NEWS

Israeli Ambassador to Rome expresses solidarity to Italy over Coronavirus crisis 

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

Israeli Ambassador to Rome Dror Eydar expressed his solidarity towards Italy and the Italian people over the Coronavirus crisis. In a letter sent to the Union of the Italian Jewish Community, Eydar also explained the measures taken by the Israeli government to limit the access to the country to people travelling from Italy.
“A warm shalom to all Jewish communities in Italy. We at the Embassy of Israel care about your wellbeing and keep you in our thoughts. You are always in our heart. We have not left Italy. We are always with you,” he said.
“This is a time of crisis. The whole world is in trouble, not just Italy. But it is a temporary crisis and with the help of G-d we will overcome it,” he added.

Read more

news

Italian rabbis call for prayers
for Coronavirus patients

By Pagine Ebraiche staff*

“We invite you all to take this time of trouble and confusion as an occasion to reflect openly and in a sensitive way on our life choices and reference values, to check on our attention and our ability to respond concretely to those in our scope needing help and comfort and to pray with the desire to open our hearts to the Lord. ‘Sincere repentance, prayer and charitable work can push away horrible laws.’ We would like to say that we share the pain of the victims and we pray for the recovery of the sick, wherever the disease has occurred and is yet to hit.”
This is what a release of the Italian Rabbinical Assembly announced concerning the Coronavirus emergency. Italian rabbis are worried about the virus spread “also in Italy” and invite us “to carefully follow prevention and safety instructions supplied by the World Health Organization, to refrain from potentially harmful behaviors, and not to neglect the symptoms of the disease, therefore making sure not to become responsible for any infection and further spread of the virus.’ The release also recalls that the Torah and Jewish laws provide requirements for personal healthcare and other people’s health.

*Translated by Mattia Stefani and revised by Claudia Azzalini, both students at the Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreting and Translation of Trieste University and interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

Read more

NEWS

MEIS Director Della Seta appointed head
of the Yad Vashem European Department 

By Pagine Ebraiche staff*

The National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah in Ferrara (MEIS) Management Board announced that the museum’s Director Simonetta Della Seta was appointed Director of the European Department of Yad Vashem’s International School of Holocaust Studies in Jerusalem, one of the highest teaching and research institutions, whose aim is to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust.
Della Seta took up this prestigious post at the end of her four-year term at the Museum.
The Management Board, along with the Board of Auditors, the Scientific Committee and all the staff of the museum, expressed their “great satisfaction for this important role that their Director will cover from 1st September 2020 onwards and that she was certainly given also following her tireless work at MEIS”.

*Translated by Sara Facelli and revised by Mattia Stefani, both students at the Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreting and Translation of Trieste University and interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

Read more

bechol lashon - Español

La idea del esparcidor
de enfermedades

Anna Foa*

Mientras aumenta el pánico por la difusión del coronavirus y es la primera vez que nos enfrentamos a medidas de aislamiento que son justas pero que jamás experimentamos, y mientras algunos periódicos echan leña al fuego con titulares demenciales como “Pruebas técnicas de masacre”, que secretamente evoca la idea de enfermedad creada artificialmente, recordamos las muchas veces en la historia que la idea del esparcidor de enfermedades fue dominante; la peste negra de 1348 fue atribuida a los judíos, la sífilis fue atribuida también a los “marranos”, el cólera en el siglo XIX, así como la gripe española más tarde, fue atribuido a las maquinaciones de los gobiernos. Malos recuerdos, y ojalá que sigan siendo recuerdos.

*Anna Foa, historiadora. Traducción de Sara Volpe, 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.

Mas

pilpul

'Say no to identity, yes to acts of being!' A few thoughts on Election Day

By Yaakov Mascetti*

Identity is an implanted concept in my formation which has caused me many, many problems in the last few years. When my father was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and it looked like, in 2010, he was going to die, I had rabbis tell me that for the halacha he was not my father and that I was not required to mourn for his passing – my dad is not Jewish, but I am. That, you may understand, had quite an impact on my (then) troubled consciousness. Who was I? Why could my dad not be mourned with the tools I had acquired through my conversion? And if I couldn’t do so, did that mean I was still his son, or did it mean that I had to choose between being Jewish and not being so?


*Yaakov Mascetti (PhD) teaches at Bar Ilan University.




Read more

ITALICS

This Italian Jewish kid was supposed to have
a bar mitzvah party, then coronavirus hit

Read more