Jewish–Christian Difference and Modern Jewish Identity by Goldman Shalom;

Author:Goldman, Shalom;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Joining the Jewish People

The San Nicandrans official reception into the Jewish fold did not occur until a year after the war in Europe ended. This makes their decision all the more remarkable, for by that time the extent of the Nazi murder of Europe’s Jews was well known. They had decided to convert to Judaism in the early 1930s; they would not be dissuaded now, despite the murder of the Jews of Europe. Soon after the war ended, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities sent Rabbi Alfredo Ravenna to San Nicandro. The rabbi found the Sabbatini community torn by dissension, with some younger members influenced by both the official rabbinate and by Zionism, while Manduzio and the old guard held to a more biblical view of prophetic authority. Rabbi Ravenna negotiated a “peace treaty” and informed the community that the full conversion ritual could be held within the year. He would personally oversee the ritual.

In July of 1946 the first conversion ceremony, presided over by Rabbi Ravenna, took place in San Nicandro. At this ritual thirteen men and boys were circumcised by a doctor sent from Rome. Manduzio, in his sixties and in ill health, was not circumcised, but was welcomed into the faith without circumcision. Ten days later both the men and the women underwent tvilah (immersion ceremony) in the Adriatic Sea. Altogether seventy-four people converted to Judaism in a series of ceremonies conducted over the next year.

Donato Manduzio died on March 15, 1948, a month before the establishment of the State of Israel. The inscription on his tombstone reads, “Donato Manduzio was born in 1885 and lived in pagan ways until 1930, but on August 11 of that year, by divine inspiration, he was called by God by the name of Levi, that is priest, and he proclaimed on this misty rock the unity of God and the Sabbath day of rest. He died on March 15, 1948.”[53]

Within two years of Manduzio’s death most, but not all, of the converts had emigrated from Italy to Israel. Two of the San Nicandrans enlisted in the Israeli army and fought in the 1948 War. Donato Manduzio’s demise eased the way to Israel for the San Nicandran converts. They would hardly have been accepted in early 1950s Israel, if the civil and religious authorities had known that they were led by a “prophet” who challenged the rabbinate.[54] But at the time, Manduzio’s eccentric views of Judaism were unknown. As the group had converted to Judaism under Orthodox rabbinical supervision in Italy, the Israeli Rabbinate raised no questions about the “authenticity” of their conversion.

In Israel the Jewish Agency settled the San Nicandrans in Mosha Alma, near Safed in the northern Galilee. Already living there were Italian-speaking Jews from Libya. This Moshav, or collective farm, was on the land of the Palestinian village of Ras-al-ahmar, which the Israelis declared “abandoned” (natush) by its inhabitants. During their first year at the Moshav the San Nicandran converts were discovered by the Magnum photographer “Chim” David Seymour, who published wonderful photographs of the villagers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.