CPL

The Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty of Italy is over two thou­sand years old, and yet, when Eleanor Foa’s father tried to explain their Ital­ian Jew­ish her­itage, it was always a strug­gle.

We all have stories in our archives.  We know it is best to bring the stories out, for people to hear and see them.  But how?  One idea:   Involve the narrator, maybe she or he will have an idea.  That was the case in a recent event in New York

Leo Yeni, an Artist’s Paper Life, presented by NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò in collaboration with Centro Primo Levi showcases the life and struggles of a man through his art. To some, the show, curated by Cynthia Madansky, is an interesting look into the mind of the artist, who like many other Italian jews was abandoned by his country, to others such as Lillian Spiegel, it’s one more step towards giving Leo what he never managed to obtain during his lifetime, Italian citizenship.

In unconventional exhibit, the public is encouraged not only to touch the displays but to converse with Stella Levi, a 96-year-old Jewish native of the island that was occupied by the Nazis in World War II. By Danielle Ziri for…

Recalling the once-vibrant Jewish life in prewar Rhodes, an island in the Mediterranean. By Michael Frank for The New York Times. Four years ago, while researching the war years in Italy, I was introduced to Stella Levi, now 96, probably…