Second Annual Italian Jewish Roots Conference - March 22 NYC

Arthur Schwartz e-mail blast wrote:Last year in Sarasota. This year in Manhattan. It’s Rabbi Barbara Aiello’s Second Annual Italian Jewish Roots Conference, Sunday, March 22, from 10:30 to 5 p.m. at the Brotherhood Synagogue, 28 Gramercy Park South. Admission for the whole day is $85 (Brotherhood Synagogue members $65). You must register. Go to Rabbi Barbara’s website – http://www.rabbibarbara.com – and find the registration page: http://rabbibarbara.com/italian_jewish_ ... e_2009.htm

Jews have deep roots in Southern Italy (including Sicily) and Rabbi Barbara wants to help Italian-Americans to discover theirs. The conference features internationally known expert speakers that can help Italian-Americans discover and embrace their Jewish ancestry – Bennett Greenspan, founder and director of Family Tree DNA and Kathleen Kirkpatrick, CEO of Gentracer, a genealogy service that specializes in Italian genealogy.

In addition, Rabbi Frank Tamurello will be on hand to share his journey from Catholic priest to discovering his Sicilian Jewish roots and becoming a rabbi.

Professor Enrico Tromba will talk about the ancient Jewish presence in Calabria. He is the principal archaeologist for the Bova Marina project, an excavation in a small town near Reggio Calabria where Professor Tromba recently discovered a third century CE synagogue.

Besides having organized it all, Rabbi Barbara herself will talk about customs and traditions that may link Catholic Italian-Americans to a Jewish past. That said, I think the conference will also be fascinating to Jews who already know about their Italian roots, as well as those of us who don’t. I’ll be there.

I know I have mentioned Rabbi Barbara before. She is the only woman rabbi, and the only non-Orthodox rabbi, in Italy. I met her at her home base, which is near a town called Nicastro in central Calabria (province of Catanzaro), the town where her father was born, and where she has established a synagogue, the first new one in Italy in 500 years, and the Italian Jewish Cultural Center of Calabria, whose goal is to help Italians worldwide discover and embrace their Jewish heritage. She has already presided over bar mitzvahs, baby namings, weddings, and other spiritual occasions, not just in Calabria, but all over Italy – wherever a progressive rabbi is needed. To learn more about Rabbi Barbara, and her activities, go to her site. Again, http://www.rabbibarbara.com.