Having trouble viewing this email? Click here December 20, 2021 – 25 Kislev 5782

Almost 700 pages full of information, events, and stimuli. Over 200 illustrations created to intrigue and fascinate young readers even more. These are the numbers, eloquent in themselves, that introduce us to the world of My Torah series, the project aimed at bringing the Hebrew Bible to children by teachers Anna Coen and Mirna Dell’Arriccia on behalf of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.
This commitment, which unfolded over several years, has now come to an end with the publication of the last of the five books: Devarìm / Deuteronomy.
Still fresh off the press, the book, realized also through a strategic collaboration with the publisher Giuntina, was presented last week at the UCEI Bibliographic Center under the coordination of Odelia Liberanome. “This is a team effort that put to use different skills. UCEI has always believed in the value of such a project”, pointed out UCEI President Noemi Di Segni. “The goal - she added - is to be strong in one's own identity: knowing how to draw from ancient texts and derive from them the necessary answers to deal with the many challenges and efforts of the present”.
As UCEI Councilor for Education Livia Ottolenghi remarked “UCEI invested people and knowledge” in this project which now presents itself as “a high-quality product, extremely accurate also with regard to pedagogical tools”. This thanks specifically to the authors, which are “very important figures in Jewish education”.

Above, the cover of the book Devarim/Deuteronomy, the last of the series My Torah.

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“Roaming through dates doesn't mean to create a timeline, which by the way this book doesn't have. It means proposing a journey through a history made of very different events, with their echo, their consequences, and their posterity”. So Pierre Savy, director of mediaeval studies at the École Française of Rome, introducing the suggestive journey in 90 steps that is World History of the Jews, the book he curated, which was just published in Italy by Laterza in a version revised and adapted under the supervision of Anna Foa.
Numerous ideas emerged during the presentation of the book which took place last week in Rome, at Palazzo Firenze, headquarter of the Dante Alighieri Society. Speakers also included the president of the prestigious cultural organization Andrea Riccardi, the Chief Rabbi of Rome Riccardo Di Segni attended the meeting, as well as Alessandro Masi, general secretary of Dante Alighieri, who moderated the meeting.
 “A new chapter of research on Jewish identity and a challenge to fight clichés. This is not an “à la carte” identity but an identity “in progress”. Not something that is there at the beginning and we must try not to lose, but an offer of what slowly accumulates through time and is sought”, wrote David Bidussa, one of the scholars involved in this fascinating editorial work that, from the entrance of Jews in history (with the appearance of the name “Israel” on the stele of Pharaoh Merenptah) takes us, ranging over many contexts, to the present day.

Translated by Alice Pugliese, student at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of the University of Trieste, intern at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

Above, the presentation of the book World History of the Jews in Rome.

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Some of them fled the country without even taking with them their documents. Too much fear of ending up trapped in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime. After having collaborated in different ways with the diplomatic and military Italian mission, they had become a target for the jihadists. So, thanks to a military airlift, hundreds of Afghan families found refuge in Italy. Now a new phase started in their lives, between integration in the society and the procedure to obtain the sought asylum status. A national and local network of organizations and associations took form in order to help them. Among them, on the frontline, the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities immediately guaranteed its commitment.
Now the UCEI is involved in offering concrete help to 17 Afghan families, scattered around Italy. To some of them, cellphones and sim cards have been recently handed over. “They welcomed us warmly, thanking us because they finally could have sim cards to use”, says to Pagine Ebraiche Elisa Lascar, social worker in charge for the UCEI of the area of northwestern Italy. Along with a small delegation, Lascar brought two devices to families now hosted in the Piedmont region. Among them, a family of seven: two parents and five children, from 17 to 23. When they left, the youngest had just finished school, while the others were studying at Kabul’s university.

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By Gadi Polacco
 
“Season's Greeting”, comme l'explique l'Oxford English Dictionary, est une expression sur laquelle je suis tombé lorsqu'il y a plusieurs années j'ai commencé à travailler dans le domaine de la construction navale, par nécessité et vocation internationale. C'est une formule bizarre, presque du secteur des fruits et légumes, avec cet appel aux saisons. Elle peut être comprise comme “politiquement incorrect” ou comme une façon pragmatique et pratique d'utiliser un seul souhait pour tous. Probablement la vraie motivation est cette dernière, puisque dans le monde anglo-saxon on a l'habitude de modeler les différents souhaits selon leur spécificité jusqu'à des exemples horribles et alambiqués, comme le vœu pour le “Chrismukkah”, mélange inutile et insensé entre les fêtes de Noël et le Chanukkah, événements totalement différents, sauf pour la même date sur le calendrier (parfois!).
Sans approfondir l'aspect bureaucratique de cette proposition qui rappelle les célèbres caricatures de l'écrivain italien Guareschi « Contrordine Compagni » (Contre-ordre Camarades), je trouve que la remarque imprudente de la commission européenne a un fondement de motivation.

Traduit par Alice Pugliese, révisé par Onda Carofiglio, étudiantes de l’Ecole Supérieure pour les Interprètes et les Traducteurs de Trieste et stagiaires dans le bureau du journal de l’Union des communautés juives italiennes.

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By Gabriel Spiegel*

Growing up in a modern orthodox Jewish home, my family and I would go to synagogue every sabbath. In our community, the level of attire for shul could be simply described as business casual to business attire, and it is at the age of 13, when he becomes bar mitzvah, that a young man begins to dress this way. In addition, to the celebrations with family and friends, one of the most important moments of this weekend is when the bar mitzvah boy reads publicly from the Torah. Often, boys spend up to a year studying for this moment. However, the preparations for one’s bar mitzvah are not only liturgical.  When that special time approaches, it is time to go shopping for two things. The first being a set of tefillin, and the second is your first nice dress outfits.
When my mother and I drove an hour’s distance to Brooklyn to go clothes shopping, I knew it was something special. When we arrived at the tailor shop, we were greeted hospitably. Mom even received a glass of wine. While drinking her she watched as the tailor measured me to see what suits he had that would most likely fit me best. Now, most kids hate clothes shopping because the options are usually never that exquisite and so they are not excited to wear them. However, in my case the clothes they had at this store were simply lavish beyond compare (for a 13-year-old), and I left that store with what was soon to be the birth of a lifelong obsession.
Weeks passed by and all I wanted to do was wear those three outfits mom and I had picked out. Why one may ask? Well, as my favorite clothing connoisseur Hugo Jacomet would say “When you put on a well-constructed jacket and you look sharp, you feel bulletproof.” Let’s just say that from that point on, if I was going to dress up, I was going to do it right. 

Above, Bar Mitzvah (1920) by the Austrian painter Oscar Rex.

* 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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Cada día, alrededor del mundo, los periodistas hacen miles de preguntas que con frecuencia caen casi de inmediato en el olvido, enterradas por el frenético ritmo informativo de la era de internet, en el que la noticia que oíste hace 10 minutos es desplazada de tu mente por la que estás leyendo ahora.
En ocasiones, sin embargo, hay preguntas tercas, que se quedan allí, que hacen historia. Una de estas fue formulada por el italiano Riccardo Ehrman, que falleció este martes en Madrid a los 92 años de edad, y que era conocido como el periodista “que derribó” el Muro de Berlín. Siendo corresponsal de la agencia Ansa, Ehrman acudió el 9 de noviembre de 1989 a una rueda de prensa ofrecida por el portavoz del gobierno de la República Democrática Alemana (RDA), Günter Schabowski. Allí, Ehrman le pidió que explicara los planes de las autoridades para permitir que los ciudadanos viajaran fuera de la Alemania comunista. La respuesta del funcionario, presionado por el periodista, derivó en pocas horas en la caída del Muro de Berlín. 
 
*Este articulo fue publicado en BBC News Mundo el 15 diciembre 2021.

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