Location: Clark Hall Room 206, 11130 Bellflower Road, Cleveland, OH 44106
2017 CLEVELAND HUMANITIES FESTIVAL: IMMIGRATION
The infamous 1492 Edict of Expulsion of the Jews forced close to 500,000 people into exile. Many had to leave their home-country where they lived for centuries, but still many, with nowhere to go, were pressured into conversion and into what became their “internal immigration.”
Travel with Irene Shaland to the islands of Sicily and Sardinia that present a fascinating chapter in both, the history of immigration and the history of Jewish Diaspora. Discover a world of little-known Jewish narrative: centuries marked by fear and secrets, decades filled with the search for one’s identity, and courage to defy conventions by reinventing oneself. These are the stories of B’nei Anousim, or “children of the forced ones” from the South of Italy. The elimination of institutional Judaism by the Edict and the Inquisition did not mean the end of Judaism itself. The destruction of synagogues and the burning of “Judaizes” five centuries ago forced the Jews of Sicily and Sardinia to “immigrate internally:” take their traditions into the cellars of their homes where the memories and stories were kept alive, even when descendants forgot their exact meaning. And now, the number of those with a “call of blood,” who think they have Jewish ancestry and want to learn more about it, or even embrace their newly-discovered heritage, is on the rise throughout these islands. Let the story of the Anousim lead you into the world of hope: the cultural and spiritual reawakening – and — return.
Irene will also introduce her latest book The Dao of being Jewish and Other Stories: Seeking Jewish Narrative all Over the World. Book signing follows the presentation.
Free and open to the public.