news

Italian Football Association Opposed FIFA Vote on Israeli Teams in the West Bank

By Daniel Reichel
 
The Congress of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) accepted the proposal of the governing body of the international soccer council to refuse to hold a vote on a Palestinian proposal questioning the status of Israeli teams in the West Bank.
“The vote passed Thursday with the approval of 73% of the FIFA members. It comes after that the FIFA council decided on Tuesday that it would be ‘premature’ to make a decision on the status of Israeli teams that play in the West Bank.

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NEWS

A Constitutional Pact for Italian Islam

By Pagine Ebraiche staff
 
Italian institutions are working on a bill to enhance better integration and dialogue with the Muslims of Italy. Last week, the Chamber of Deputies began to discuss the proposal. Marking the beginning of the legislative procedure there was also a conference devoted to “Islam in Italy. What Constitutional Pact?” at the Montecitorio Palace.
The conference was promoted by Andrea Mazziotti, a member of Parliament and president of the Commission of Constitutional Affairs. The event was introduced by the Montecitorio Police superintendent, Stefano Dambruoso. It focused on topics that are not often dealt with, such as the challenges of integration, civil rights and economic growth for the two million member community which is currently the largest minority in Italy.

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SPORTS

At the Giro d’Italia, a Tribute to Gino Bartali

By Pagine Ebraiche Staff
 
On May 17, the Giro d’Italia, the Italian major cycling event will depart from Ponte a Ema, the hometown and birthplace of one of the greatest cyclists of twentieth century: Gino Bartali (1914-2000).
The Italian race will pay a special homage to the legendary champion, who saved hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust. Also the Israel Cycling Academy, Israeli's first professional team, will attend the ceremony to pay a tribute to him.
The day before, in collaboration with our newspaper Pagine Ebraiche, the team will embark on a special ride, covering the exact same route that Gino Bartali did while smuggling fake documents inside his bike frame to help persecuted Jews: from Florence to Assisi, a total of almost 190 kilometers.

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bECHOL LASHON - Français

Des stèles juives endommagées dans un cimetière de Rome

par JTA

Des individus non-identifiés ont endommagé des douzaines de pierres tombales et des plaques commémoratives dans les sections juives et catholiques de l’un des principaux cimetières de Rome.
Selon les médias italiens, les dégâts ont été découverts vendredi dans la matinée durant une inspection menée avant l’ouverture du cimetière de Verano.
Les coupables ont cassé ou renversé des croix ainsi que des étoiles de David et ont endommagé des stèles, des tombes, des vases et des plaques commémoratives. Des articles parus dans les journaux indiquent que les caméras de surveillance ont filmé ce qui semblait être plusieurs jeunes pénétrant dans le cimetière pendant la nuit, et courant à travers le site en cassant des tombes.






*Times of Israel Français 14.05.17





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Altrove/Elsewhere

Food and Politics

By Daniel Leisawitz*

This past Tuesday, President Obama returned to the world stage with a speech and conversation at the Seeds & Chips Conference on food and technology in Milan, Italy.  Although the contents of Mr. Obama’s remarks were non-partisan, politics was not far from the surface, as the New York Times headline declared: “Obama Speaks in Milan, with Food as Text and Politics as Subtext” (NYT May 9, 2017).  That food and politics are intricately and intrinsically linked is undeniable: a fact which Michelle Obama must have quickly realized when her initiatives to promote healthy eating and reduce childhood obesity, such as her White House vegetable garden and the Let’s Move! campaign, were met with vociferous and irrational resistance in some quarters.
The relationship is not always antagonistic, of course.  Clara Sereni’s influential memoir, Casalinghitudine (translated into English as Keeping House, SUNY Press, 2005), demonstrates the deep connections between food, memory, family, identity, and also politics.

*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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IT HAPPENED TOMORROW

Criticism

Guido Vitale

“In Pirkei Avot we are taught, Al Tadun Et Chaveircha Ad Shetagia Limkomo, ‘Don’t judge others until you come to their place’ – which means we should always appreciate the pressures, the influences, the extenuating circumstances in the lives of others. Those very people, whom we wish to criticise, might very well be, far more righteous than we are.” (rav Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of Commonwealth)




















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italics

Can Vatican display shed light on the fate of the Menorah?

By Rossella Tercatin*

During a historic meeting with Pope John Paul II in 2004, then-Sephardic and Ashkenazi chief rabbis of Israel Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger reportedly threw caution and diplomacy to the wind and asked after the whereabouts of Judaism’s lost Menorah.
It was the first official visit of Israel’s highest religious authority to the Vatican, and on the docket were a wide range of sensitive religious and political subjects. Still, the rabbis insisted on raising this rather touchy issue.
Less than 10 years before Amar and Metzger’s pontifical visit, in 1996 Israeli Minister of Religious Affairs Shimon Shetreet issued a similar request during a meeting with John Paul II. And in 2004, then-president Moshe Katsav would do the same.
So it came as no surprise that the Menorah rumor was the first thing Chief Rabbi of Rome Riccardo Di Segni mentioned when he spoke with The Times of Israel about “Menorah: Cult, History and Myth,” the upcoming exhibition co-hosted by the Vatican Museums and the Jewish Museum of Rome, which will run from May 15 through July 23.

*The article was published in The Times of Israel on May 14, 2017.

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