Italy’s prime minister promised Italian Jews he would stand beside them in the fight against anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. “We know that anti-Semitism has not been eradicated in Europe,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said at a ceremony Tuesday night marking the 69th anniversary of the World War II round-up and deportation of 1,024 Roman…
Krakow’s Progressive Jewish community has received its first Torah scroll, which was donated by a sister community in Milano. The Torah scroll arrived in Poland and at the Beit Krakow community on Oct. 5 along with several members of Milano’s Beth Shalom Jewish Reform Congregation, according to Magda Koralewska of Beit Krakow. Rabbi Leigh Lerner…
Italian scholar Cesare Colafemmina, an internationally known pioneer in the study of Jewish history and culture in southern Italy, has died. Colafemmina died Wednesday after a long illness at the age of 79. A university professor, archeologist and specialist in Jewish inscriptions and ancient history, Colafemmina wrote and researched extensively on the Jewish presence in…
What food goes with fire and brimstone? What do you eat in honor of divine revelation? These are questions I’ve been pondering lately. The holiday of Shavuot, which starts at sunset tonight, recalls the giving of Torah, that pivotal moment when the people of Israel gathered at Mount Sinai and experienced direct divine revelation. It…
You would probably never guess it, but the heavily tattooed Gabriele Corcos, who co-hosts the Cooking Channel’s “Extra Virgin” with his wife Debi Mazar, was raised in a kosher home in Florence, Italy. He’s the son of a Jewish father and Catholic mother (who had a Jewish father). Before heading back to Italy to film…
Sotheby’s New York sale of important Judaica, an annual event featuring ceremonial metalwork, manuscripts and printed books, takes place this year on December 15. Leading the auction are a pair of Italian-made silver Torah finials belonging to Sha’ar HaShamayim, the Great Synagogue of Gibraltar. Other items such as 15th-century Torah scroll from Poland are also…
Ten of the world’s wealthiest people are Israeli, according to this year’s Forbes’ Rich List. The ten billionaires join the company of the prince of Saudia Arabia, Itlay’s Prime Minister, Oprah and Mark Zuckerberg, and about 1,000 other people around the globe who have 10 digits in the bank. (Yeah you heard us right.) Here’s…
Ha’aretz speaks with Fiamma Nirenstein, an Italian Jewish journalist and longtime resident of Israel who was recently elected to Italian parliament after running an unusual campaign. “I ran for a place in parliament as a representative of the Liguria district. I held rallies in Genoa and other cities in the region,” she told Ha’aretz. “But…
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