For the first time since the expulsion of the Jews from Sicily 523 years ago, on Jan. 12, 1493, the Palermo community gathered Tuesday to hold a daylong series of public events to commemorate the anniversary of this dark chapter in the island’s history. The events were organized by the Jerusalem-based nonprofit Shavei Israel–which has been working with the Bnei Anousim in Italy and elsewhere, in partnership with Istituto Siciliano di Studi Ebraici (ISSE, or Sicilian Institute of Jewish Studies).
The Bnei Anousim are descendants of Iberian Jews who were compelled to convert to Catholicism in the 14th and 15th centuries, but many continued to preserve aspects of their Jewish identity in secret despite the oppression and persecution of the Inquisition.
More than 1,000 Palermo natives from all walks of life participated in various activities coordinated by Rabbi Pinhas Punturello, Shavei Israel’s emissary to the Bnei Anousim of southern Italy and Sicily.
“In recent years, a growing number of Bnei Anousim in southern Italy and Sicily have begun to re-embrace their roots,” said Shavei Israel Founder and Chairman Michael Freund. “Today’s commemoration in the heart of Palermo underlines the fact that neither the expulsion nor the Inquisition could extinguish the immortal Jewish spark,” he noted, adding: “We must intensify our efforts to reach out to the Anousim in Italy and elsewhere. Their return to the Jewish people is an extraordinary testimony both to the power of Jewish memory and the pull of Jewish destiny, and we owe it to them and to their ancestors to welcome them back.”
The day’s schedule in Palermo opened with the screening of the film “La passione di Giosuè l’Ebreo” (The Passion of Joshua the Jew), which explores Catholic persecution of the Jews in the years leading up to the expulsion. The screening, held at the palace of Zisa in western Palermo, was followed by a discussion with director Pasquale Scimeca, who is a descendant of Sicilian Anousim. Later, the community gathered at the Palermo municipal historical archives – built on the ruins of the Great Synagogue of Palermo, the greatest synagogue in the world according to 15th-century Italian commentator on the Mishna and traveler Rabbi Obadiah ben Abraham Bartenura – for a panel on the expulsion of Sicily’s Jews featuring Palermo Municipal Historical Archive Director Elina Calandra, University of Palermo Professor Giovanna Fiume, and Shavei Israel’s Rabbi Pinhas Punturello.
Moving testimonies from the archives of the Inquisition were read aloud, telling the stories of various Sicilian Bnei Anousim who were imprisoned for continuing to practice Judaism in secret even after they had been forced to convert. Afterwards, a selection of Sephardic songs was played by the Sicilian-Spanish musician Aleandra Bertolino Garcia.