European Day of Jewish Culture

Diaspora, Identity and Dialogue: the Right Way for a Future of Coexistence

By Daniel Reichel
 
“This year we chose Sicily as the focus of this 18th edition, with events in five cities – Palermo, Catania, Agira, Camarina and Syracuse -. A Sicily that, as you said mayor Orlando, lives every day, as we all do, looking at the future, getting strength from its ancient past and where the rebirth of the Jewish culture, after ages of silence, is a rebirth for the whole region”. This is what the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) Noemi Di Segni said during this morning inauguration held in Palermo for the 18th European Day for the Jewish Culture, celebrated throughout Italy.

*Translation made by Rachele Ferin, student at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of Trieste University, intern at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

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European Day of Jewish Culture

Learning to See the ‘Other’ in Rome

By Pagine Ebraiche staff
 
As it has become tradition, the inauguration of the European Day of Jewish Culture in Rome goes together with the beginning of the events of the International Festival of Jewish Literature and Culture (this year in its tenth edition). Therefore, there were two locations for attending the events for the traditional Night of the Kabbalah organized on the evening of September 9th: Palazzo della Cultura and the gardens of the Great Synagogue of Rome. A night of events, food, music and much more: this is “The Jewish White Night”, as some of the protagonists described it.

*Translation by Clara Ehret, student at the University of Regensburg, intern at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

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European Day of Jewish Culture

Minniti in Milan: “Dialogue is Essential
to Defeat Fear and Extremism”

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

“At this historic stage, it is important to conduct an interreligious dialogue that must be based on two theoretical points: do not persecute anyone in God’s name, do not kill in God’s name.” This is the message that the Minister of the Interior Marco Minniti has sent from the synagogue of via Guastalla in Milan. The Italian Minister was a speaker during the European Day of the Jewish Culture organized by the Milanese Community and he pointed out that the dialogue plays a key role in the future of European democracy.

*Translation made by Sara Volpe, student at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of Trieste University, intern at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

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European Day of Jewish Culture

Asisa, Salomone and the Others: Kicked Out

By Daniele Ienna*

Asisa is a woman from Trapani (Sicily). She is Samuele Sala’s wife, who is actually one of the richest bankers of Sicily. Her husband converts in 1492, but she doesn’t. She refuses to become a Christian and she decides to leave the island with her son Sadone, who is 11, even if she is pregnant. At the behest of the king’s deputy, a Christian leads her to her place of exile and supports her until the day of labor. When she delivers, the baby is given back to his father, so that he can raise him once baptized.
Salomone Bas is a doctor from Palermo. He runs the hospital of Bivona, which is a village surrounded by the mountain chain of Monti Sicani, where before the expulsion a giudecca and a synagogue could be found. Fifteen years before the decree of expulsion, Salomone converts to Chistianity and decides to be named Gabriel Zavatteri. After a number of proceedings and tortures, he is released to the secular arm and sentenced to be burnt at the stake in a square of Palermo, which is known as Piazza Martina nowadays.

*Translation made by Anna Pagetti, student at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of Trieste University, intern at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities. This article was originally published in Pagine Ebraiche special section “Jewish Sicily”, edited by Ada Treves.

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bechol lashon - Español

Catania: Judíos en Sicilia, la exposición

Pagine Ebraiche staff*

Es con la inauguración de la exposición “Los Judíos en Sicilia” que se abre el Día de Catania, la ciudad que esta tarde ha heredado de Palermo la cualificación de ciudad líder.
En exhibición, encontramos reproducciones a cargo de UCEI (Unión de las Comunidades Judías Italianas) y de la Fundación de los Bienes Culturales Judíos en Italia de la exposición “Sicilia Judía – 200 años de la presencia judía en Sicilia”, realizada por la Región Sicilia – Consejería Regional de los Bienes Culturales y de la Educación.
La ceremonia de apertura del Día de Catania empieza a las 5 de la tarde, con intervenciones del alcalde Enzo Bianco, de la presidenta de la Unión Noemi di Segni, y del Ministro Consejero de la Embajada israelí Rafael Erdreich.







*Traducción de Anna Pagetti, estudiante de la Escuela Superior para Intérpretes y Traductores de la Universidad de Trieste, en prácticas en la oficina del periódico de la Unión de las Comunidades Judías Italianas.

Leia mas

pilpul

Responding to Signs
with Words

By Yaakov Mascetti*

Signs are everywhere. We move through the myriads of signs that envelop our lives, carelessly, with what has to be a partially ignorant nonchalance, a cognitive impurity we carry around since the Fall. In a cosmos filled with signs, man has enforced upon himself this blinding ignorance, and has then yearned, in a sense of embarrassed nudity, clad in desire, to attain what the Italian writer Stefano Benni would called "the grammar of God." Yet, with all the maps and diagrams tracing the cosmic trajectories of signs, man is somewhat blind, and cannot understand most what he can see, while, alas, he cannot accept the fact that not everything has a meaning. Creation revolves around man, with an incomprehensible plenum of signs, which man does not see, does not understand. The space between him and those signs is bridged with interpretation, with a meaning man himself fashions – but when signs are impregnated with man-made meaning, and then uplifted to vestiges of God-given utterances, that is when man loses himself in a chaos of lies.

*Yaakov Mascetti holds a Ph.D. and teaches at the Department of Comparative Literature, Bar Ilan University.



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IT HAPPENED TOMORROW

Israeli Cinema

By Guido Vitale

"I am a great fan of Israeli cinema, which is a symbol of freedom of expression and the strength of Israeli democracy. Israeli cinema is one of the most important ambassadors of Israel in the world because of its quality, and because of the way it reflects different aspects of life in Israel, with all the challenges and magic within it.” (Reuven Rivlin)










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italics

Livorno: Day of Jewish culture postponed to mourn flash floods victims

By JTA*

The Jewish community in Livorno, on Italy’s Tuscan coast, postponed its European Day of Jewish Culture events as “a sign of mourning,” after flash floods due to torrential rain left at least five people dead in the city.
Four of the victims were members of one family, media reports said.
“The Livorno Jewish community expresses its condolences regarding the victims caused in recent hours by the storm and is close to those who have suffered damage and the institutions called upon to face this difficult test,” the community said in a statement announcing the postponement of Sunday’s scheduled events..

*This article was published in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on September 10, 2017.

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