Before I left for Italy I had designed a plan to create about two dozen new shows and new series of episodes. One such series began on Friday, June 28. Based on the interviews we did of the people at the Synagogue of Florence, Emanuele Viterbo, Secretary (Director) of the Jewish Community, Sara Cividalli, President of the Congregation, and Renzo Funaro, Chief Architect in charge of renovations and reconstructions. It is fun to hatch an idea, execute it in Italy through photos and videos, and then design the appropriate show for the entertainment and education of my audience. It is now an even greater delight to plan an actual trip to Italy. That is, after all, why I do this. Heaven knows I do not make money from the entire endeavor and indeed spend large sums. I do it because it is fun !!!
Anyway, the videos carried the show, although as I always do when talking about a project that we carry out in Italy, I like also to tell the story of how the whole idea came about. I try very hard not to spend too much time on the latter, because then the essence of the show, the video interviews, have to be rushed, which is, of course, counterproductive. In this regard the plan worked to perfection. I was able to perform exactly as I would have wanted. Ellen and I at this point can practically predict how long each will be. If you look on Youtube at the lengths of each show, you will see that the average is somewhere in the 57 minutes range for the past several months. The only glitch was starting the musical introduction, and having Ellen tell me to start again, because she had failed to initiate the picture part of the broadcast. I edited that from Youtube, but people seeing the show in the Hudson Valley (Woodstock primarily but eventually all the other locations to which I send copies), will see the music begin, a black screen, stopping and starting all over again; that is unless the station itself can modify the DVD. Otherwise it was a fine show.
The story of the Jewish People in Italy, as everywhere in the world, is a fascinating story interwoven with the history of the cities in which they lived. One of the striking things that people might notice and certainly caught my attention is that the synagogue of Florence is large, beautiful, and graces the landscape in the eastern portion by its majesty, just as the Dome of the Cathedral does to the western. When my audience views the Venice show next Friday, they will see synagogues which basically blend into the city, with nothing to distinguish them from the general area in which they exist. Venetian synagogues were built hundreds of years ago when Jews had every reason to remain as discreet as possible amid the ever present threat of suppression. The Florence synagogue was built in the 1870's, not only without that constraint, but also amid the excitement of the Risorgimento or Unification of all the disparate city-states into one country, Italy, a time when Florence, as the capital of the new country, was spreading its wings. Almost simultaneously, the Ghetto was demolished to make way for the new Piazza Repubblica to commemorate this great honor and David Levi donated a lot of money for the constriction of the stunning synagogue.
Nonetheless, the pride, history, and culture of the Jews in Venice is no less admirable as the audience will see when I interview the Chief Rabbi of the Venetian Community, Rabbi Benyamin, the President of the Congregation, Mr. Corrado Calimani, and a volunteer, Ms. Gaia Rava. Equally impressive they tell their own stories of struggle and triumph in the city whose Jewish confinement gave birth to the word "ghetto" itself. Of course, I also introduce the show with the journey to find the story to tell and the actual trip from our hotel atop the Palazzo Bembo. Then the interviews, followed by a few other things. Again, I owe a great debt to the people who made the time to show us extraordinary hospitality during our visit, just as I do to the people in Florence. When all is said and done, and we visit Florence and Venice once again, I hope to return to these venues to reiterate that appreciation.
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