news

Increasing Number of Italians Find
Holocaust Remembrance Day 'Useless'

By Rossella Tercatin

Holocaust Remembrance Day was established by the Italian Parliament in 2000. Since then, every year, the country has witnessed a growing number of events devoted to it, organized by national and local institutions, non-profit organizations and private citizens all over the country. 
To measure and monitor the perception and the effects of Holocaust Remembrance Day and the issues at its core within the Italian society, SWG, a leading Italian research institute in cooperation with the newsroom of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), have been polling the public in the days prior to January 27. The poll has been carried out every year for the past four years. And although the results show that the majority of Italians look at Holocaust Remembrance Day as a positive initiative, they also reveal some disturbing trends.

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news

‘Agreement for an Italian Islam’
Signed in Rome

By Daniel Reichel

Nine Islamic associations and the Italian Ministry of Interior signed a “National agreement for an Italian Islam” in Rome last week.
The 20-point Agreement - the first of this kind in Italy - is intended to regulate the Islamic reality in Italy and to "reject all forms of violence and terrorism," with prayers in mosques to be held in Italian.
"It's a very important document that concerns the present and future of our country through inter-religious dialogue, starting from a basic principle: we may have different religions, but we are all Italian," said Interior Minister Marco Minniti. “One of the essential points is that all the signatories have committed to reject all forms of violence and terrorism,” explained Minniti.

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NEWS

Nazi Victim Soccer Coach Arpad Weisz
to Be Honored at Bologna Stadium

By Adam Smulevich
 
In Bologna, people do not talk about anything else: it is the most discussed topic in bars, cafes, among the soccer fans. Recently, the City announced that a sector of the stadium will be named after Arpad Weisz, the great Hungarian Jewish coach who led Bologna to the championship and that was murdered in the death camps by Nazis.
No one doubts that a man like Weisz, for many years forgotten and just recently rediscovered, has to be honored. But some people, especially in the Church, seem to have strong resistance. The reason is that that very sector until now was dedicated to the Madonna di San Luca, the religious symbol of the city.

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BECHOL LASHON - Deutsch

Meine beste Feindin 

von Judith Luig*

Am Anfang steht der Verrat. Wir haben noch kaum die ersten Seiten dieser Geschichte eines neuen Namens gelesen, da konfrontiert uns die Erzählerin mit dem Vertrauensbruch, den sie an ihrer Freundin begangen hat. Lila hatte Lenu ihren größten Schatz anvertraut: eine Blechschachtel mit acht Schreibheften. Sie solle sie verwahren, aber niemals öffnen. Doch kaum ist die Freundin verschwunden, da macht sich Lenu auch schon über die Hefte her.
Sie findet darin Lilas Version der Geschichte, die die beiden erlebt haben und die Lenu in Meine geniale Freundin erzählt hat: das gemeinsame Aufwachsen im Elendsviertel im Neapel der Nachkriegszeit, die fantastische Erzählung, die sie erfinden, um dieser Welt zu entfliehen, zusammen mit einer realistischen Beschreibung jedes Details des Alltags in diesem Viertel sowie Essays. In dieser Schachtel findet sich auch die Schilderung der frühen Heirat der 15-jährigen Lila, die schon am Hochzeitstag kein Segen ist. Und was macht Lenu mit den Aufzeichnungen? Sie kippt sie in den Fluss. Die blasse Streberin schaltet eiskalt ihre erzählerische Konkurrentin aus. Was ist das nur für eine Freundschaft?

*Judische Allgemeine, 02.02.2017



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pilpul - double life

Red

By Daniela Fubini*

Say you are a relatively new Israeli like me, less than 10 years in the country. Say you live in the Center, or as we call it here the "Gush Dan". Most likely, the only red thing you would know about the South of Israel is the Alarm. "Zeva Adom", the name of the anti-missile alarm that resounds every now and then for months in a row since Hamas started dropping rockets anywhere around the Gaza strip, roughly aiming for civilians, kindergartens and just wherever they can get.
But then, every year when February comes, the weather forecast man at the end of the evening news starts showing pictures of beautiful fields of red anemones and speaking about "Darom Adom", the red South. A slightly evil genius of marketing must have thought: well, if everyone already knows the "Zeva Adom" (which in Hebrew means literally "Red Color" and doesn't mention any alarm, or missile in its name), why not to play with it and twist it into something nice, friendly, and even pretty? And we know evil geniuses of marketing always succeed.



*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

The Ultimate Test
of a Nation

By Guido Vitale

"The ultimate test of a nation is the manner in which it treats its most vulnerable" (Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth)















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italics

After 500 Years, Sicilian Jewish Life Is Reborn

By Rossella Tercatin*

Growing up in the small Sicilian coastal town of Palma di Montechiaro, Angelo Leone knew that his family was different. His great-grandmother Giovanna Milano would never go to church, lit candles every Friday afternoon, and baked unleavened bread around Easter.
“Moreover, my family celebrated Christmas and other holidays with a lot less participation than what happened in other households,” the 49-year-old professor of histology at the University of Palermo says in a phone conversation with The Times of Israel. “The truth is that there was always some sort of awareness that we weren’t really Christian.”

*The article was published in The Times of Israel on February 2, 2017.

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