Rabbi Barbara Aiello in Serrastretta - Italian Jewish American Interview

Rabbi Barbara Aiello is the first and only woman rabbi in Italy. She is a spokesperson for Pluralistic Judaism – a movement that deliberately blurs denominational lines and extends the hand of Jewish welcome to Jews of all backgrounds and sexual orientations.

Rabbi Aiello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from a Calabrese family. Her father was a liberator of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

As founder and director of the Italian Jewish Cultural Center of Calabria (IjCCC), Rabbi Barbara Aiello’s mission starts in southern Italy where she works to help “anousim” (Italians whose ancestors were forced into conversion from Judaism) discover and connect with their Jewish roots.

At Sinagoga Ner Tamid del Sud, The “Eternal Light of the South,” in Serrastretta (province of Catanzaro), Italians learn about their Jewish heritage and experience Jewish ritual and observance at the first active synagogue in Calabria and Sicily in 500 years, since Inquisition times.

Music:
Domenico Scarlatti: Esercizio K 29; Sonata K 426; Sonata K 27; Esercizio K 239. Concert live recording in Rome 2017, Stefania Ganeri.

Editing by Alessandro Tarsia.
«New Nostoi Series» by Alessandro Tarsia, non-profit video.
CLIA, Cultura e Letteratura Italiana Americana