Having trouble viewing this email? Click here November 30, 2020/ 14 Kislev, 5781

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

The project “Not in my name. Jews, Catholics and Muslims against violence on women” finds an exceptional testimonial in Gessica Notaro, a former model who after being scarred with acid by ex-boyfriend became in Italy a symbol of the fight against prejudice and discrimination. The announcement came last week on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women held annually on November 25. It marks an important step in the program organized by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities together with the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum - APRA, the Italian Islamic Religious Community - COREIS, the Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation - CDEC and the Association of Italian Jewish Women – ADEI.
“Not in my name", which was launched last year and is funded by the Italian government, is aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of violence against women and combating stereotypes through the universal values of the three monotheistic religions. The project includes several initiatives to make high school students aware of the issue, such as dedicated lectures and a student contest aimed at creating a communication campaign to fight prejudice and discrimination.

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By Pagine ebraiche staff

"In 1938-39 the ferocity of racial laws hit; human justice today repairs”. So reads the plaque affixed last week in Rome in the Court of Appeal to commemorate lawyers, magistrates, and court officers expelled after the promulgation in Italy of the racist laws. Realized by the Rome Bar Association together with the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Rome Jewish Communities and the Italian Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurors, the initiative was followed by a meeting that canceled the 1939 expulsion decree. The ceremony, stressed the Senate president Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, was a precious opportunity to reaffirm that “only a fair society builds its own future”. “Meeting today sends a strong signal. In most difficult moments we need to appeal to the values on which our republican democracy is based”.
“In Italy – said the President of Italian Jewish Communities Noemi Di Segni – was not the work of the Nazi occupant alone and was not solely committed in the crematoriums of Auschwitz. It was enacted in Italy, in Italian camps, by Italians who believed in fascism or were indifferent. After the war, criminals almost never underwent trial, and justice courts stayed silent. This is the responsibility of Memory, if we really want to say never again”.

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By Pagine ebraiche staff

The project “Together at home – Insieme a casa” is back. Realized by the Israeli NGO Machshava Tova (in Hebrew Good Thought) along with the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, the program addresses specifically the elderly, who the pandemic prompted to bridge the digital gap in order to overcome age-related obstacles (mobility difficulties, reduced social connections, etc.) and to connect with younger family members who communicate via means of the 21^st Century.
The project’s new phase starts on November 30^th and re-proposes the recordings of the most interesting classes held on line the last months. An expert will attend to answer questions, clarify doubts, and integrate the recordings with new teachings. Classes take place on Mondays and Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. via Zoom and Facebook. The first class focuses on functionalities and alternatives to Zoom platform. Here more information on Machshava Tova.

In December 2017 Elèna Mortara met Philip Roth in New York and an extraordinary conversation ensued. The first volume of the Meridiani Mondadori, the prestigious series dedicated to the American writer that she curated, had just been released focusing on Roth’s narrative production between 1959 and 1986, with novels like Goodbye, Columbus (1959), Portnoy's Complaint (1969), The Ghost Writer (1979), My Life as a Man (1974), Zuckerman Unbound (1981), The Anatomy Lesson (1983), and The Counterlife (1986). Now Elèna Mortara recounts that magical encounter with Philip Roth, his oeuvre, his indelible mark on contemporary literature, and some personal anecdotes in an online conversation held in a series of literary meetings realized by the Center for American studies in Rome. Here the link. Elèna Mortara taught Anglo-American literature at Tor Vergata University of Rome and in 2016 was awarded the European award American Studies Network Book Prize.

Von Anna Foa*

Erinnert ihr euch dran, wenn man sagte, es sei wie auf das Rotes Kreuz zu schießen? Heute, in Covid-Italien, wenn noch nicht geschossen, wird das Rotes Kreuz, zumindest seine Krankenwagen, mit Fußen fröhlich getreten. Das Ganze passiert mit dem Segen Paters Fanzaga, Direktor von Radio Maria, der das Bild des Teufels hinter der COVID „Verschwörung“ schwenkt. Ein Teufel, den der Präsident der USA schön benannt hat, und zwar George Soros, der Autor auch anderer Verschwörungen sei, wie z. B. die, die ihn gelassen hat, die Wahl zu verlieren. George Soros, natürlich ein Jude. Und so schließt sich der Kreis.
Na, gebt uns Voltaire zurück, bitte!

* Historikerin

Übersetzung von Rachele Ferin, Studentin der Hochschule für Dolmetscher und Übersetzer der Universität von Triest und Praktikantin bei der Zeitungsredaktion der Union der jüdischen Gemeinden von Italien (UCEI).
 

By Aaron Howard*

The personal essays in Augusto Segre’s “Stories of Jewish Life” (Wayne State University Press) play out over a 100-year period in Italian history beginning with the Risorgimento (Italian national unification) and the liberation of Italy’s last Jewish ghetto. Italian nationalism unified the country. It also led to Italy’s attempt to build a colonial empire, the fascist seizure of power in 1922 and Italy’s role as a Hitler ally.
European nationalism sought to replace monarchies and empires with modern nation states. As a political movement, nationalism tends to organize people based on the idea of a national identity, a common “we,” in terms of language, religion, culture and symbols. In Italy, as in most of Europe, creating a common “we” depended on creating a common “they,” an outgroup that is not part of the nation. And in Italy, as in most of Europe, nationalists identified Jews as the outgroup.

* This article was published on Jewish Herald Voice on October 8, 2020
 

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