Jan

28 2016

"Jews of Sicily: A Forgotten History" with Sergio Calderella

7:30PM - 9:00PM  

Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center 775 Talamini Road
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
908-725-6994
http://ssbjcc.org

Contact Dan Fahrer
908-725-7799 x 253
dfahrer@jfedshaw.org

The saga of Jewish history has no simple chapters, and the chapter on Sicilian Jews is certainly no exception. While the histories of Galician, Indian, and Japanese Jews have been studied extensively, one of the oldest communities of the Diaspora has been generally neglected. The biggest island of the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily, has been for millennia one of the most important crossroads of the early civilizations.

Jews have left their mark in many Sicilian areas, from their language, to their culinary traditions, to the topography of cities, and in the names of the people. Most of these connections remain to be investigated, and much is yet to be done to better understand these Jewish communities, which have lived for more than fifteen centuries on the island, leaving us precious pearls still waiting to be discovered.

Join us for a free lecture with Sergio Caldarella, a passionate reader of poetry, physics and philosophy. Author of ten books, several papers and two theater pieces staged in Italy and Germany, lives in Princeton, NJ.