Having trouble viewing this email? Click here August 23, 2021 – 15 Elul 5781

Today Martin Adler’s dream finally came true. The 97 years old former WWIII American soldier met in Bologna Bruno, Giuliana, and Mafalda Naldi, the siblings he photographed after nearly killing them in October 1944 when they suddenly came out of a basket. Martin Adler, who is among the protagonists of the Liberation of Italy from Nazi-fascism, was then in his twenties and never forgot that moment.
After 76 years, he decided to try and track them down, although it was not an easy task, given that he did not know either their names or that of the town. In 2020, with his daughter Rachelle’s help, he shared the photo on social media. With the help of the Italian journalist Matteo Incerti, the mission was completed and in Italy the story went viral, as a spot of good news in the throes of the pandemic. In December, Adler finally was able to have a video with Bruno, Mafalda, and Giuliana Naldi, who are now in their eighties. And today, he met them at Bologna airport and warmly greeted them from his wheelchair wearing a t-shirt saying “Martin's bambini, forever kids”.

Adler, who is Jewish and went through the war with a Star of David hidden in his boots, entered a house in Monterenzio, near Bologna, with a companion of the 339th Infantry Regiment during the Italian campaign in October 1944.
Once inside they heard sounds coming from a basket and they were ready to shoot until the mother rushed in shouting 'bambini, bambini!' before they opened fire. When he saw three small children, two girls and a boy, Adler's heart melted and he asked the woman if he could take a photo with them.
He always described his meeting with the children as “the happiest moment of the war, the only happier moment was when the war ended,” Ms. Adler Donley said to the New York Times. “That smile in that picture is so genuine,” she said.
Now in Bologna, he finally reconnected with the former kids and was welcomed by the book I bambini del soldato Martin (Soldier Martin’s kids) that Matteo Incerti dedicated to his touching story.

From top, Martin Adler with the Naldi siblings in October 1944 and the Naldi brothers waiting for him at the Bologna airport.

Providing effective assistance and patient care requires taking into account the diversity of traditions, rules, codes of conduct, religious needs and their related ritual practices. Lack of awareness of these aspects can hinder the achievement of “all-round” care of patients. On this premise, a new advisory guide provides a series of suggestions on how to relate to patients from different cultures and religions. An easy-to-read reference booklet, this guide that can be used by healthcare staff, social workers, volunteers, patients and their families, to promote patient-centered care which respects diverse religions and cultural sensibilities, thus ensuring the patient’s dignity.
The vademecum is the outcome of a debate among experts from various sectors – health, religious, and juridical – on those topics that characterize our pluralistic society, which has been influenced by global mass migration and is today facing the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The drafting of the handbook, titled “How to relate to patients of different cultures and religions - An advisory guide with useful questions”, was carried out by the Scientific Committee of the Insieme per prenderci cura (Taking care together) group based in Milan and can be downloaded here for free. Founded in 2015, it is made up of doctors, allied health professionals, university professors, legal experts, community and religious representatives of the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Catholic, Waldensian, Protestant and Muslim faiths who promote seminars in hospitals and universities.
All participants of the group, among which the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities and the Jewish Medical Association-AME, have had as their agreed baseline for the coming together and setting up of the healthcare staff training programs the ethics of responsibility, respect for different spiritual identities and for the religious values of the patient. Dialogue with the patient, right from the first consultation, is the recommended way forward to achieve holistic care which is respectful of both the physical and spiritual dimensions of each human being.

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By Anna Foa*

Kabul fell into Taliban’s hands. Many Afghans are at risk, but especially girls and young girls do. In Herat, as soon as they took the city, Taliban already asked for the lists of unmarried girls over 12 years old. They are doing the same in Kabul. In a video circulating online, an Afghan girl says crying. “We will die slowly in history”.
But perhaps at least this could be done, negotiating on the destiny of women, insisting on it. Trying to wrest some rights for them. Let’s get them out of the country, welcome them, give them refuge and a place where to live, study, and work. Of course, men too, but women are really in the most danger. Let’s give them a strong message that we care about their destiny, and that determines our politics. We cannot do much, but at least we must do this.

*Historian 

By Hannah Goodman*

The Jewish community of Mantua during the Renaissance represents a unique chapter in the history of theatre. The Jews of Mantua were very active in the performing arts during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The early modern Jewish Italian theatre may seem very unfamiliar to the modern theatre practitioners; however, contemporary actors can learn the role of the Jewish community of Mantua, and how they shaped what we now know as modern theatre.
During the Renaissance, the Gonzaga family ruled Mantua. Like the rulers of many small Italian states of the time, the Gonzagas invited a limited number of Jews to live and work in Mantua, eventually giving rise to a full-fledged Jewish community. When conditions for Jews generally deteriorated in Italy during the counter-Reformation period, the Gonzaga family was reluctant to implement the anti-Jewish policies of the Catholic Church. Their relative liberality was not a result of particular sympathy for the Jews, but rather a calculated political decision to assert independence from Rome.
As a result of the Gonzagas’ relatively liberal stance, many Jews fleeing persecution in other Italian states found refuge in Mantua at this time. The pact of toleration gave the Jews permission to live in Mantua for a set number of years, and restricted them to certain fields, such as banking and cloth manufacturing. In exchange for their protection, the princes levied special taxes on the Jews of their territory.
In Mantua, the Gonzaga dukes devised a particular tax, unique in all of Italy, in the form of obligatory theatrical performances to be fully mounted and paid for by the Jewish community. Since these performances were large and festive, they required quite a bit of money for sets, costumes, special effects, musicians, dancers and actors, requiring the Jews to dedicate substantial time, resources, and creative energy to produce these spectacles. In essence, the Jews of Mantua were forced to perform in exchange for their own safety.  The Gonzagas, in turn, got impressive spectacles that displayed the wealth and sophistication of their state, at no charge to them.

Above, the House of Gonzaga as portrayed around 1470 in a fresco by Andrea Mantegna located at San Giorgio Castle in Mantua.
 
* This piece is part of a series of articles written by students of Muhlenberg College (Pennsylvania, USA) enrolled in a course on the history and culture of Jewish Italy, taught by Dr. Daniel Leisawitz, Assistant Professor of Italian and Director of the Muhlenberg College Italian Studies Program.

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By Marvin Glassman*

This week Camila Giorgi won the National Bank Open, Canada’s most prestigious tennis tournament, and it was a milestone for two reasons. First, it was the first major title win in the 29-year-old’s career, and a huge upset — she was ranked 71st in the world before beating No. 6 Karolina Pliskova in the finals. Second, Giorgi became the first Jewish player to win the event in 56 years, since American Julie Heldman took what was then called the Canadian Open in 1965.
Founded in 1881, the Canadian Open is the second oldest tennis tournament behind only Wimbledon. Even Giorgi was surprised she pulled it off. “I think I didn’t have the opportunity [to win the tournament] in these years,” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in her broken English following the match.
Reports have swirled for years that Giorgi might be Jewish, and that she was considering obtaining Israeli citizenship to play for the country’s team in the Fed Cup — a World Cup-style tournament. She confirmed to JTA that her parents, Argentines who immigrated to Italy, are Jewish. In fact, her favorite book is “The Diary of Anne Frank”.

* This article originally appeared on Jewish Telegraphic Agency on August 18, 2021

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