Having trouble viewing this email? Click here September 19, 2022 – 23 Elul 5782 

Renewing oneself as an individual, as a community, as a country. It was the central theme of the 23rd edition of the European Days of Jewish Culture that took place Saturday in Italy. Promoted by the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities, the event kicked off in Ferrara, the leading city in Italy, and over one hundred Italian locations participated with meetings, conferences, book presentations, concerts, and visits to synagogues. As remarked by the President of the Republic of Italy Sergio Mattarella, it was an opportunity to discuss not only the challenges of Judaism but those the entire society will have to face in the next future. "Renewal – he said - is a theme that also represents a challenge, because renewing is a purpose that, measuring itself against the new times, also brings to life and reinterprets the values ​​and principles of an identity which, in dialogue with other cultures, composes a civilization”.
Speaking in the splendid setting of the Ferrara synagogue, UCEI President Noemi Di Segni spoke about the values ​​and principles of Judaism and the mark they left on the evolution of Italian reality. "For our part, as a Jewish component of Italian society we have always contributed to renewal understood as requests and cultural contents, elaborating them on the basis of a millenary tradition, principles of sound governance and management of public affairs, respect for the body and life, scientific research in response to the ailments and discomforts of every living being. Defense of the homeland and reconstruction after the rubble. Launch of the constitutional project and then convinced participation in the European one".

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“To deal with the challenges of the future, agriculture will have to rely on the application of knowledge and scientific technologies. We’ll have to be able to produce more, with more limited resources, and to obtain quickly the necessary answers, we have to accelerate”. It is an appeal, but also a reminder, that launched by Israeli geneticist Assaf Distelfeld at the ceremony for the Rita Levi-Montalcini Prize for Scientific Cooperation between Italy and Israel celebrated last week at the Farnesina.
The Levi-Montalcini Prize, a symbol of the scientific cooperation between Israel and Italy, was made for his research project in the sector of genome technologies for sustainable agriculture: “Comparative Analysis of seed growth regulating factors in wheat and barley”. The project was presented in cooperation with Erica Mica, from the Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA).
A plant geneticist, Prof. Distenfeld, appointed director of the Institute of Evolution at the University of Haifa in 2020, changed the wheat genome using an innovative approach. His studies focus on improving the yields and quality of cultivars, and in particular those of wheat, one of the crops of greatest importance to humanity.

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Sami is a young pirate. He crosses the oceans in his bathtub. To accompany him, his three trusted and loved ducks. Until one morning he receives the unexpected call from the International Pirate Association’s representative. “Dear Sami, to be a pirate an official certificate is needed”. However, to get it one must behave like an authentic pirate and follow some rules. Anarchic buccaneers have their behavior code too. “The pirate does not destroy his enemies. The pirate gets rid of all timetables. The pirate does not brush his teeth, change his underwear, and above all: never bathe! No pirate enjoys taking a bath”. But Sami likes it, and so do his three duck friends. Sami tries anyway to follow the rules, but finds out that it is more difficult than he thought: he tries to chase a monster, to be kind, and mainly never to bathe. It is of course a children's story, envisaged by Tzipor Fromkin and Miriam Salzberg. The two authors brought it to life as a play, while illustrator Shimrit Elkanati adapted it to a book. Her illustrations full of character and life, along with the entertaining story of our pirate, are a pleasant pastime to share with little ones. It is a good exercise for Hebrew beginners, and a way to add color to this dark time. And Elkanati’s illustrations are little masterpieces, which not even the New York Times can do without.​

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By Gadi Luzzatto Voghera*

On the occasion of the European Day of Jewish Culture, which this is year was dedicated to the topic of renewal, some statements have appeared that reiterated a call for attention not to confuse the concept of renewal with that of reform. We are talking about a recurring topic, in which the presence also in Italy of Jewish groups that define themselves as reformed is considered a danger, a threat to Jewish communities in Italy which, for statutory and traditional reasons, identify themselves in the orthodoxy sphere.
Personally, I have had the opportunity to address the issue in the context of historical research, studying the impact that the movement of reform born in the 19th century in Central Europe had on Italian Jewish communities between the 19th and 20th centuries. Thanks to my research, I have been able to detect that such movement lacked success among the communities of the Peninsula because of some very obvious factors. Firstly, the demographic scarceness.
It is difficult to think of establishing communities of any other kind in cities where Jews are few. They could not have held out. Then there is the matter of the degree of personal adherence of Jews in Italy to traditional norms. If we consider only the last two centuries - unfortunately, reliable research on the eras prior to emancipation is lacking - it is evident to everyone that there was a rapid process of secularization.

* Director of CDEC Foundation
 
Translation by Martina Bandini, revised by Maria Cianciuolo, students at the Secondary School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators of the University of Trieste, interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities – Pagine Ebraiche.

MILAN -Le prix Balzan est un prix international dans les domaines des sciences, de la culture et de l’action humanitaire. Né en Italie, il a pour objectif "d’encourager partout dans le monde la culture, les sciences et les initiatives humanitaires les plus méritoires en faveur de la paix et de la fraternité entre les peuples", selon son site.Cette année, trois Américains juifs figurent parmi les lauréats du prix pour leurs travaux dans les domaines de la philosophie morale, de la musicologie et de la biotechnologie. Les prix seront remis par le président italien Sergio Mattarella à Rome en novembre. Martha Nussbaum, philosophe et chercheuse à l’Université de Chicago, a été récompensée pour "sa reconception transformatrice des objectifs de justice sociale, à la fois au niveau mondial et local", a indiqué la Fondation Balzan un communiqué.
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 *This article was originally published on The Times of Israel on September 13, 2022.

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