 |
| The Only Possible Defense |
 By Guido Vitale*
It is a terrible shame that the workers of death who came to murder the young people at the Bataclan, at a restaurant, or at the stadium, had no idea. They sowed unspeakable pain, but they will not succeed at felling the masts of this ship called Paris. The Nazis did not succeed, and neither will they.
To us is left the task of acknowledging the true face of terrorism that we find ourselves having to confront.
We already knew of its profoundly anti-Semitic cast, and now we know how the Bataclan has been for some time in the sights of certain activists who have hidden behind the convenient cover of defending the rights of Palestinians in order to advance their project of destruction and death. We knew that they hate Jews and want to stifle the freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Now we know, and can no longer ignore, that which we should have known all along. These people intend to issue a deadly threat to the entire democratic world, to the entire civilization of Europe, because anti-Jewish hatred is never an end in itself; rather, it constitutes a form of rejection and profound incapacity to accept life, love, liberty, and culture.
Anyone who wishes to continue to listen to music, to go freely to the stadium, to take a walk, to eat in a restaurant, to study, or to love in the face of this declaration of war, must take a decisive stand and rebuff even the smallest instance of anti-Semitic hate. This is the best, perhaps the only, possible defense of those values that make Europe and Paris beautiful: those values that allow us to be together.
*Guido Vitale is the editor-in-chief of Pagine Ebraiche. |
|
 |
| Insults |
| By Daniela Gross
Even amongst friends, in the Italian political arena Israel is a highly divisive topic. Erri De Luca, one of Italy’s leading writers, realized it just a few days before the Paris attacks. As reported in The Huffington Post by Laura Eduati, “It all began with a poem titled ‘Homage to Jerusalem’, that was published in Hebrew in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot: ‘There is a city in the world with knives in the hands of kids who come from the suburbs to randomly stab its citizens’. The poem tells about the fears of Jews because of the Palestinians attacks: ‘There is a city in the world where you write your will, before leaving home. Because bus stops, especially the crowded ones are fixed targets for cars launched on them on purpose’.”
On the social media, the writer was immediately accused of having taken a stand in favor of Israel and against the Palestinians and was vehemently attacked and insulted. “I think that Palestine has always been occupied,” he said. But, he asked, “Does admitting the historical evidence of the State of Israel mean that one is A Zionists?” “Those who hope to erase it [Israel) are partisans to mass extermination,” was his conclusion. However, his declarations didn’t help to stop the social media anger.
Notably, the attacks came mainly from activists of the extreme left movement, his previous best supporters against the controversial new high-speed rail (TAV) link between Lyon and Turin. Erri De Luca was deeply involved in this debate, and was just cleared of instigating violence against the TAV. However, it was not enough to protect him: Speaking or writing about Israel can divide even old friends. |
|
|
|
|
PORTUGUÊS
por Eliezer Di Martino*
Nesta Perashá os judeus receberam o seu verdadeiro nome: Israel. Nada podia ser mais inesperado e misterioso. Jacob está perto de reencontrar o seu irmão Esaú depois de 22 anos, o mesmo Esaú que tinha jurado matá-lo. Sozinho e espantado no meio da noite, Jacob é assaltado por um ser desconhecido com o qual luta até o amanhecer.
*O rabino Eliezer di Martino é o rabino-chefe de Trieste.
|
„And Yaakov was left alone” Confronting the Darkness
of Solitude |
 By Yaacov Mascetti*
There is an impossible and uncompromising tension between the individual and the collective, between the specific and the general – a tension which can lead to the crushing of the individual in the name of the general, in the name of the coherence of the collective; or which can lead to the crumbling of the collective in the name of extreme individuality. In his tragedy „Coriolanus” William Shakespeare explored this tension with great care and precision, showing his audience both a proud and self-sufficient hero in the battle field, crying „O, me alone! make you a sword of me?” (1:6) and the banished, disgraced man who is forced by the banishing collective to experience the full pain of solitude, as he leaves Rome „alone” like a „lonely dragon.” Yaakov is the point of departure of Israel as a people – but what we ignore, a lot of the time, that the birth of the general, of a nation, starts with the individual, with Yaakov himself fighting against himself and turning his individuality into the fertile ground for the cultivation of the Israelite nation.
So for there to be a nation, Yaakov needs to be, first and foremost, on his own, alone in the desert, alone and face to face with himself.
*Yaakov Mascetti holds a Ph.D. and teaches at the Department of Comparative Literature, Bar Ilan University.
|
|
|
Follow us on  
This newsletter is published under difficult conditions. The editors of this newsletter are Italian journalists whose native language is Italian. They are willing to offer their energy and their skills to give international readers the opportunity of learning more about the Italian Jewish world, its values, its culture and its traditions.
In spite of all our efforts to avoid this, readers may find an occasional language mistake. We count on your understanding and on your help and advice to correct these mistakes and improve our publication.
Pagine Ebraiche International Edition is published by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI). UCEI publications encourage an understanding of the Jewish world and the debate within it. The articles and opinions published by Pagine Ebraiche International Edition, unless expressly stated otherwise, cannot be interpreted as the official position of UCEI, but only as the self-expression of the people who sign them, offering their comments to UCEI publications. Readers who are interested in making their own contribution should email us at [email protected]
You received this newsletter because you authorized UCEI to contact you. If you would like to remove your email address from our list, or if you would like to subscribe using a new email address, please send a blank email to [email protected] stating „unsubscribe” or „subscribe” in the subject field.
© UCEI – All rights reserved – The articles may only be reproduced after obtaining the written permission of the editor-in-chief. Pagine Ebraiche – Reg Rome Court 199/2009 – Editor in Chief: Guido Vitale – Managing Editor: Daniela Gross.
Special thanks to: Francesco Moises Bassano, Susanna Barki, Amanda Benjamin, Monica Bizzio, Angelica Edna Calò Livne, Arlindo José Nicau Castanho, Eliezer Di Martino, Alain Elkann, Dori Fleekop, Daniela Fubini, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Jonathan Misrachi, Anna Momigliano, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Sabina Muccigrosso, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Jazmine Pignatello, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Colby Robbins, Danielle Rockman, Lindsay Shedlin, Michael Sierra, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves, Lauren Waldman, Sahar Zivan.
Questo notiziario è realizzato in condizioni di particolare difficoltà. I redattori di questo notiziario sono giornalisti italiani di madrelingua italiana. Mettono a disposizione le loro energie e le loro competenze per raccontare in lingua inglese l’ebraismo italiano, i suoi valori, la sua cultura e i suoi valori. Nonostante il nostro impegno il lettore potrebbe trovare errori e imperfezioni nell’utilizzo del linguaggio che faremo del nostro meglio per evitare. Contiamo sulla vostra comprensione e soprattutto sul vostro aiuto e sul vostro consiglio per correggere gli errori e migliorare.
Pagine Ebraiche International Edition è una pubblicazione edita dall’Unione delle Comunità Ebraiche Italiane. L’UCEI sviluppa mezzi di comunicazione che incoraggiano la conoscenza e il confronto delle realtà ebraiche. Gli articoli e i commenti pubblicati, a meno che non sia espressamente indicato il contrario, non possono essere intesi come una presa di posizione ufficiale, ma solo come la autonoma espressione delle persone che li firmano e che si sono rese gratuitamente disponibili. Gli utenti che fossero interessati a offrire un proprio contributo possono rivolgersi all’indirizzo [email protected]
Avete ricevuto questo messaggio perché avete trasmesso a Ucei l’autorizzazione a comunicare con voi. Se non desiderate ricevere ulteriori comunicazioni o se volete comunicare un nuovo indirizzo email, scrivete a: [email protected] indicando nell’oggetto del messaggio „cancella” o „modifica”.
© UCEI – Tutti i diritti riservati – I testi possono essere riprodotti solo dopo aver ottenuto l’autorizzazione scritta della Direzione. Pagine Ebraiche International Edition – notiziario dell’ebraismo italiano – Reg. Tribunale di Roma 199/2009 – direttore responsabile: Guido Vitale – Coordinamento: Daniela Gross.
Realizzato con il contributo di: Francesco Moises Bassano, Susanna Barki, Amanda Benjamin, Monica Bizzio, Angelica Edna Calò Livne, Arlindo José Nicau Castanho, Eliezer Di Martino, Alain Elkann, Dori Fleekop, Daniela Fubini, Benedetta Guetta, Sarah Kaminski, Daniel Leisawitz, Annette Leckart, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Yaakov Mascetti, Francesca Matalon, Jonathan Misrachi, Anna Momigliano, Giovanni Montenero, Elèna Mortara, Sabina Muccigrosso, Lisa Palmieri Billig, Jazmine Pignatello, Shirley Piperno, Giandomenico Pozzi, Daniel Reichel, Colby Robbins, Danielle Rockman, Lindsay Shedlin, Michael Sierra, Rachel Silvera, Adam Smulevich, Simone Somekh, Rossella Tercatin, Ada Treves, Lauren Waldman, Sahar Zivan. |
By Adam Smulevich
By Rachel Silvera
