Having trouble viewing this email? Click here April 3, 2023 – 12 Nissan 5783



  

Sixteen files to clarify some key points of Judaism, of its history, of Jewish life. Sixteen files aiming to promote an accurate portrayal of the Jewish world in textbooks and to fight and erase prejudices and stereotypes. "Sixteen files to get to know each other better" is a project addressing the field of education, jointly promoted by the Italian Bishops’ Conference-CEI and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities-UCEI and presented recently at the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah-MEIS of Ferrara. "A silent revolution", as defined by the UCEI president Noemi Di Segni, concerning the textbooks used in Italian schools to teach Catholic religion.  
"The realization of these files is an example of how the principle of responsibility can be implemented. We are grateful to the Catholic world, specifically to the Bishops’ Conference, for undertaking this path, a political decision which was not to be taken for granted", pointed up Di Segni. "A small but huge step, resulting from the consciousness of the responsibility of the Church for centuries of persecution". This four-year project, led by a team of prestigious experts, is a crucial step towards providing new generations with a correct education on Jewish people and Judaism, on their history and tradition. The importance of this objective has been repeatedly pointed out by the highest representatives of CEI and of the Jewish world during their speeches. "These files enable our students and teachers to open up to reality and dialogue with the others", commented Giuseppe Baturi, secretary of CEI. And they are a starting point to fight antisemitism, which is increasing also among younger generations. "We all have faith that learning about the Jewish reality, meeting men and women who are keeping these traditions alive, might influence people’s behaviors", hopes Baturi. 

Translation by Marta Gustinucci, revised by Sofia Busatto, 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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Noemi Di Segni, présidente de l'Union des Communautés Juives Italiennes, a affirmé :
" À l'occasion du Ramadan, j’adresse mes vœux chaleureux à toutes les musulmanes et les musulmans d’Italie, pour que cette période festive soit riche en spiritualité et en espoir. En effet, il est nécessaire que toutes les religions, sans exception, sachent s’aimer en s’engageant chaque jour de la période d’incertitude difficile que l'humanité entière traverse actuellement. Une alliance étroite paraît toujours plus nécessaire pour défendre les valeurs universelles, tout d’abord la vie et la dignité, qui représentent un patrimoine commun au niveau non seulement religieux, mais aussi civil, dans le nécessaire respect des spécificités dont chaque identité et culture est porteuse.
On s’approche d’une phase de l’année qui est marquée par de nombreux moments de joie et de solennité : le Ramadan, la fête juive de Pesach et la Pâque chrétienne. Dans les lieux de prière, dans l’intimité domestique, dans les espaces où on construit la citoyenneté, il faut travailler tous ensemble pour un avenir de paix et d'unité ".
 
Traduction de Sofia Busatto, révisée par Francesca Pischedda, 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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"De l’aide aux réfugiés à l’engagement pour l’éducation, des soins aux personnes âgées à la valorisation des jeunes, les projets ne manquent pas. Nous voulons renforcer la collaboration entre les réalités juives européennes et développer toujours plus un réseau entre eux". Élue à l’unanimité à la tête de l’European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC), Claudia Fellus a les idées claires par rapport aux objectifs de sa présidence. C’est ce qu’elle raconte à Pagine Ebraiche de Berlin, où elle se trouve actuellement pour participer à plusieurs réunions et rencontres en préparation du travail pour son mandat, qui débutera officiellement en mai. "L’ECJC est une institution européenne réunissant plus de cent réalités juives du continent. Elle s’occupe de développer des projets pour préserver la vie juive en Europe et elle entretient des relations très étroites avec l’American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Jdc) et l’Union européenne", explique Fellus. En effet, les relations avec Bruxelles et Strasbourg seront l’une des clés de son mandat. "Il sera important d’inclure l’Union dans nos initiatives, afin qu’elle soutienne ce que nous voulons réaliser". En outre, ajoute Fellus, il sera essentiel de poursuivre notre étroite coopération avec la Jdc, organisme clé pour l’avenir de l’European Council of Jewish Communities.

Traduction de Marta Gustinucci, révisée par Francesca Pischedda, 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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"We were grieving and shaking from a nervous reaction because we couldn’t defend ourselves. Almost none of us was able to eat dinner, but thank God the people that surround us and their relatives are merciful. They are trying to comfort us and they will cater for our accommodation for the future, in order to try to save our lives, and that is why we will always be grateful to them…".
Wednesday, December 1st, 1943. Alessandro Smulevich, a young man, takes a pen and paper to describe not only the feeling of anxiety that is overwhelming him, but also the gratitude toward the ones who are helping him during that desperate hour. He and his family are refugees in Firenzuola, an Apennines municipality where two local families are providing relief and hospitality. He has just learnt that the Republic of Salò is carrying out a relentless manhunt against Jews.
This is one of the most dramatic pages of his diary written during his clandestine period, which has recently become a proper book entitled Matti e Angeli. Una famiglia ebraica nel cuore della Linea Gotica (Matti e Angeli. A Jewish family in the heart of the Gothic Line) published by Pendragon, edited by the son Ermanno, a retired surgeon, and Luciano Ardiccioni and Rosanna Marcato, researchers of local history, with a preface by historian Anna Foa. The manuscript was recovered in 2017 and its finding has proved decisive for the honorific of Righteous Among the Nations to Armando and Clementina Matti, Pietro and Dina Angeli, the four protagonists of the rescue operation with their sons and acquaintances. Its finding has also connected further dots, leading to new meetings and plans for the future.

Above, Alessandro Smulevich, first from right, in a family portrait taken in 1945.

Translation by Sofia Busatto, revised by Martina Bandini, 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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By Louis Finkelman*

A great cookbook does not just give the reader narrow-focus, step-by-step instructions for how to prepare a food. A great cookbook expands its focus to show what that food means in a whole meal and then expands into a wide-angle view of what that meal means to the people who served and ate the meal. By the time it is done, a great cookbook portrays an entire culture arranged around each illuminated dish.
In The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews, Edda Servi Machlin sets each recipe into her loving portrait of her native society, the venerable and now vanished Jewish community of Pitigliano in Tuscany. As she recounts her idyllic youth, the tight-knit Jewish community appreciated its ancient customs, slightly different from the customs of other Jews. Christians and Jews lived side-by-side as friends, appreciative spectators at one another’s celebrations.

*This article was originally published on The Detroit Jewish News on March 30, 2023.

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