On behalf of the Jewish Community of Bologna, of which I am Chief Rabbi, and on my own personal behalf, please accept our warmest greetings.
It is recounted in the Mishnah, the oral law, that Abraham's tent was open on all four sides, in order to offer greater hospitality to all travellers who might have had the need to stop to refresh themselves from the road, without ever hesitating to enter it.
Berukhim ha baim – Welcome to you all, in the name of the one God, the same as Abraham, who had the merit of being called by God
“Av hammon goiim – Father of a multitude of nations”
(Genesis 17;5).
Jews have lived in Bologna since the early centuries of the Common Era, during which they strongly desired to establish and intertwine their roots within the city's fabric.
Without any hesitation we can state that the Jewish religion and its members are the oldest inhabitants of the city, just as Italian Jews are the oldest Italians in Italy.
Being monotheistic according to the Jewish conception does not only express the religious condition that is manifested in a Synagogue, in a Church or in a Mosque, but also means pursuing those ideals that are fundamental for the dignified behavior of Human beings: a behavior that is founded on freedom and democracy and that indicates respect for man in general, and for his rights to a free and democratic life.
In its thousands of years of history the Jewish people, despite having origins in the Land of Israel, through continuous Diasporas and persecutions, has always sought to integrate its life and traditions with those of the nations in which it was forced to dwell, striving in every way for the good of them.
The beginning of our people's history in Italy dates back approximately around 200 BCE when the first Jews coming from Jerusalem settled in Rome, where they founded a Community that they have never abandoned since.
They have always given proof of a particular and nurtured affection for this Country, participating in every way in the various struggles for the defense of the rights of its citizens and for the attainment of freedom.
During their stay until 1555, the year the ghettos were established, they participated in the social life of our city, also and above all from a cultural and academic point of view, where one witnessed, among other things, activity within the oldest University in Europe.
To remember just one among many, Ovadiah ben Jacob Sforno lived in Bologna in the early sixteenth century; a biblical exegete known and studied still today in Rabbinical Academies all over the world, but also known for his profession as a doctor and for this reason called in the university environment: Abbir ha rofeim – the Prince of doctors.
As is well known, Jews have suffered numerous and terrible persecutions, but they have drawn from these the lesson to overcome those painful moments by dedicating themselves, through their noble conduct, to being an example to all others.
At the end of the 500s they were expelled from Bologna but they never forgot it.
With Emancipation achieved in 1861, after over three centuries, they did not miss the opportunity to return to live and work there once again, in the name of the fight for respect for the rights of all religious and ethnic minorities.
Numerous Jewish professors and students swarmed in the city's University, until the infamous racial laws were promulgated, and centuries later they were discriminated against once again, until they were driven from their jobs.
Finally, with the Shoah they were deported to the Nazi extermination camps, from where a third of the city's Jewish population never returned.
However, our destiny is always to be a good example for others and in our tradition there is the sacrosanct duty to dedicate oneself to the good of one's neighbour, whatever their religious creed.
We have just spent the religious solemnity of Rosh Hashanah – the New Year; we are in 5782 (according to rabbinic tradition) since the appearance of the first man on earth. This is a solemnity, together with the upcoming one of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), that has a value not purely Jewish, but rather universal. Indeed, the high value of the Human Being within the Creation of the World is celebrated.
In our Synagogues we pray to the Eternal for the peace, well-being, health and life of every being: not only of Jews, not only of men but of all beings who live on this Planet.
Throughout our history we have always encouraged and exhorted the pursuit of well-being and the good life for everyone, always fighting for freedom, the defence of civil rights and the possibility of expressing one's own traditions.
This is what Jews, in Italy and in every part of the Diaspora, where they have now lived for millennia, have wished to transmit to the society that has hosted them; this is what all those who believe in the positive values of Humanity and have faith in men have the task of carrying out.
A famous Master of the Talmud was asked what the fundamental element was for being Jewish. He answered with extreme simplicity:
“Do not do to others what you would not want done to you; the rest is commentary, go and study”.
Our hope is that the future world, the new generations, may see in the good of one's neighbour the dearest thing a man can put into practice in his life and strive for a better world, where there is love but above all respect for those around us.