WEAR A KIPPAH DAY

Italy Battles the Barbarians

By JULIE LENARZ

THOMAS PETER/REUTERS

that Europe does not

To wear the kippah or to cover
As Europe witnesses the largest anti-Semitism
see and that, instead, on our conthe head in a less-conspicuous way?
tinent, is spreading day by day in
This is a question being considered
emigration of Jews since the
silence.
throughout Europe, a place that is
period of World War II, Italy
Wear a Kippah Day was a great
increasingly unsafe for those who
success, according to Cerasa, and
openly identify as Jews.
stands
out
as
a
beacon
of
hope
showed that a sense of solidarity can
Following the assault on a Jewish teacher by a machete-wielding in the fight against anti-Semitism be mobilized and deployed in confrontation against totalitarian beliefs,
Islamist outside a synagogue in Marseilles in January, Zvi Ammar, head and the Wests cultural surrender. if only we are brave enough to stand
up for our principles. We are very
of the citys 70,000-strong Jewish
happy with the result. It was an event
community, urged Jews to stop wearthat had a major impact in our country, Cerasa said. We distributed
ing religious symbols in public. For the time being, Ammar said, at
approximately 15,000 kippot and are sold out. Even the Vatican spokesleast until these barbarians calm down.
man, Federico Lombardi, has chosen to wear a kippah on the memorial.
While the proposal was certainly made in good faith and grounded
The launch of Il Foglios campaign could not have been more timely.
in concern for the well-being of his fellow Jews, Ammars remarks were
Several of the recent terrorist attacks in Europe have specifically tarroundly rejected.
geted Jews, and the wave of attacks in Marseilles are merely the latest
Claudio Cerasa, editor of the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, was among
examples of rising violence against Jews on the continent.
those who took a different view. The paper launched a nationwide camFrance is home to both the largest Jewish and Muslim commupaign of solidarity a Wear a Kippah Day on International Holonities in Europe, an environment that has given rise to a disproportioncaust Remembrance Day. Kippot were distributed with its daily edition
ately high rate of violent assaults against Jews compared to other Euroon January 27, attached to an article that explained the motivation
pean countries.
behind the move. The paper stressed that the West should not obscure
In Marseilles, a city in southern France, home to the second-largits roots and its religious symbols and that this year we must do more
est Jewish community in the country, five Jews were attacked with
in response to the surge in anti-Semitism across Europe. The kippot, it
knives since October of last year. A Rabbi and two of his congregants
asserted, are a sign of solidarity with the Jewish community, which
were stabbed outside a synagogue following Shabbos prayers in Octoforms an indispensable component of Italys social fabric.
ber. Weeks later, a teacher at a Jewish school was stabbed by three men
Explained Cerasa in an interview with Hamodia, The episode of
who shouted anti-Semitic epithets at him. One of them was wearing an
Marseilles has been particularly serious and is the symbol of a new
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15 Adar I 5776

Islamic State t-shirt. The two incidents were

followed by the attack in January on Binyamin
Amsalem, another Jewish teacher, who said he
believed it was his kippah that marked him as a
Jew and made him a target.
In the context of those attacks, Zvi Ammar urged
Jews to stop wearing the kippah in public. It was my
duty. My only goal was to preserve human life, said
Ammar. Not wearing the kippah can save lives, and nothing is more important.
Ammar was not the first to make such an observation.
Last February, the president of the Central Council of Jews in
Germany, Josef Schuster, questioned if it is indeed sensible,
in troubled areas, in neighborhoods with a large Muslim population, to openly identify as a Jew by wearing the kippah?
However, other high-profile Jewish leaders have strongly rejected the suggestion to hide their religious identity. The Chief Rabbi of
France, Rabbi Ham Korsia, stated: We shouldnt give in to anything
we will continue to wear the kippah. His sentiment was echoed by
French President Franois Hollande: It is intolerable that in our country citizens should feel so upset and under assault because of their religious choice that they would conclude that they have to hide.
Despite their encouragement, the fact remains that many European
Jews have already given up wearing religious symbols for fear of being
targeted. A poll carried out by the European Unions Fundamental
Rights Agency found that one-third of Jews in Europe avoid wearing
symbols and visiting places that identify them as Jews because of safety concerns.
Recognition of this unfortunate reality makes clear the need for a
change in thinking, something that Claudio Cerasa hopes to achieve
with Il Foglios campaign of solidarity. He explained to Hamodia: A Jew
who hides in fear of being recognized as a Jew is the perfect symbol
of a world that forces the West to hide for fear of provoking a reaction
among those who want to stab the West. A West that covers its eyes to
new tragedies of the Jews is a West that has decided to cover its eyes to
the tragedies of modernity.
In other words, the current crisis is not just a Jewish crisis; its ramifications are universal. Enshrined in the constitution of all member
states of the European Union is the fundamental principle of freedom
of religion the right to openly live and practice ones religious beliefs
free of discrimination, persecution, or worse. Based on these principles,
Jews in Europe should feel confident to wear the kippah and other religious identifiers, and enjoy tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
It is clear, however, that freedom of religion is increasingly under
threat. Our basic values are betrayed by what Cerasa calls a sense of
perpetual guilt. The West often fails to stand up for its values, held hostage by the absurd notion that we are somehow to blame for the mayhem
that Islamic extremists have brought onto our streets. But no grievance
can possibly justifytheir callous disregard for human life.
Cerasa explains why he believes such thinking to be not just wrongheaded, but fatal as well a mindset that will lead to cultural retreat
and, ultimately, cultural surrender. It is thought that the Islamist
threat is a reaction to some of our actions, but obviously it is not. Their
cutthroat acts are not compelled by Western action, but are grounded
in a bloody ideology, he told Hamodia, and added, In fact, it is just the
opposite: If the West does not act, it enables terrorism.
A problem cannot be remedied while it remains undefined. That governments of Europe are facing a gigantic struggle and failing to identify
Islamism by its name guarantees defeat. It should be deemed a failure of
Europe that, after years of pledging that hatred of another people would
never become so widespread, anti-Semitism is again so prominent.
Moreover, the realization that Jew-hatred is the moral litmus test of a
free nation what begins with the Jews never ends with the Jews
has not yet manifested itself in the collective European mindset.
So what can be done? Solidarity is a powerful weapon, as Il Foglios
Wear a Kippah Day has beautifully demonstrated. For one day, the
paper showed that the kippah is not just a symbol of Jewish identity, but
FEATURES February 24, 2016

a symbol of precious freedom for Jews

and non-Jews alike.
Italy has long been one of
Europes most pro-Jewish states
and stands out as a beacon
of hope in the fight against
anti-Semitism. In 2000, it became
one of the first countries in the world
to establish January 27, the date on which
Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp,
was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945, as a national day of
remembrance.
Support remains strong to this day. Subsequent Italian governments, including the current one led by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi,
have been well-known allies of the Jewish community and the Jewish
state. Last year, Renzi delivered a passionate speech to the Knesset on
the dangers of the BDS movement. Whoever boycotts Israel doesnt
understand that he is boycotting himself and doesnt understand that
he is betraying his own future you [Israel] do not only have the right
to exist, you must exist and live for the future of your children and mine.
You are a fulcrum of the world, and we will stand with you.
In 2010, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu went so far as
to say that he did not believe that Israel had a better friend than his
then-counterpart, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Moreover,
Italys religious establishment has been steadfast in its support for the
Jewish community. Each of the last three popes has been openly philo-Semitic, a fact that has resonance in a country that, despite increased
secularization, is still deeply religious.
But Claudio Cerasa warns that the protection of Jewish life can no
longer be taken as a given. In Italy, anti-Semitism is a phenomenon
that until recently lagged behind, but some recent events tell us that
something is changing, he told Hamodia.
One example Cerasa cites is the growing support for the BDS campaign, a movement that is on the rise across Europe. A few weeks ago, a
petition put forward by Italian academics and researchers called for the
boycott of Israeli institutions and research universities. The document,
signed by over 200 individuals, specifically targeted the Technion, Israels Institute of Technology in Haifa. We will not accept invitations to
Israeli academic institutions; will not predicate in conferences funded,
organized or sponsored by them, their statement read.
As observed in other European countries, a correlation can be
detected between a surge in anti-Semitic violence and events taking
place in the Middle East, a conation that often leads to the calamitous
conclusion that violence against Jews in Europe is not motivated by
anti-Semitism, but rather is a reaction to the situation in Israel and the
Palestinian-administered regions.
In the summer of 2014, at the height of Israels military operation
in Gaza, the Jewish community in Italy was hit especially hard. The
Shoah is a fraud and Anne Frank is a liar were sprayed on the walls
of a former Jewish ghetto in Rome. Dozens of Jewish shop owners
found swastikas and other Nazi symbols spray-painted on their doors
and windows. Abd al-Barr al-Rawdhi, an Islamist hate preacher from
the northeastern town of San Don di Piave, video-recorded a sermon
calling for the extermination of all Jews, and on a radio program, Gianni
Vattimo, one of Italys leading philosophers and a member of the European parliament, called for military aid to Hamas and expressed the
wish topersonally shoot Zionists if he could.
No country is immune as this new form of virulent anti-Semitism
sweeps across Europe, but the inspiring examples of courage and morality, like Il Foglios Wear a Kippah Day, shine through, casting lone rays
of light over a continent that is struggling to shake off the shackles it has
imposed on itself.
Perhaps Italy, with its brave and imaginative acts of solidarity, can
offer a model for the rest of Europe to follow. In the words of Claudio
Cerasa: When the retreat turns into surrender, it is high time to stop
whistling, stop pretending nothing is happening, and start looking at
reality with different eyes.
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