Having trouble viewing this email? Click here February 20, 2023 – 29 Shevat 5783
  

By Daniel Reichel

One of the hardest times for Rabbi Mayer Stambler, head of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine, was March 2022. Russia's aggression had just started. The gloomiest predictions – back then considered the most credible ones – envisioned a swift conquest by Putin's army. In Dnipro, the city where the Rabbi has lived since 1991, as well as in other cities, people worked day and night to make it possible for everyone to evacuate. The sirens wailed all the time. "Every time anti-missile alarms went off and people hid into the bunkers, the children cried. I have ten children and three grandchildren. Our three-year-old would cling to us so tightly, it was just… I hope she won't be traumatized for life".
News arrived that the Russian army was advancing, encircling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, about 50 miles south of Dnipro.
"I knew I had to evacuate my family. I texted my wife: get ready, you and the kids are leaving tomorrow morning". Her answer was no. "Either we leave together, or we don't". For the first time he lied to his wife, the Rabbi explained. "I told her I'd catch up with them a few days later".
It was a Thursday evening and by Friday morning the Jewish Community had organized the departure of three buses. "I called one of the partners I arrange the journeys with and asked: how many free seats are left? ‘Twelve’. ‘I'll book them all’".
Helped by his wife, the Rabbi convinced some friends to leave with his family. The pickup time was set at eleven in the morning. "At 10:30 am my partner called me. He was nervous and asked me: ‘Where are you? We don't have enough seats for everybody. We have three buses with 150-160 seats and out here there are at least 500 people pushing and trying to get on’". Maybe it's better to give up. "No no no, come".
The Rabbi pushed his baggage and family towards the buses. He made his way through the looks of those who could not get on. "The looks of people who, like everyone else in those days, thought: ‘Staying means dying. Getting on the bus, living’".

Above, Rabbi Stambler welcomes Israel Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in his recent visit to Ukraine before meeting an 84 years old Jewish woman whose house recently was hit by a Russian grenade in Bocha.
 
Translation by Alida Caccia, revised by Annadora Zuanel, 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.

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The electoral success of the extreme right-wing, from Itamar Ben-Gvir to Bezalel Smotrich, has entailed worrying analysis of the direction the country might take up over the upcoming four years of rule of the new government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, especially because of the power the right-wing parties have gained. There is fear that they will dismantle some of Israel’s fundamental principles and institutions, following the same steps of countries such as Hungary, which has become an illiberal democracy. These concerns have been reinforced by stances taken by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, respectively Minister of National Security and Minister of Finance.Yet it must be said that their electoral programme was democratically chosen by the majority of voters due to the lack of a credible alternative. 
Such election result has opened broader reflection, as underlined by analyst Gabriele Segre, who agreed to take part in a long conversation with Pagine Ebraiche. Segre, the director of Vittorio Dan Segre Foundation and expert in Israeli and international politics, was not amazed by the success of the extreme right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu. "Israel has reached this point by embracing an international historical trend. Several countries have taken a radical populist turn with traits of political culture that refer to ideas of society that are not necessarily liberal".

Translation by Martina Bandini and Alida Caccia, 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.

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Accepting a "suggestive proposal" coming from the Technical Scientific Committee of the Bibliographic Centre "Tullia Zevi", the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and the Jewish Cultural Heritage Foundation in Italy – through their Councils and Boards – resolved to change the name of the Centre itself to "Tullia Zevi National Library of Italian Judaism". It’s not just a symbolic choice, but a decision that fits into the broad spectrum of commitments already underway. In a joint note, the UCEI president Noemi Di Segni and the president of the Italian Jewish Cultural Heritage Foundation Dario Disegni highlight indeed: "The new and more incisive name is intended to acknowledge the fundamental role that the National Library of Italian Judaism Tullia Zevi is called upon to play, as a national and international wide recognised library institution. An important role during this new phase, started in the past few months with the entrustment to the management of the Jewish Cultural Heritage Foundation in Italy. The goals, set in order to revitalise and enhance the extraordinary heritage of Italian Judaism, consist in strengthening, restoring, digitalizing the Center and developing the research and cultural activities".

Translation by Margherita Francese, revised by Laura Cattani, 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..

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Le 13 février 2022 est décédé à Rome Gino Mantin, l’un des piliers fondamentaux de la Communauté Juive libyenne qui s’est installée à Rome après l’exode forcé en 1967. Il a été un homme charismatique et une figure importante : c’est grâce à lui que de nombreux livres de la Torah, autrement destinés à la destruction ou à l’oubli, ont été sauvés. Président d’honneur de l’association " Ebrei di Libia 1967 " (Juifs de Libye 1967), il a été l'un des animateurs des démarches dédiées à la sauvegarde et à la transmission de l’héritage de Juifs de Libye qui ont récemment vu la lumière sous l’égide de l’association Astrel. Entre autres, la convention internationale née en novembre 2021 " Storie di rinascita : gli ebrei di Libia ", qui a vu la participation de dizaines d'experts provenant de tout le monde. Les mots de Gino Mantin ont ouvert la conférence : " Un événement pour nos petits-enfants " a été son message pour les nouvelles générations et, avec ses mots, il invite les plus jeunes à s’engager au maximum de leurs possibilités pour préserver les patrimoine d’histoires, identité et tradition dont le judaïsme libyque est dépositaire.
 
Traduction de Onda Carofiglio, révisée par Alida Caccia, étudiantes à l’École Supérieure de Langues Modernes pour les Interprètes et les Traducteurs de l’Université de Trieste, stagiaires dans le bureau du journal de l’Union des communautés juives italiennes – Pagine Ebraiche.

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By Colleen Barry**

No one was more surprised than Daniel Barenboim himself at the impromptu homecoming to Milan’s Teatro alla Scala as a last-minute sub just two weeks after he formally stepped down as the Berlin’s State Opera’s music director after 30 years. A towering figure in classical music, the 80-year-old conductor and pianist got a call at 7:15 a.m. on Sunday with an unexpected invitation to conduct three Mozart concerts, after Daniel Harding canceled for family reasons. By Wednesday, Barenboim — who left his Berlin post for health reasons — was running rehearsals at La Scala, a theater where he worked for nearly a decade as chief visiting conductor before becoming its musical director.
"It’s as if I had been away for one week. I was very touched, really," Barenboim told The Associated Press, saying more than the faces, he found familiarity in "the sound".

*This article was originally published on The Times of Israel on February 15, 2023.

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