American Italian Heritage Museum
Meet the remarkable Philip DiNovo. At 92 years of age he’s an active professional (and he’s still driving!) and this year Phil celebrates 47 years as founder and president of the American Italian Heritage Museum. Located in the town of Colonie, New York, DiNovo makes sure visitors can find the museum when he writes “We […]
Ash Wednesday Ashes Have Roots in Jewish Tradition
This week my Catholic brothers and sisters participated in a ritual that has its roots in Jewish tradition – Ash Wednesday as it is called, actually originated in ancient biblical times – in the era of the Old Testament, as Christians would say, when the use of ashes held a special spiritual significance. Looking back […]
Jewish Ritual Rescue
Jewish Ritual Rescue What Happens to Judaica When Our Kids Don’t Want It? Last year in a local Goodwill store I found a very old Kiddush cup. It sat on a shelf crowded with an assortment of pewter and silver goblets and was so tarnished that I nearly missed the inscriptions. Engraved on the […]
Olive Oil Beaten For The Light
The Torah commands an ancient practice that lives today in Italy It is May in Calabria, an isolated region stretching from the “instep” to the “toe” of the Italian “boot,” and the olive trees are in bloom. Tiny cream colored flowers grace each branch as we southern Italians await the first fruits of our […]
At the Ferramonti Concentration Camp -Three Synagogues, High Holy Days and Bed Sheet Brides
A wedding gown fashioned from a bed sheet and a veil crafted from mosquito netting – these were shared among the 24 Jewish brides who married under the chuppah in, of all places, a WW II Concentration Camp. It happened in southern Italy at the Ferramonti Concentration Camp where two rabbis who were also camp […]
Discovering Hidden Jewish Identity – Becca’s Wooden Box
She arrived on Sunday morning, having received an announcement of our meeting several days before. At first she was not certain that the gathering would be appropriate for her, but curiosity overcame her fear. That’s when she found herself at the door of an apartment in Palermo, Sicily ready to begin what she hoped would […]
Ferramonti
Ferramonti Internment Camp The story of the Ferramonti Internment Camp is a story of Jewish survival thanks to the efforts of Italian soldiers and impoverished Italian villagers who worked together to save nearly 4,000 Jews. Located in the province of Cosenza on the Calabria border, Ferramonti was a camp like none other. Families stayed together […]
Italian Jewish Roots in Squillace
Exploring Italian Jewish Roots in Squillace “Searching for the remnants of the historical Jewish presence in Calabria is my passion,” says Rabbi Barbara who recently applied her investigative skills to exploring Squillace, an ancient Calabrian village, known today as one of Italy’s most important archaeological sites. Located on the coast of the Ionian Sea […]
Back to School in Italy
It’s back to school in Bella Italia with school bells ringing (literally) in Serrastretta, my tiny village in the mountains of Calabria. Children in many of our mountain communities will attend classes from 8:00 am until 4:30 pm, six days a week, Saturdays included! Although students are permitted one hour for “pranzo,” (lunch), that still amounts […]
Italian Graduation Day
Even by American standards Antonio Talarico is tall. Standing at well over six feet, Italian-born Antonio, now twenty-five years old, was the tallest in his graduating class at the Universita’ di Magna Grecia, the only institute of higher learning in Calabria, Italy, in the “toe” of the Italian “boot.” As a neighbor, close friend and […]
