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Rabbi Barbara and Jewish Calabria
Our Calabrian odyssey continued in Nicastro, where I had a meeting with the only reform rabbi in Italy, and the only woman rabbi in Italy, the charming, fascinating, warm-hearted and welcoming Rabbina Barbara Aiello. The real and only word in Italian for rabbi is the masculine rabbino, but Barbara prefers the feminized form. Rabbi Barbara, as everyone English-speaking calls her, is an Italian-American who was born in Pittsburgh
and, yes, she is related to Danny Aiello, who is a first cousin, once removed. Who knew he was Jewish? Who knew Aiello was a Jewish name? Rabbi Barbara has lived in many places, serving many small Jewish communities, even in Beijing. Now she is living in her ancestral home, the house her father grew up in. It is in Serrastretta, a village in the hills overlooking Nicastro.
Nicastro itself is nowhere, nothing, although it is somewhere. That needs explanation. The town is in central Calabria, about 30 minutes south of Cosenza, which is a small, modern city. (Because the young people in Cosenza like to think of themselves as hip, which they are, they call it Cosangles, in the region of Calabrifornia.) But the Italian government, or maybe it is the regional Calabrese government, has seen fit to make Nicasto only one of five towns that since 1963 have been lumped together to form Lamezia Terme. On the autostrada, there is no exit for Nicastro, only Lamezia Terme, which, strangely, has an international airport. Nicastro is so nowhere, in fact, that if you want to go to a car wash, as opposed to taking out the hose and doing it yourself, you have to drive to Cosenza. Although there is very much a city-center to Nicastro, and it has the local castle, and it is the true historic center of the area, and the main drag has a Benneton, a Swarovski crystal outlet, three book shops, a Bata shoe store, and an Intimissimi lingerie outlet, and some trendy boutiques, there are only three restaurants in town and two of them were closed for most of August. Fortunately, the one that was open, La Madonnina, in front of an obelisk topped with a small Madonna wearing an electrified halo, was excellent, and had a very pleasant outdoor terrace. Also fortunately, the weather was cool enough to be comfortable sitting outside. The inside of the place looked dreadful.
At one time, there were many Jews in Nicastro and, unbelievably, we met people wearing crosses and saying the rosary who acknowledge that their families were once Jewish. The current mayor of Nicastro has officially acknowledged the town's heritage by putting a plaque on the outside of the old Jewish quarter, which is called Timpone, timpone being the Italian word for "ridge." And it was a quarter, not a ghetto, Rabbi Barbara emphasizes. The Jews chose to live in their own area, a zone defined by a high ridge between two streams. At the top of the ridge, there is even a mikvah, a ritual bath, now half paved-over with stone, but a mikvah nevertheless. It is in someone's garden. It has a gate. Rabbi Barbara explained that the local bishop is feeling somewhat threatened by her interest in Timpone, and he has intimidated the owner of the garden to keep it closed. Rabbi Barbara has also identified a piece of land that she thinks is the old Jewish cemetary. It is the only parcel that is flat, and it has never been built on. It would be bad luck (and manners) to build on a cemetary.
The old synagogue has been transformed into a church, but it is clear that the floral motif window was at one time a star of David window. And you can see from the brick work outside where the synagogue ended and the church addition was made, in a manner typical of these building conversions. The people who now live in Timpone, as this Jewish quarter is called, talk freely about how their names are Jewish. I talked to several. They really relish their past. If only everyone embraced their style of ecumenism and tolerance.
As the plaque declares, this was an industrious community. The Jews of Nicastro produced silk cloth and they tanned leather. The streams – torrente in Italian -- that defined their zone were essential for these endeavors.
We had lunch with Rabbi Barbara and her "companion," Enrico, who is also Jewish. Enrico is the cook between them, so he was the one who knows the old Calabrian Jewish recipes. There aren't many, and all of them are special for either Chanukah – fried dough, as you might expect – or Passover. The non-Jewish people of Nicastro make the same dishes, except for one. On Passover, potato gnocchi are made with chestnut flour, as wheat flour is forbidden on Passover. I'll be trying that.
I am considering putting together a Jewish tour of southern Italy for late next year. It would include a few days in Rome, where there is much to see. Then we would go to southeastern Sicily – specifically Siracusa – where there are a few more Jewish things to see, then we'd go back north through Calabria and end in Naples. Naturally, Rabbi Barbara would be one our wonderful guides. It won't be a kosher tour.
I think Italian Zionist once mentioned her.Here's her site
http://www.rabbibarbara.com/
Topic: What do you think of Reform Rabbi Barbara Aiello (Read 3863 times)