Pagine Ebraiche international

14/01/2025

Franco Cesana was still a child when he fell in combat to help liberate Italy from Nazi-fascism. On September 14, 1944, his young life was cut short in Picciniera di Gombola, near Modena, in the Emilia Romagna region. Six days later, he would have turned 13. In November, a monument was on the very steps where German bullets took his life, honoring the courage and sacrifice of Italy's youngest partisan killed in the war. Just weeks before, he had joined the Scarabelli Brigade of the Second Modena Mountain Division.
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13/01/2025

When the Shoah Memorial in Milan opened, on January 27, 2012, “one of the goals was to get 100,000 students’ visits,” recalls the President of the Shoah Memorial Foundation Roberto Jarach. Eleven years later, he can “proudly say “that those visits have been over 300,000.” Moreover, he adds, “a sold relationship with schools has developed through the years. Teachers, principals and historian have come to recognize the Memorial’s educational value and insert it steadily in their learning paths. This school year, for the third time, we expect to exceed 62,000 students’ visits.”
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12/01/2025

In April, when a group of pro-Palestinian activists pressured Florence’s city hall to have the local honorary Israeli consul resign, they also took aim at a politician, Sara Funaro, who was running for mayor. “We’re sorry that we haven’t heard one word of condemnation of the Israeli government’s behavior from Marco Carrai,” the honorary consul, the activists said. “Just as striking is the silence of Councilor Funaro, who has actually wished this person well in his work.”
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10/01/2025

At the end of the 19th century, Italian gastronome Pellegrino Artusi knocked on the doors of various publishers to get his cookbook published. He tried, among others, to persuade Emilio Treves, the man who at that moment embodied Italian publishing. Yet Treves dismissed him: “We don’t deal with cooking.” Another prominent publisher, Ulrico Hoepli, was interested but imposed too onerous conditions. Artusi was consequently forced, at least initially, to publish his Science in the kitchen and the art of eating well at his own expenses. The recipe book was released in 1891 and the thousand copies printed went all sold. This was not a significant achievement, even for then-illiterate Italy, but still a sign of a potential market. Ten years on, a friendlier publishing house, Bemporad of Florence, would consecrate Artusi's work.
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09/01/2025

The Ateneo Veneto, the oldest cultural institute in Venice, has longstanding ties of friendship and collaboration with the Jewish community. These ties deepen “the profound regret” expressed by Dario Calimani, president of the Jewish community, upon learning of a conference scheduled for January 9 at the venue titled “You feel as if you were subhuman - The genocide of Israel against the Palestinian population in Gaza” organized by Amnesty International. This “profound regret” is articulated in a letter Calimani addressed to the president of the Ateneo Veneto, Antonella Magaraggia.
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07/01/2025

The celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the Opera of the Jewish Temple in Florence began with the presentation of the re-release of Goldman’s memoir, Amici per la vita (Friends for life), reissued after over thirty years by publishing house Giuntina, with the support of the Jewish Community, the Opera of the Jewish Temple, the Settimio Saadun Jewish Hospice and the Florentine section of the Adei Wizo as a “sign of gratitude to preserve the memory of those who worked with courage to save Jews from persecution.”

After World War II, Louis Goldman became an established photographer in the USA. During the war, he was a young Jewish man hounded by the nazi-fascists. Born in Germany to Polish parents, he fled to Paris and later hid in Florence, thanks to the assistance of the Opera of the Divine Providence of Ma...

06/01/2025

More than 17 million euros have been allocated to improve infrastructure in Israel’s northern region, alongside upgrades to Jerusalem’s street lighting and targeted interventions in the Old City’s alleys in Safed. These are among the investments announced by the Israeli government to revive tourism in 2025.
https://moked.it/international/2025/01/01/tourism-israel-aims-for-the-return-of-italian-tourists/

05/01/2025

In a time when Jews around the world are feeling very unloved, the Italian city of Lecce provides a paradoxical source of comfort. On one hand, there are no Jews left. Zero. They were driven out in the 15th century and did not return. Yet their presence in this beautiful centre of southern Puglia remains alive and visible thanks to a fascinating Jewish museum that was founded and is run by non-Jews from the city.

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03/01/2025

The remains of the Bova Marina synagogue, dating back to the 4th century, stand as a testament to the ancient history and legacy of Judaism in the Calabria region. The light of Hanukkah illuminated these historic grounds, thanks to an initiative organized by local representative Roque Pugliese, in collaboration with the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) and the Jewish Community of Naples.
https://moked.it/international/2025/01/01/hanukkah-southern-italy-a-menorah-illuminates-the-historical-ancient-synagogue-of-bova-marina/

02/01/2025

From synagogues to community spaces and public square, Hanukkah lights illuminated Italy with their festive message. Accompanied by a children’s choir, Rabbi Alberto Funaro lit the menorah at the Tempio Maggiore in Rome.
https://moked.it/international/2025/01/01/hanukkah-light-in-jewish-italy/

31/12/2024

He is young yet well established, already known to the public yet ready to embark on new journeys that will bring him back on air and out on the waves. Pagine Ebraiche has interviewed Ruben Bondì, born in Rome in 1994, better known to the public as Chef Bondì. Some people have seen him on television, others heard him scream from his balcony, some used a recipe they took from his book Cucina con Ruben (Cooking with Ruben), published by Cairo Editore.

30/12/2024

The Directorate-General for Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape of the Ministry of Culture and the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) signed a protocol to “regulate the activities of excavation, conservation, and restoration of Jewish burial contexts.” At the heart of the agreement is respect for the religious and cultural needs of Jewish communities, “primarily the perpetuity of graves, as prescribed by tradition.” Alongside this, the protocol also addresses “the public interest in the protection and conservation of archaeological assets, as well as the need for the realization of public works that may be affected by discoveries.”
https://moked.it/international/2024/12/25/archeology-italian-ministry-of-culture-and-jewish-communities-sign-an-agreement-on-jewish-burial-sites/

29/12/2024

From Eastern Europe’s potato latkes to rustic Moroccan doughnuts called sfenj, frying foods in oil is an important part of how Jewish communities around the world celebrate Hanukkah. The oil commemorates the Hanukkah story of the Maccabees, a small Judean army that recaptured the Temple in Jerusalem from the ancient Greeks and used olive oil to rededicate the Temple’s menorah. As the story goes, the Maccabees found enough oil to light the menorah for only one night, but it miraculously lasted for eight.
https://www.foodandwine.com/italy-hannukah-fried-chicken-8762057

29/12/2024

Set in postwar Italy, Certe promesse d’amore (Some promises of love) is one of the most poetic works by Turin writer Aldo Zargani (1933–2020). While his acclaimed For Solo Violin: A Jewish Childhood in Fascist Italy, published in English in 2002, focused on his childhood under antisemitic persecution, this 1997 novel, an ideal continuation, depicts the “supermarket of utopias” in the postwar resurgence.

27/12/2024

The Turin-based artist Giorgio Griffa is internationally recognized as a master of contemporary painting. His works are displayed globally, from the Tate Modern in London to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Now, the Museum of Lights in Casale Monferrato, Piedmont, is further enriching its unique collection of Hanukkah menorahs created by contemporary artists with a piece by Griffa.
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24/12/2024

Daphne Barak Erez, one of Israel's most distinguished legal scholars, has been a justice on the Israeli Supreme Court since 2012 and is a former dean of the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law. On December 16, Barak Erez received an honorary degree in Law from Roma Tre University.

23/12/2024

The film producer Marina Piperno, 89, and Luigi Morando Faccini, 84, are partners both in cinema and in life. Their valuable archive will soon leave Rome for Bologna, where it will become part of the prestigious local film archive one of the most important in Europe. The Piperno–Faccini collection represents not only their personal contributions but also a piece of 20th-century history, including Jewish history.
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22/12/2024

Italy's Jews expressed indignation on Friday after the USB trade union said the nation's alleged support for the "genocidal Israeli government" was among its reasons for calling a 24-hour local public transport strike. "Dismay and astonishment - there are no other words to describe what we feel when we read the reasons for the strike," said Victor Fadlun, the president of the Jewish Community of Rome.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/italy-s-jews-blast-anti-semitic-transport-strike/ar-AA1vNBK5