Having trouble viewing this email? Click here September 6, 2021 – 29 Elul 5781

This past summer, after an initial testing phase, the digital census project of about 35 thousand volumes on a Jewish theme “Y-TAL-YA Books” officially began. The project is the result of a collaboration between the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities - the body at the head of the initiative - the National Central Library of Rome, the National Library of Israel and the Rothschild Foundation. The aim is to create a bilingual database, in Italian and Hebrew, which allows us to cover the entire span from the origins of printing to the 1960s.
Object of the survey are fourteen Jewish communities and twenty-five state institutions. The project is moving forward quickly, despite the difficulties of a pandemic year that inevitably affected the timetable. 2000 volumes have already been uploaded on “Teca”, the portal of the National Central Library of Rome, and another 1000 are ready to be added. Approximately every two months we will proceed with a further update.
On September 26th, on the occasion of the Jewish Book Festival, organized by the National Museum of Judaism and the Shoah (Meis) in Ferrara, there will be a great event to present the results achieved so far by Y-TAL-YA Books and prospects for the future. An event available in Italian and English, which will be visible on the social platforms of UCEI, Meis and the Israeli Library. On the website it is possible to consult the cataloged material: a useful tool for scholars, but also for those who want to discover the extent of the project.

(Above, one of the texts already available on the website of the National Central Library of Rome - Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Roma)

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Y-TAL-YA Books guarantees - as never before -   the protection, conservation and access to the cultural treasures of Jewish Italy by using specially developed technology. A complex purpose, achieved through a rigorous and shared process. As Gloria Arbib, UCEI project representative, explained to Pagine Ebraiche, the working group met and laid the foundations to organise and begin cataloguing in April 2018.
It was initially agreed to carry out a testing phase focusing on two thousand volumes in some libraries in Rome, Milan, Turin and Genoa. At the end of this phase, between October 2018 and March 2019, the scientific committee was asked to connect to Teca to analyse the first results and allow the working group to collect feedback and suggestions. Thanks to this analysis, it was possible to improve the search function on Teca, so as to be able to search by author, title, place of publication and printer/publisher, both in Latin and Hebrew alphabets.
Searching for an author or place name is difficult since, over the centuries and due to transliteration, it may be written in many different ways. Whereas, through the use of the “authority files” option, the search function is able to identify a name even if it appears in several variants (Abramo, Avraam, Abraham). In April 2019 the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe asked to submit the request to contribute financially to complete the cataloguing.

(Above, one of the texts already available on the website of the National Central Library of Rome - Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Roma)

Both articles about Y-TAL-YA BOOKS project were 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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"I feel back at home”. So Martin Adler, 97, the US veteran who last week reunited with the Italian children he almost shot dead during WWII, commented on his visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome. It was a very touching comeback for him, who was among the protagonists of the Liberation of Italy from Nazi-fascism. In June 1944, he entered the majestic synagogue as a young soldier, wearing the Star of David that accompanied him through the entire war. “All that is related to Judaism is essential to me”, he said to Pagine Ebraiche to whose readers he dedicated this video greeting.
The visit to the Synagogue in the newly liberated Rome left an indelible mark on him. "Martin took a small Bible from a table at the entrance, sat down on a bench and admired the beauty of that Temple”, writes Matteo Incerti in the book “I bambini del soldato Martin” (Soldier Martin's children) recently published.  “Then he began to pray and silently read some passages from the holy scriptures. Once out, returning to Campo dei Fiori, he saw a small newsstand. They sold postcards of Rome. He bought a couple. One of these portrayed the Jewish temple of the city. Excited, he took a pencil from his jacket. He sat under the statue of Giordano Bruno and began to write to the family”.
On that occasion, Adler explains to Pagine Ebraiche, "I prayed for the end of the war, for peace and love". During his visit Adler donated the postcard he had sent from there and was welcomed by the President of the Jewish Community of Rome Ruth Dureghello, Councilor Massimo Finzi, and the director of the Jewish Museum Olga Melasecchi.
Martin Adler traveled back to Italy to reunite with the three siblings he saved during the Italian campaign in October 1944. As with a companion of the 339th Infantry Regiment he entered a house in Monterenzio, near Bologna, they heard sounds coming from a basket and 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”.

(From top, Martin Adler at the Synagogue of Rome and the postcard he sent to his family in the spring 1944)

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By Michaela Hoenig*
 
As Jews around the world prepare to celebrate the High Holidays, I scoured the internet to discover some Italian traditions for Rosh Hashanah, and consider how they compare to the American Ashkenazi traditions that I practice. For our dinner, my family makes sure to include a fish with the head attached; symbolic of the head of the year. Our challah is round and filled with raisins for a sweet year.
We eat apples and honey, a common practice for American Jews, and go to synagogue, or shul, to celebrate with the community. Chef Giuliana Ascoli Vitali-Norsa notes that the standard Rosh Hashanah meal includes pasta in broth, meat or fish as an entree, and a honey cake for dessert.
It's important to understand where these traditions come from. My Eastern European family came from extreme poverty, and often had little money for food. Like many Ashkenazi dishes, our food comes from creativity and uses all available resources. My great-grandmother used to enjoy eating the head of the fish on the table, eyes included. Today, we tend to cook the fish whole, but the head usually ends up intact at the end of the meal.
Fish is a traditional part of the many Italian Rosh Hashanah meals as well, though most of the fish recipes I came across are spicy and cooked either in some sort of tomato sauce, or served with vegetables, such as triglie alla livornese (red mullet Livorno-style), also known as triglie alla mosaica: Moses-style red mullet.
Our holidays are full of symbolism, but that also varies from region to region. The round challah in the Ashkenazi tradition symbolizes eternity, and the continuation of the years. The emphasis on sweet foods and celebration encourages a sweet and happy new year. My Rosh Hashanah dinner was never complete without my grandmother’s honey cake for a sweet new year. 

* 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 Julie Giuffrida*

My first Jewish cookbook was Joan Nathan’s “Jewish Holiday Kitchen,” and it became my kitchen bible while I was living in Israel from 1983 to 1991. It covered not just the food of Jewish holidays but also history and cuisine from countries around the world. It informed me of a vast Jewish culinary heritage and gave recipes for every Jewish occasion. I came to understand that there was a lot more to Jewish food than the matzo ball soup and gefilte fish of my youth, and I wanted to learn all about it. With the coming Jewish High Holy Days, starting with Rosh Hashanah at sundown on Sept. 6 and ending Sept. 29 with the conclusion of Simchat Torah, I am immersed in the small trove of recipes that I have curated especially for this time of year. Many of them come from now-tattered cookbooks that fill my bookshelves. From Edda Servi Machlin’s “The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews,” I learned about Italian Jewish foods such as carciofi alla Giudia (deep-fried artichokes that look like a crispy chrysanthemum) and polpette di pollo e matzo (chicken-matzo meatballs). 

* This article originally appeared on The Los Angeles Times on August 29, 2021.

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