Comments on: The Italians are Coming

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:51:39 +0000

Fantastico Galus Australis for keeping us informed on every thing.
Molto bene. Gracius.

By: Henry Herzog

Henry Herzog — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:24:39 +0000

The Vatican’s efforts, The Sadducee: Is that why they are going to make Pius XII a saint? Have a read of Paul Johnson’s A History of the Jews.

By: TheSadducee

TheSadducee — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:04:35 +0000

ariel

Jews were in the Italy well before (arguably a century) Pompey’s conquest of Seleucid Syria and the establishment of a Hasmonaean client-state kingdom (c.63 BCE onwards). These Jews were apparently Greek speaking and not all of them were slaves.

As to Mussolini, his government did pass anti-Jewish laws in 1938 and was, until 1943 (when the Social Republic was under German occupation as a puppet-state) generally speaking not as bad as other areas affected by the Shoah. A large part of the credit for their survival lies partly in the ideology of Italian Fascism, the sympathy of their non-Jewish neighbours and the Vatican’s efforts.

By: Chaim

Chaim — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:24:23 +0000

From my personal experiences Greeks these days also seem to love Israel and Jews… How times are a-changing…

By: ariel

ariel — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:29:01 +0000

Italians are not only fascinated by Jews but come close to loving them (collectively). As Larry points out, Jews have been a part of Italian history since Roman times. The Italian Jewish community is the oldest in Europe and started out when the Romans brought back Jewish slaves after their conquest of Israel. Italian customs and prayer services are conducted according to Nussach Italki, which is neither Ashkenaz nor Sephardi. (The Yemite Jews also have their own nussach but this has been absorbed into the more general Nussach Eidot Misrakh used in Israel). Initially under Mussolini, not only were Jews not persecuted, but they prospered. The Italian people have never really had a gripe with their Jews and only after Mussolini signed a pact with Hitler did the country turn against him and protected their Jews (much like the Bulgarians). The evidence lies in the fact that "only" about 20% of Italian Jewry perished in the Sho'ah as opposed to 80% perishing in most of the rest of Europe. Italians for the most part also love Israel. I was greeted with applause when I explained to a group of people in a cafe in Milano that I had just come from Israele and spoke Ebraico.

By: larry Stillman

larry Stillman — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:44:31 +0000

Bravo Antonio,
Sono molto felice che Galus ha deciso di pubblicare un articolo riguardo la communita’ ebraica d’Italia. In fatto, ierasera, ho trovato, per la prima volta, questo giornale. E’ vero che in Italia, al meno tra la classe media, mi sembre che la storia e la cultura della communita’ ebraica — fondato nella eta degli imperatore l’affiscinante. Non dimenticare, che autore come Bassini, Primo Levi, Moravia, oppure ricercatore come Della Vida, e Momigliano, e molti altri sono una parte integrale della cultura italiana moderna.
Good on you cobber, you know, like, but, there’s a lot of interest in Italy in Italian Jewry because they are part of Italian history, at least since Roman times. Many writers and intellectuals have been part of the history of modern Italy. And don’t forget, the Italians despite Mussolini, suffered under the Nazis. I’ve looked at Pagine Ebraiche and in fatto, as they say, a number of the articles are imporant because they indicate how much the community is a lodestone for the current xenophobic and intolerant climate emerging in Italy. Italians are struggling with the issue of diversity & immigration in a country, which in some ways is very strange, because it is a country formed from many small kingdoms and regions which continue to have strong differences. Of course, the major ‘problem’ for Italy is that of Islam and how to deal with religious difference, and that party explains the interest in Jews.
I think it is right to say that the Italian Jewish community is as much deeply Italian as Jewish–and therein is a cultural difference with Australia. While Chabad has a presence, I suspect that they are not steering the community which from what I understand, is much more traditionally lax though still technically orthodox, with some reform Jews.
Second, I noticed that the paper appears to stay away from an in-your-face Zionism perhaps a wise thing to do.
בראבו אנטוני