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February 5, 2018 - Shevat 20, 5778

ROME osce CONFERENCE ON FIGHTING ANTI-SEMITISM

“Contrasting Hatred, a European Challenge”

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

Today there are “too many signals of a rising anti-Semitism. We have to fight it, because our own safety is at stake”, pleaded the Italian foreign minister, Angelino Alfano, during the International Conference on the Responsibility of States, Institutions and Individuals in the Fight against Anti-Semitism.
The conference, held in Rome on January 29th, was promoted by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR), the Foundation Jewish Contemporary Documentation Centre (CDEC) in Milan and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI).
When opening the conference, Mr. Alfano said that Italy’s OSCE chairmanship in 2018 “will promote the fight against the discrimination of Jews, Christians, Muslims and other religious communities”. With regard to the rising anti-Semitism in Europe, Mr. Alfano explained that “we have to worry when anti-Semitism grows with no reaction. Silence always helps the attacker, not the victim”. He added: “We cannot allow awful claims of racial superiority any longer”. Mr. Alfano also mentioned Tikkun Olam, the Jewish concept meaning “repair of the world”. “We are not deceiving ourselves into thinking that we can change the world as a whole, but we suggest that every OSCE country begins the operations needed to fight anti-Semitism”, among others, the implementation of the definition of anti-Semitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA, which will be chaired by an Italian from next March). Mr. Alfano continued: “At the suggestion of UCEI’s president Noemi Di Segni, I also talked to our Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni about creating a national monitoring centre on anti-Semitism”.

Translated by Federica Alabiso, 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.

ROME OSCE CONFERENCE ON FIGHTING ANTI-SEMITISM

Against Hatred, European Legislators
Must Act Together

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

What responsibility do lawmakers and authorites have in the fight against anti-Semitism? What could we do to be more effective in this fight that involves all European countries? These are some of the issues that were discussed in the panel “Responsibility: the role of law makers and civil servants” in Rome, during the conference on the fight against anti-Semitism in OSCE countries.
“We have to define anti-Semitism to be able to fight it. You cannot fight it if you don’t know what it is”, said Katharina von Schnurbein, Special Coordinator of the EU commission against anti-Semitism. She also highlighted the necessity for all EU countries to adopt the definition of anti-Semitism provided by the IHRA, an intergovernmental organization for Remembrance.
Ambassador Sandro de Bernardin, who will chair the IHRA from next March, emphasised that it is important to know how widespread anti-Semitism is. Statistics are fundamental, but they are not enough. “We have to work hard to erase anti-Semitism completely, and to do so, we have to make local authorities feel responsible”.
The Chief of Italian Police, Franco Gabrielli, focused on the statistics on anti-Semitism in Italy. .

Translated by Federica Alabiso, 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.

ROME OSCE CONFERENCE ON FIGHTING ANTI-SEMITISM

“Religions Need to Be More Responsible”

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

Dialogue and constructive debate were the focus of the meeting, “Responsibility: religion and anti-Semitism”, moderated by Giovanni Maria Vian, editor-in-chief of L’Osservatore Romano.
A videotaped speech by Rav Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations, opened the panel. The Rabbi said: “The problem of anti-Semitism does not just concern the Jews. It is actually the sign of great dangers that inevitably end up affecting the whole of society, and with devastating consequences.” Concerns were expressed regarding the hatred towards Jews, that is currently connected to the refusal to recognise the State of Israel. The Rabbi stated: “Large part of anti-Semitism comes from that part of the world."

Translated 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.

Organización para la Seguridad y la Cooperación en Europa

La red social: oportunidades y riesgos

Ada Treves

El problema que todos consideran preocupante, complicado para gestionar y aún más para solucionar que concierne a la difusión y al aumento de racismo, antisemitismo y xenofobia en las plataformas sociales y en la red en general fue el tema del tercer panel del congreso. En el entorno digital de hoy en día, la lucha contra el antisemitismo es de vital importancia y se puede llevar a cabo siempre y cuando exista una voluntad de cooperación firme y concreta entre los actores que estén involucrados. Asimismo, cabe subrayar otro asunto en el que se hizo hincapié a lo largo del congreso, a saber, que, en el año en que a la presidencia de la Organización para la Seguridad y la Cooperación en Europa (OSCE) se suma la presidencia italiana de la International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), el compromiso de Italia en este ámbito es especialmente significativo también del punto de vista simbólico, en el día del octogésimo aniversario de la promulgación de las leyes racistas antijudías de 1938. Titulado “Responsability: the challenge of digital platforms” – Responsabilidad: el reto de las plataformas digitales – y coordinado por Gerardo Greco, director de los periódicos Radio Rai y de Radio 1, el panel consistió en una serie de intervenciones de representantes de mundos muy distintos, que se mostraron de acuerdo en señalar los peligros de la difusión de declaraciones que incitan al odio, así como de noticias falsas en la red. Los mismos se comprometieron también a denunciar los riesgos de un empleo no plenamente consciente de la web.

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

Organización para la Seguridad y la Cooperación en Europa

El deporte tiene que defender los valores

Pagine Ebraiche staff

La lucha contra el odio PASA necesariamente a través de la educación, de la cultura, de la transmisión de valores por medio de diferentes canales. Sobre todo, el mundo del deporte, con sus campeones que asumen una responsabilidad pública en este sentido. Este es el tema del panel “Responsibility: the role of educators and sports” (Responsabilidad: el rol de los educadores y del deporte), moderado por el periodista de Ansa (Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, Agencia Nacional Estampa Asociada), Stefano Polli.
Entre los protagonistas hay el ex corredor Shaul Ladany, que sobrevivió a la Shoah y al atentado palestino en los Juegos de Mónaco del 1972, y que justo 24 horas antes había marchado para una Memoria consciente en ocasión de la Run for Mem en Bolonia. “Es impresionante el hecho de que, después de más de 70 años desde la Shoah, es todavía necesario hablar de antisemitismo. Sin embargo, es importante estar aquí hoy, para estudiar juntos estrategias e iniciativas para contrastarlo”, ha subrayado Ladany. “El deporte – ha afirmado – puede hacer mucho”.

Traducido por Ilaria Vozza, 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

bechol lashon - Français

Racisme

Anna Foa*

En Italie et dans le monde, on ne parle que de fascisme et de racisme. En Italie, le «Duce» (Mussolini) a le vent en poupe, des éloges de partout, des saluts romains à chaque coin de rue et des croix celtiques partout. Et puis des insultes racistes à ceux dont la peau est plus mate: dans les gradins, sur le web, de la part d’un président des États-Unis. Dernièrement, en Angleterre, une starlette a insulté violemment la fiancée du prince Harry, car elle est métisse. Il semblerait que le fascime et le racisme aient été légitimés. Moi, je suis inquiète. Et vous?

*Anna Foa est historienne. Traduction de Federica Alabiso, étudiante de l’Ecole Superiore pour Traducteurs et Interprètes de l’Université de Trieste et stagiaire au journal de l’Union des Communautés Juives Italiennes.

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pilpul

Purim and the Conceptions
of Good and Evil

By Yaakov Mascetti*

Purim is a rather complex ideological construction, founded on a number of canonical themes such as good and evil and the blurring thereof, the hiding of God’s face in history, Divine will versus destiny (“pur”), et al. Within the framework of the orderly narrative chaos of the Book of Esther, good and evil are presented as intermingled and as part of the book’s confrontation with change, destiny and with the absence of a directing authorial hand. Of course, readers and commentators of the past and in the present, who have looked for “the voice of my Beloved,” and have tried to hear his knocking at the story’s “door,” have been able to find it clear and distinct. And yet the gargantuan effort invested by readers to find an orderly narrative and conceptual presentation in the story of Purim points to the fact, I think, that it was actually meant to convey the banality of both good and evil.

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

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italics

Ferrara’s Jewish foundations:
Jewish heritage in Italy

By Andy Massack*

"Jewish people have been living in Ferrara for over a thousand years. They are in the very stones of this city.” It’s an impressive statement to suit an ambitious project, made by Italian Tourism Minister Dario Franceschini during his speech at the recent inauguration of the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah.
The first state-funded museum of Italian Judaism, it illustrates just how important Ferrara has been to Italy’s Jews — and perhaps more significantly, how important the city’s Jewish citizens have been to Italy.
The museum itself is still a work in progress with phase one now complete, a permanent exhibition of the first thousand years of Italian Jewry. Over 200 rare artefacts chart the Jewish diaspora into the Italian peninsular from the Roman period onwards revealing how they managed to build and retain a unique identity.

*This article was published by the Jewish Chronicle on January 28, 2018.

moked è il portale dell'ebraismo italiano

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