Having trouble viewing this email? Click here August 30, 2021 – 22 Elul 5781

As in Afghanistan the situation rapidly deteriorates and European institutions debate how to face an unexpected wave of refugees, all across the continent civil society organizations mobilize to help those in danger. In Italy, the Jewish world is at the forefront of this humanitarian emergency. The Union of Italian Jewish Communities Council met in extraordinary session and is working at welcoming 22 Afghan families, which in the next two weeks will quarantine in locations identified by the authorities. The initiative will develop in the future with the collaboration of the Jewish communities and some national organizations.
The Jewish community of Florence was among the first to answer the call, in touch with the municipality. “We cannot remain indifferent in the face of the tragedy of a population, and in particular the terror we see in Afghan women’s eyes who fear the cancellation of their most basic rights”, said President Enrico Fink offering the availability of the Community to help in welcoming.
The Jewish Community of Milan also moved in coordination with the UCEI. “We are working to organize a collection of necessities in the area in front of the Holocaust Memorial”, explained to Pagine Ebraiche the President Milo Hasbani. Also, a fundraiser will involve, like last December, different sectors of the city, Jewish and beyond.
As for those who in Italy have taken to the streets to help migrants, there are the spouses Gian Andrea Franchi and Lorena Fornasir in Trieste. For six years, husband and wife have been devoted to assisting the hundreds of refugees who cross the Italian border at North east after following the so-called “Balkan route”, a path that usually begins in Turkey and then winds through either Bulgaria or Greece.
First in Pordenone, then in Trieste, Franchi and Fornasir have been providing first aid to those who cross the border looking for a new life in Europe, after having walked hundreds of kilometers from Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Pakistan. “They go through a dramatic journey and have terrible stories behind them. But we don't ask them to tell us about their lives. This is not our task. We try to help them, in silence”, Fornasir explained to Pagine Ebraiche in meeting the editorial staff of Pagine Ebraiche within the framework of the Redazione Aperta journalistic laboratory, which took place last week.
 
(Above, Afghan evacuees queue before boarding Italy's military aircraft during evacuation at Kabul's airport. Image Italian Ministry of Defense)

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An online newsletter is a like a message in a bottle: The readership may be immense and you never know who is going to be interested or touched by your stories. This is especially true when it comes to a multilingual newsletter as Pagine Ebraiche International, aimed at connecting Jewish Italy and its multimillennial tradition and culture with the rest of world. Throughout the years, many fascinating contacts were made this way by this newsroom and its international readers, but the last one is worthy of a note.
This time, Pagine Ebraiche International found a very special reader in Dallas, United States, and an unexpected retake in Ladino followed on Diario Judío, an influential media outlet aimed at the Mexican and Hispanic world.  Its author is Rachel Amado Bortnick, who belongs to the last generation of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) native speakers.
Born and raised in Izmir in Turkey and now residing in Dallas, she is an active promoter of the language spoken for centuries by Sephardic Jews throughout the world. In 1999 she founded the online correspondence group Ladinokomunita, presently with over 1500 members worldwide, and was featured in the documentary by Bonnie Burt “Trees Cry for Rain: a Sephardic Journey”.
She was forwarded the last issue of Pagine Ebraiche International by a friend whose attention was caught by an article published last week. Titled “When in Mantua a unique tax was devised for Jews in the form of obligatory theatrical performance”, the piece by Hannah Goodman tackled a lesser-known facet of Jewish Italian history exploring the particular tax devised during the Renaissance by the House of Gonzaga in the form of obligatory theatrical performances to be mounted and paid for by the Jewish community. 

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By Alberto Cavaglion*

A few months ago I recorded on this portal a podcast about Marina Jarre and her "Distant fathers". I could not imagine what would happen, without my knowledge, over the next few weeks. A series of editorial initiatives that have brought back to the fore a solitary, fascinating writer, modern because of her fidelity to an ironic narrative, disenchanted, not really Turinese, Waldensian or conformist.
Firstly, her books have been reissued several times on the initiative of Bompiani and Marta Barone, who is a competent coordinator. Marta Barone wrote the preface of “Distant Fathers” which came out first and is perhaps Jarre’s masterpiece followed by the American edition translated by Ann Goldstein, who already translated Levi's complete works. "Giving a face and a number to the few who bear witness" is the stylistic mark that - since her debut - has made unmistakable "the slight foreign accent" of Marina Jarre, one of the rare contemporary writers who has been able to deal with history. 

*Historian 

Translated by Antonella Losavio, student at Trieste University and 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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By Cara Palumbo*

Since the early days of comic book publishing, Jewish and Italian-Americans have been working side-by-side to create an alternate universe where differences are celebrated. Comics create a home for those who feel like outcasts. Children identify with their superhero counterparts as they face similar struggles, making them feel less alone in the world. Through the writing and illustration of these books, artists brought awareness to social issues in an entertaining way. Most notably, throughout the twentieth century, Italians and Jews worked together on comics that condemned communism and dictatorships.
From the 1880s to the 1920s the United States experienced concurrent influxes of Jewish and Italian immigrants. In their native countries, both groups faced poverty and political turmoil which made immigrating to America a promising alternative for millions. However, when they arrived they faced the same hardships that most immigrants do, including growing nationalist and anti-immigrant cultural currents and politics. Many immigrants felt isolated in a place that was supposed to be welcoming.
As a young generation of Jews and Italians was born in the US, and experienced much of the hostility their immigrant parents did, they began reading comic books, where they were able to identify with the characters whose differences made them into heroes. These comic books inspired many Jewish and Italian children to pursue art and try to create their own narratives.

(Above, Nature Boy, a superhero created by Jerry Siegel and drawn by John Buscema. He first appeared in March 1956 and in the story “The dictator of Utopia” takes down a dictatorial town boss)
  
* 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 Livia Borghese and Jack Guy*

A US veteran has traveled to Italy to be reunited with three siblings who he almost shot dead during World War II. On Monday Martin Adler, 97, returned to the European country and was able to hug the three Italian siblings that he nearly mistook for hiding German soldiers in the Apennine Mountains 77 years ago. This week the group was reunited at Bologna airport, northern Italy -- fulfilling Adler's dream.
Adler, who lives in Miami, Florida, said he was delighted to see the siblings again, Matteo Incerti, author of a book on the story of the veteran who helped to organize the trip, told CNN. In December, Adler's daughter, Rachelle Adler Donley, told the story of the wartime encounter on a Facebook page set up as part of efforts to raise funds for her father's trip to Italy. “While searching for hiding Germans, my father Martin Adler and John Bronsky (deceased), saw a large closed basket moving and making noise. No one came out even after they were warned,” her Facebook post reads. “It was just at that moment a woman came running into the room shouting 'Children, children, children.'"

* This article originally appeared on CNN on August 24, 2021

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