 Mentri cercu di ricurdarimi quacchi cosa assuciata cu l'ebrei duranti a me adolescenza ntâ Sicilia, tuttu chiddu ca mi veni a menti è na frasi ca niautri carusi dicevamu quannu stavamu facennu atti di crudiltà contra quacchi nucetta o baggia (mi fa mali sulu a ricurdarimi a nostra barbarità!) A frasi era "Non fu io e mancu Diu, fu a spata dû giudeu!" la quali ripinsannuci voli diri ca avevamu na vera faccia tosta! Niautri mentri ci stavamu tagghiannu a cuda a nucetta o peggiu ci davamu a culpa ê giudei! L'antisemitismu espressu di sta frasi però non era di tipu personali; aveva a cchi fari câ culpa biblica dî giudei ca non seppiru ricanusciri a divinità di Gèsu Cristu e l'ammazzaranu, almenu chista era a lezioni dû catechismu ca ci avianu fattu a scola (prima câ Chesa avia aduttatu un approcciu cchiù illuminatu). I me cumpagni e io non canuscevamu ê giudei comu cristiani di carni e ossa. Eranu pi niautri un populu miticu ca avia campatu "in illo tempore". Pi chiddu ca sapeva io e mi pari ca a me esperienza sia tipica e rapprisentativa di l'isulani) non c'erano ebrei ntâ Sicilia e non ci avianu mai statu. Non era ca io era ignuranti e mancu ca io non aveva occhi pi vidiri. Non si videvanu segni tangibili di unni si puteva pinsari ca iddi avianu statu nta l'isula in gran numiru. Non aveva mai vistu na sinagoga, o un ghetto o un palazzu ca si putissi canusciri comu ebreu, non sapeva na parola in sicilianu ca indicassi a presenza ebraica nta l'isula, e non canusceva mancu na pietanza ca si putissi diri ebrea. Di I'autra manu, però, puteva vidiri senza difficultà l'influenzi di autri gruppi etnici ca avevanu abitatu a Sicilia. Segni tangibili dâ presenza di Fenici, Greci, Rumani sunu assai comuni, comu sunu comuni chiddi di l'Arabi, Normanni, Svevi, Francisi, Aragunisi/Spagnoli, e macari di l'Amiricani ca foru l'ultimi a ntrasiri ntà Sicilia comu conquistaturi. Si guardati a na mappa dâ Sicilia e viditi città comu Caltanissetta, Caltagiruni, Caltavuturu, aviti n'esempiu dà presenza araba nta l'isula (kalt voli diri casteddu nta l'arabu); si pronunciati a parola bruccetta o custureri ci sintiti l'ecu di dominazioni francisi (Brochette, couturier); si sentiti un Sicilianu ca ci dici suttuvuci a so nnamurata "Si veru bedda!" vi putiti ricurdari a brevi pirmanenza di nglisi; i Normanni venunu a menti ammirannu i cattidrali di Murriali e Cefalù. Ma nenti dâ prisenza di l'Ebrei era visibili ê me occhi inesperti. Naturalmenti, l'Ebrei non conquistarunu mai a Sicilia e non lassarunu mai monumenti a iddi stissi pî posteri. Eppuru ci stesiru milli e quattrucentu anni, spartennusi i boni tempi chî brutti, campannu a latu di Cristiani e di l'Arabi in relativa armunia, comu medici, mircanti, contadini, mastri specializzati ntâ produzioni dâ sita comu tinturi, scarpara, contribuennu non pocu a vita ecunomica e culturali dâ Sicilia. Cu tuttu ciò, ddi milli e quattrucentu anni di storia pari ca furunu scancillati dâ cuscenza siciliana.
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As I search my memory for anything associated with Jews during my years of growing up in Sicily, all I can come up with is a ditty in Sicilian which was repeated by children as they performed acts of cruelty on lizards and frogs, (how painful to recall the mindlessness of it!). The ditty was "non fu io e mancu Diu, fu la spata du giudeu!" (It was not I, nor was it God, it was the sword of the Jew!) which in retrospect took a lot of gall on our part. There we were about to sever a lizard's tail or worse and we were accusing the Jews! The antisemitism contained in the ditty, however, was not of a personal nature; it had to do with the biblical guilt of the Jews as the people who had failed to recognize the divinity of Jesus and had killed him, which is what Catholics were taught through catechism, (that is, before the Church had adopted a more enlightened approach). I and my comrades had no personal knowledge of Jews as persons of flesh and blood. They were a mythical people who had lived "in illo tempore". As far as I knew, (and I regard my experiences there as typical and representative) there were no Jews in Sicily, nor had they ever lived on the island. It is not that I was particularly uninformed or oblivious to my surroundings. There seemed to be no physical signs in Sicily from which you could infer that Jews once had inhabited the island in large numbers. I had never seen a synagogue, or a ghetto, or a building that could be identified as Jewish. I knew no word in Sicilian that betrayed the presence of Jews on the island. I knew no food that could be recognized as Jewish. On the other hand, I could easily spot influences of other groups that have inhabited Sicily. Physical signs of the presence of Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, are commonplace, as are those of the Arabs, Normans, Swabians, French, Aragonese/Spaniards, and even Americans, who were the last to enter Sicily as conquerors. If you look at a map of Sicily and see cities such as Caltanissetta, Caltagirone, or Caltavuturu, you have an example of the Arabic presence on the island, (Kalt means castle in Arabic); words like bruccetta (fork) or custureri (tailor) are echoes of the French domination (brochette, couturier). If you overhear a Sicilian paying a compliment to his girl, "si veru bedda!" (You're very beautiful!) you are reminded of the brief permanence of the English; the Normans come to mind while admiring the cathedrals of Monreale and Cefalù. But nothing of the Jews was visible to my uninitiated eye. Of course, they never conquered Sicily like the others and they never left monuments to themselves for posterity. But they were there for fourteen long centuries, sharing bad times and good times, living side by side with Christians and Arabs, in relative harmony, as teachers, as merchants, as doctors, as farmers, as textile workers, as dyers, and shoemakers, contributing not little to the economic and cultural life of Sicily. Yet today those fourteen hundred years of history seem to have been erased from the consciousness of Sicilians.
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| Cu furunu sti giudei siciliani, unni vivevanu, chi contribueru â storia sicula e chi cosa i fici scumpariri dâ nostra cuscenza cullettiva? Rispunniri a sti dumanni, accussi incompletamenti comu pozzu fari nta sta occasioni, pò essiri di stimulu a autri pi studiari l'argumentu cchiù completamenti c illuminari n'aspettu dâ nostra storia ca ha statu ignoratu pi troppu tempu. |
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Who were these Sicilian Jews, where did they live, what did they contribute to Sicilian history and what made them disappear from our collective consciousness? Answering these questions, even as incompletely as I can on this occasion, may inspire others to study the subject more deeply and illuminate an aspect of Sicilian history that has been ignored for too long. |
| Fortunatamenti i cosi stannu canciannu e dda storia sta cuminciannu a emergiri. Ntô misi di novembri dû 1992 si tinni a Salemi ntâ provincia di Trapani, un convegnu pi discutiri l'impurtanza storica di comunità ebraichi dâ Sicilia, organizzatu dâ SLM, l'istitutu di cultura ebraica direttu di Titta Lo Jacono. ò convegnu, duratu na simana sana, parteciparunu personalità mportanti cattolici e laici e rapprisentau un principiu solidu e n'invitu a studiari ddi cosi non distrutti dû tempu: i documenti esistunu ancora ntê archivi lucali e ntê bibliotechi.
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Fortunately things are changing and that history is beginning to be written. In Nov. 1992, in Salemi (province of Trapani), a convention was organized by the Institute of Jewish Culture "SLM," headed by Titta Lo Jacono, to discuss the historical importance of Jewish communities in Sicily. The week-long convention, attended by important Catholic and lay personalities, represented a solid beginning and an invitation to start studying those things not destroyed by time: the documents that gather dust in town archives and in libraries.
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| A data dû convegnu fu scelta pi coincidiri cû cincucentesimu anniversariu di n'eventu mportanti ntâ storia. No, non a scuperta di l'America di Cristoforu Columbu! Staiu parrannu di nautru eventu ca ribummau ancori cchiû forti nta l'aricchi di l'Ebrei europei: l'edittu cû quali Firdinannu e Isabella di Spagna, i Re Cattolici, cacciarunu l'Ebrei di tutti i so terri. Accussi cuminciamu dâ fini dû soggiornu di giudei nta l'isula ca iddi cunsidiravanu a so casa, cacciati non di l'animosità dî vicini e paisani ma di l'azioni di un re distanti di na terra distanti. I giudei siciliani si truvarunu 'ngagghiati ntô vortici turbulentu di un dramma ca ebbi iniziu a nautra banna.
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The date of the conference was chosen, of course, to coincide with the five hundredth anniversary of a momentous event in history. No, not the 1492 discovery of America by Christopher Columbus! I am referring to another event that echoed even more loudly in the hearts of European Jews: the edict by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, the Catholic Monarchs, expelling the Jews from all their realms. So we will begin from the end of the sojourn of the Jews on the island they had called home for fourteen hundred years, from which they were evicted not by popular animosities of their neighbors and townsmen, but by the actions of a distant king from a distant land. Sicilian Jews were caught in the vortex of a turbulent drama that was begun elsewhere.
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