 138,000 who responded to a specific request from the Italian Ministry of Education indicated that among their ten favorite books was “Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler. In some of cases, it was even in first place.
"It is an abhorrent fact. It cannot pass over in silence. Whatever the matrix that has led to this crazy situation, there is a clear responsibility: the responsibility of teachers who did not intervene to stop their students. This is the most serious aspect of all," stressed historian Anna Foa in her article published in the daily newsletter, Pagine Ebraiche 24.

bechol lashon - deutsch

Grund zum Pessimismus

von Daniel Mosseri*

Öffentlich und offiziell meldet sich die UCEI, die Dachorganisation der italienischen Juden, zwar oft zu Wort, aber selten zu politischen Fragen. Im Fall des Referendums über eine Verfassungsreform hat sich die UCEI vor einer Wahlempfehlung gehütet. Doch daraus zu schließen, wir Juden seien in Anbetracht der politischen Niederlage des Ministerpräsidenten Matteo Renzi unbekümmert, wäre falsch. Das Thema betrifft uns, es berührt uns sehr.
Monatelang hatte Renzi mitgeteilt, dass sein politisches Schicksal mit dem Ausgang des Referendums verbunden ist. Als klar wurde, dass »Nein!« deutlich gewonnen hatte, reichte der Ministerpräsident folgerichtig bei Staatspräsident Sergio Mattarella seinen Rücktritt ein. Viele Italiener vergleichen Renzis Schlappe mit der des damaligen britischen Premierministers David Cameron beim Brexit-Referendum. Entsprechend schauen viele von uns mit Sorge auf das Anwachsen eines antieuropäischen Populismus auch in Italien.

*Der Autor ist italienischer Journalist in Berlin. Judische Allgemeine 8.12.16.

Mehr

pilpul - double life

Online Today

By Daniela Fubini*

In my personal crossroads of nationalities, languages and political or cultural affiliations, it has been a heavy duty month. Let's put it flat out there: a little over one month ago many, possibly most of my closest American friends, thought we would wake up on November 9 with Hillary Clinton as President Elected. It did not happen, and if we all thought that the craziness in social media was about to end a day or two past election’s day, we were all wrong there too. Not only I am still exposed to dozens of posts discussing the present and future of America politics, but I have been added to a number of Facebook groups that function like group therapy for depressed or panicky citizens.
Meanwhile in Italy the rampage of populism around, across and throughout the referendum was also reaching peaks never seen before.

*Daniela Fubini (Twitter @d_fubini) lives and writes in Tel Aviv, where she arrived in 2008 from Turin via New York.

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IT HAPPENED TOMORROW

Online Hate Speech

By Guido Vitale

“We have similar conversations around the world about the problem of online hate speech, but we do absolutely see in Israel and the Palestinian territory that this is one of the central issues in society even more in this region than elsewhere.” (Simon Milner, Facebook’s policy director for Britain, the Middle East and Africa, The New York Times)

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altrove/elsewhere

Viva i Foa

By Daniel Leisawitz*

Politics around the world, from the U.S. to Italy to the Philippines, have taken some troubling turns recently. Much virtual ink has already been spilt in an effort to get at the root of what has led to the current trends and to understand where they are heading. Two incisive analyses of recent events have been offered by Anna Foa and Roberto Stefan Foa. I do not know if these two Foas are related, but the Foa family name has long been associated with prominent members of Piedmontese Jewry. Anna Foa is retired professor of modern history at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and daughter of one of the founding fathers of the Italian Republic, Vittorio Foa. Roberto Stefan Foa is a young Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Both Foas, separately, have commented upon the recent populist turn in politics in the U.S. and Europe, and their pieces warrant our attention.

*Daniel Leisawitz is the Director of the Italian Studies Program at Muhlenberg College (Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA). The artwork is by Abraham Cresques a 14th-century Jewish Spanish cartographer.

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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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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.