JM IN THE AM SHOW 2 Venice 11 22 16

[Applause] n [Music] me [Music] me [Applause] [Music] be [Music] [Applause] [Music] be [Music] home [Music] [Applause] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me me [Music] [Applause] [Music] the be be [Music] m [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Tuesday morning at JM in the am and I thank you all for listening in and for watching as we continue our broadcast from Venice the Jewish Unity initiative of the N seagull Network continues on this Tuesday and we are here in the Venetian Jewish ghetto as we commemorate 500 years of the ghetto which was established back in 1516 well so far we've had an amazing visit many of you have already heard about the banura presentation on Saturday night of the incredible Jewish music malava Malco that took place here in the ghetto uh the rabbi of the community made sure to point out to me after the event how instrumental the event was in bringing Jewish unity and in bringing people together and really inspiring the crowd and a big thank you to David fadida andya and Danel Jael and Y sna and everybody who was a uh a a major part and integral part of bringing that event together on Saturday night uh yesterday on Monday we had the opportunity to speak more about the ghetto and to introduce special guests including uh people who gave us a wonderful tour of the Jewish Museum here in Venice a significant uh uh a significant site for us to visit and to learn about the history of this incredible place and today we're going to have an opportunity to visit with the rabbi in Ritson the chief Rabbi of Venice and uh and his Ritson Rabbi Mrs Bak who've been here for the last two and a half years continue to lead this community and to grow this community as you'll hear uh and that visit will take place in the main sh where daily Services take place in Venice later on we'll be at an art gallery in the ghetto we'll also have an opportunity uh to speak speak to some of the people who live here in Venice in the small Jewish community and we'll also have a chance to speak to some of the people who've been key to our Jewish Unity initiative that's all coming up on a Tuesday edition of JM and the am so keep it here thank you so much for listening in thank you so much for tuning in thank you very much for watching this has been a very special visit to Venice for us as we commemorate the 500th year of the ghetto and all of this will continue next right here at JM in the AM [Music] I for [Music] of [Music] spe [Music] hey he [Music] me [Music] my [Music] name I'm the [Music] dead me I'm to is [Music] sh sh I'm Israel [Applause] [Music] I'm I'm cool be [Music] oh Lord sh I'm [Music] Isel I'm [Music] is is Lord you shall care I'm is [Music] [Applause] col [Music] [Applause] [Music] Co cool for [Music] in Ro [Music] yeah there are [Music] CL [Music] f [Music] 1 2 3 [Music] [Applause] [Music] for [Music] for spee for [Music] got [Music] for [Music] love [Music] love fore [Music] me [Music] la L [Music] love [Music] for me [Music] la [Music] show [Music] the [Music] spe [Music] fore [Music] [Applause] fore [Music] for for [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] [Applause] JM in the am on a Tuesday morning it's an akam sigal Network Jewish Unity initiative as we continue our visit to Venice uh as we participate in the 500th year commemoration of the Venetian Jewish ghetto and we are here with the Chief Rabbi and raban of Venice Italy Rabbi Mrs Bak thank you very much for being here good morning good morning and thank you for hosting us and for making this helping make this a very special visit for us we very much appreciate it uh tell everybody first where we're sitting what Sho what synagogue are we in we are now in the lentine Sho is the Sho of the Jews from Greek and in Greece and Turkey uh of course sephar of Shool and we use this Shool during the the winter uh it's a little Sho uh proportionally to the other Sho the Spanish Shool and during the summer that's the one you use the Spanish after P right we we we us out Sho H when was this built this Sho about 500 years ago and it looks very similar today to 500 years ago yes yes no not the of course there are many uh restoration during during the 500 years but this about the the was built by the Jews from Greek and turkey uh we had the opportunity to DAV in here on chabas which was beautiful and it's used every day as you just mentioned um this is a uh this is a remarkable Place Venice how long have you been here how long have you been here in Venice and how long have you been the chief Rabbi 200 two two two year and a half two and a half years two and a half years and What attracted you how did you how did how did this become available to you that you said I would love to be the leader of the Jewish community of Venice I have a sister in Venice so when they suggest me to be a chief Rabbi of Venice I accept it's a very interesting place and so also also challenge to be a rabbi in a shoe in in a town where about 100,000 Jews visit the the the synagogues during the year so this is the reason because I when I during my speech I speech in Hebrew also and in in Italian of course in Italian as well of course um the uh 500th year of the establishment of the Jewish ghetto here has it been for us it's been very significant it was what uh encouraged us to actually come and visit and bring this entire story to our audience has it been very significant for the community here very significant of course because because the Jews Jews live in Venice about 1,000 year uh but uh before they get the get to the you had lives in reality in another place but every day they have to also to to move from Venice to master for example to to the to the ter to the the the mainland the mainland the mainland but during this after the when the GTO was built the Jews have the opportunity to live in Venice even if the ghetto was a terrible uh condition condition but anyway the Jews cannot can believe in Venice and also the people can visit the GTO all the also the the the Christian because they the most part of the population of course was Christian but not only Christian because this is was an international town Muslim and also Greek and many people from all of the world you know when was a a great power uh in 5 500 years ago a very significant area of the world that's for sure I want to ask um uh Mrs Bak if I may uh what what do you think it is uh uh as a how do you think it's different to be a Chief Rabbi in a city like Venice than any other City around the world um the international aspect of it I think is is very important um Jews from all over the world come make use of our services the Sho the restaurants and so on um and so it gives the community a chance to have very intense contact with Jewish realities all over the world and maybe it's a represent representation of Jewish Unity um uh and yeah I think that's I think that's mostly that's it it also enriches the community itself oh that's for sure um I'm sure people the sense I'm sorry um the sense of history is always with us right you walk in the ghetto or any of these streets and you feel like and you remember right that you could actually see and feel what was going on here hundreds of years ago we've picked that up for sure um people hear your accent or lack thereof for our audience and are curious about your own background where you're from and how you ended up in Italy and in Venice I um was born in Canada I grew up in Philadelphia uh so I'm an American um I came to Italy um about well 40 years ago I've lived my entire life here in Italy in Rome and um I I went back I was back in the States teaching for about four years and then I came back and and we were married about a year and a half ago and was it something about this country that just uh grabbed you or there's something about maybe I was Italian in another life I don't know there is something about it Italy that that that I found extremely compelling uh this past Saturday night we had an event that uh we really wanted to make and did make the centerpiece of our visit which was a a Jewish music malava Mala to uh to bring something to Venice that I would assume is not regularly here you know artists from Israel in this case who came and inspired everybody uh could you describe what you what what you were feeling as this all was going on on Saturday night well it was it was quite lovely the the the involvement also we because we had a group from of uh Ben AA students uh from all over Italy and so the enthusiasm of of Youth and their energy and and gives a real sense of continuity it was uh it was a great night of Jewish unity and something very special and at one point we stood in the in the uh Courtyard in the center of the ghetto and said to ourselves it is amazing that now Jewish music is filling this place a place that no doubt had a lot of pain in the past obviously a lot of history and now we were able a lot of music at the time of the ghetto and a lot of music in the time of the ghetto um tell me about the future of Venice is it going to remain this community as a uh as a tourist attraction so to speak and continuing to meet people from around the world is there an effort to continue to build the community in any way because it is a relatively small Jewish Community it's a relatively small community I think since my husband's been here the number of students of uh T has gone from about five to about between 30 and 40 oh that's a nice sign so I I think that's that's where the effort is right right getting the young people engaged and getting young the not very many young people there aren't a lot of young people young people leave Venice the Jews leave Venice as the venetians leave Venice because there are problems of work and employment right right um that's a serious problem affecting the city itself so of course the community is affected as well I'll ask you to pass the microphone to Rabbi bak and I thank you again um Rabbi can we address uh what people are watching now on the video on our website and that is the setup of this beautiful sh we're not used to this where the Kazan and the of course the all from up here yes and also in the other SCH in Spanish schol and not only in V but in other community the the Kazan pray in other place in EXA in opposite to the Aron KES so the people for example in this sh the the women can hear better than in other Sho because they yeah we call thean is it's closer it's closer yes that's true and the people can hear well because Khan is not on the near the Aron in the other side I think it's very important to I think that they decided this one one the the one the main reason one the main reason because in the the sh is not not in the the is not in the in the center in the other side so the the people can hear directly the right uh and then on the other end of course is the Aron KES and ZK you can show everybody who's watching um what the AR kodesh looks like before the before we even speak about the AR kodesh which is magnificent tell us about all these lamps all this silver that adorns the front of the sh yes uh during 500 years every family uh want to to donate something to their synagogue you can see on every silver silver donation you can see the the name of the family who donate to the the this this uh the specific lampf lamp yes yes all in silver all all in silver on not only s but in in in in brass in brass also in brass I want to exp what because we we have in this synagogue we have two two one is upser yes but the young young young girl because they all men who can the women who can go also another all of Venice of course is orthodox even if the Jews of an are not strictly Orthodox yes right but anyway what we try to uh to offer to all the people who arrive to arrive to Venice is Kash very very madrine yes in this in all all the the um in this in the restaurant in the cafeteria and Al and so on is one of the of the the town where we have also a and the roof every five year we re we knew we renov the the with the the May mayor of of Venice yeah we didn't even know there was an aru and we were very happy to find out there it was thank you uh and just to reiterate so upstairs I don't know ZK if you got it but that is the balcony very similar to some of the other shs we've seen in Venice in terms of how it's set up for the women's section then of course one downstairs for those who can't climb the stairs let's go back to the Aron kodesh just one more time what could you tell us about this magnificent Aon Aron you know in Venice one of the problem is that it's impossible to use Maro uh marble is impossible marble yes because impos very difficult so we have not so too heavy for the to for the for Venice because Venice is uh is always sinking you don't want to put marble on top of a sinking Foundation maybe in the church they can use but not here we have not so many uh marble in only arones only some some some part of thees not all thees yes what can I do I mean it's just it's uh I mean this is an our kodes that has been here since the beginning or at some point during the last 500 years I don't know but I I I think it's very very ancient rest right but parts of that KES are likely from the beginning correct parts of The KES are likely from the also the also the the Kazan is one of the not Italian not Jews many many Christian um helped the Jews to build the synagogue for example this is maybe BL ston BL Stone one of the major uh one the sculptures so the Venice yes so uh I think also a very strictly relation between the Jews and the non one for example one of the most important rabbis of Venice lond the mod when he uh when he speaks in the in the the synagogue also many many Christian came to to to to hear uh uh Leon and he wrote his books also in Italian because they yes because he wanted the other the the Christian can understand what the Jews do during the the year right he wrote about minhag and we learned in the museum about the the fact nonews love to hear preach as you just said right um the name lato a very important name in the history of Venice right yes of course lato is asazi Kazi family from Lait yes but ramal for example yeah we have the a little sh damster the family of ram was from Venice even if lived most part of his life in padwa yeah the author of author of yes I think that they maybe the name of RAM is the international name in Jewish that's for sure and and and one of the most famous rinic names ever to come from Venice yes yes R we have also other famili for other rabbis very important scholar who ra wrote this time we have many we hope to renew to renew this tradition but I know I know it's very difficult I know it's very difficult but I think it's very important that the community even if little Community have to be in Venice this is the reason because I try to open the Cog every day every morning you know even if it's not minion every day but we try to organize a minion during the during the year during the the theek is very difficult because Venice is the problem of Venice that is that the people who Liv in for example in samarco it's not so far it's not so far half of an hour by feet but trains difficult to to to do the synagogue so well I thank you very very much this has been quite an enlightening experience to say the least I thank you for encouraging us the last time we saw you in September to come and to participate in what what what we wanted to bring to Venice a little bit of spirit and inspiration and it is really remarkable to be here to be here in a place with such a rich history uh commemorating the 500 years of the ghetto all of this together has been a uh a a very emotional experience for all of us and we should note by the way that Venice is just one uh a city in this area that has some type of a Jewish presence there are other little cities around that have Rich history in in Italy there are many synagogues also also in Israel who use the the the synagogues of of Veno not only of Venice and Veno the main synagogue of the Italian Jews in in Jerusalem is near near to Venice corano so corano Victorio Veno so many many communities little communities I think about 50 50 communities yes so in Isel many many ar ar not not kodish from Veno yes so uh you before yes ferar Ferrari is another place Ferrari is in the south of Ven but you know Italy was a is not was divided in many Republic in many you Veno P Lomo Veno Pon is every Community has another Min this is one of the wonderful difference between the and Ashi because the main the most part of the have the same but if you go for example if you to Rome you have another many the same the same place in anona for example you have Italian ashkanazi Sadi and every little Community as another Min uh and for example here in Venice The Venetian Jews want to preserve the the Venetian Minag so they don't they don't want other people pray during as Kim yes well that's one of the keys to continuity right is to make sure to preserve the minim and the rabbi Mrs B thank you very very much uh you've been amazing host for us here in Venice uh we will continue with more on a JM and the am Tuesday as our Jewish Unity initiative brings Venice to the attention of the entire Jewish world and when you visit Venice you make sure to meet Rabbi and Mrs Bak leaders of this wonderful community and you're listening to JM in the [Music] say hello say goodbye [Music] Shalom say alone say goodbye for shalom Al shalom [Music] shalom salom [Music] shalom say hello say goodbye shalom [Music] say goodbye say shalom [Music] Shalom woo say shalom are shalom shom [Music] shalom yooo shal be shom say shalom shalom shalom [Music] shalom oh y oh y y [Music] call [Music] fore [Music] for I'm [Applause] [Music] [Applause] High for [Music] [Applause] [Music] and you sp and you sp and you and you and you sp CL and you sp and you love and you [Music] love oh [Music] is oh [Applause] [Music] how love to fall r [Music] on [Music] to to [Music] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] check for them for [Music] ah Che CH she CH never oh [Music] it's America's one and only Jewish moments in the morning radio program heard on listeners sponsored WFMU East Orange wfu Mount Hope Rockland County at 91.9 in the FM do broadcasting from Venice around the world in the web at j.org and of course on the NSN app make sure you have the NSN app in your phone your Android or iPhone so you're all prepared for our switch our transition to an old digital format coming up in just a few days we're here in Venice in the studio in Venice alone and mikal merome are with us uh we are guests in their studio uh this morning during our Jewish Unity initiative Shalom and thank you very much for having us here shom shalom shalom a pleasure tell us about the gallery what can you tell us about the gallery well the gallery is an exhibit place that is used for exhibitions by mikal and also by other artists as a matter of fact we are doing now a mailing to universities in the United States and in Europe to invite them to use the space for exhibitions and uh it is I think one of the largest places in the ghetto and it has been organized so that it can give some uh additional culture to the visitors that come to the ghetto mik at some point you felt it was appropriate to commemorate the 500th year of the Venetian ghetto correct naturally we had the in in um March there were were the 500 years of the Venetian ghetto and uh we decided to make a an exhibition that starts with the founding of the ghetto um which was in uh 156 up to uh the second world war so it's uh the whole history of starting with the establishment of the Jews here by contract through the venetians uh through their lives everyday life the professions they could practice uh the liberation of the Ghetto by Napoleon and uh we put in also some uh festivals and holidays so people can understand and we're going to see some of those Works in a moment as do a little tour of the gallery how would you describe the style of art that uh that you've used to depict well style is the naive style it's a style that is um very good for didactic work if you want to explain something uh the naive style is a fantastic tool and uh usually for all my historic work I use the the naive style is there anything specifically Venetian or Italian about it or it's Universal uh well Venetian and Italian is what you can see on the canvases the the Landscapes the the houses um the style is a style that uh is used in many countries right okay so we're going to start by uh heading toward the beginning of all of this the 500 years of the Venetian ghetto uh the different history and scenes of daily life you wanted to say m yes I wanted just to add another thing that uh many times people tell me that the scenes are very happy and in total contrast to what is the history of the ghetto and that is my wife's doing because she's always seeing the half cup full rather than the half cup empty it's a very good attitude in life and the way she shows life is really as if it is uh nice and dandy but actually the Jews didn't have it so easy here right it was not an easy era but if you look and we will in a moment we'll look at some of the uh of the artistic work uh it looks it looks happy it looks cheerful the colors are bright uh there is a certain um happiness that jumps off the canvas as you uh as you look at her work um okay alone and M colors you're a B of colors come let's start with the uh with one of the very first uh pieces um if we could proceed if we could proceed to the 500 500y year commemoration those of you who are familiar at this point in our audience with what we've been discussing for the last many months or certainly for the last few weeks this is in English a translation of the Declaration the contract between the Venetian Jewish community and the leadership of Venice at the time uh declaring that the Jews would in fact during the night time be locked in a ghetto and as the time went on hundreds of years until Napoleon liberated the ghetto uh thousands of people ended up living in that small area that we've gotten to know very well over the last few days alone you want to tell us uh this is looks like a a view of the ghetto it is the view of the new ghetto and it shows aass a a wedding and uh Venice is very famous also for hosting many weddings people come because it's a city of romance right and uh yesterday we had a French wedding here going on so the ghetto has its own peculiar way of of living and of doing thing we are off the main Mainland land of the main street of Venice but we have still a large number of tourists that come to visit I would presume that the majority is Jewish right and the rest are non-jewish they find interest in it and they see that it is a place that it is somehow quieter and container than in other places in Venice yeah I'm sure of that also some people don't always get a perspective about the size or lack thereof of the ghetto I think that certainly helps put that in perspective um some of the scenes here this is daily life I guess in the ghetto right well these shows the yellow sign that the Jews had to wear to be recognized as such right designated as Jews and uh it's something that actually originate from the Muslim world and then was imported into Venice this is a show that uh shows the first contract between Venice and uh the Jewish Community right the contract we just mentioned declaring the getto that was the scene depicted by your wife and this is a very important one because you pointed out that we have to continue to reiterate that Venice was the printing capital of the world or certainly of Europe at that time in that time for sure it was many Jews involved correct and uh actually Jewish people were not allowed to own presses but they had to work because they were the only one that knew Hebrew right so they were allowed to work on the presses the presses at the time they were close to Rialto I wanted to point out you specifically have named this one the ghetto skyscrapers and the reason it became they became skyscrapers in quotation marks is because the only place or the only way they could build would be up there was no expansion in terms of the size of the ghetto expanding horizontally it all had to expand vertically correct in the new ghetto which is the first settlement of Jews the synagogues have been built on existing buildings and because of the structure the be could not be in the middle it couldn't support that so it is placed on one side and on on the other and the juice could not expand horizontally so they could only go up build up and also cut floors in two parts so you have very H very low ceilings in many of the apartments in the ghetto as small as a living space was as you went up it became smaller and smaller and again more of the scenes of the ghetto yes different rabbis with different uh approaches to Judaism H some wanted to go to synagogue on chabas using Gondola which was not really appropriate uh in this scene here we see the life of a very famous Rabbi Leon Moda shagat we've gotten to know that name a lot over the last few days he was a great essayist and a lousy Gambler and he was a jack of many tra he just had some 27 professions in his life quite a dramatic figure we published an aada made by him I think that it is over there okay we'll get there in a moment and it is he made it at that time in three different languages in idish in Latino and in Italian Hebrew and it was published simultaneously I think that was a huge accomplishment for the time and techniques that they had for printing well I can only imagine uh you pointed out to me this is significant because there were Jews who wanted to leave the religion to make life what they thought would be a little easier for them but then what happened what was the Declaration from the ghetto uh sometimes there were Jews that as you said wanted to convert to different spiritual uh religions religion on the other hand there were also some that uh after doing that made some kind of mockery out of it so the city did not allow that and they put this plaque out saying that Jews that had converted to Christianity were not allowed to come back to the ghetto that is something that maybe could be acceptable that the the second part it's a little bit more problematic because it offers 100 duate in an anonymous accusation and the pay the money is taken from the money of the accused so from the legal point of view I think that would be quite problematic today it certainly sounds that way this is very significant we've gotten to know two dates uh very well over the last few days one is 1516 the establishment of the ghettos we discussed through the contract the other is 1797 tell me about this in 1797 well H this is the liberation of the ghetto during the time of Bonaparte bonapar came as a general of the French army and and he gave emancipation to every minor minority wherever he found it later on he became Napoleon it's like Dr uh Mr hey and Dr Jack right two different types of people two different types of people uh we in Venice like him look what he did he released the Jews the ghetto was closed for almost more than 250 years every night right and uh my point of view is that I think the rabbis also like that I mean as much as uh as difficult as it was a preserve tradition to not to have Jewish people mingling around night time in the city The Mask also was born here in Venice because it was the only way that couples that were not supposed to be together could go around without being recognized right so they would dress up this is a a beautiful show of the new ghetto and it is a 360° it starts on the Iron Bridge it goes through the one of the bank that was one of the pond shops that were working it goes onto the German synagogue and here we would have to go this way it goes on the French synagogue which is the Canton in the corner then we have the Italian synagogue the little bridge that connects between the new ghetto and the old ghetto the place where the soldiers are today and uh they they guard the ghetto nothing would happen to it the Jewish uh retirement house and then we have again the Iron Bridge if you could hand the microphone to mikal for a moment uh a beautiful depiction of cultural life in the ghetto all the different things that were going on on a regular basis some of the businesses that Jews were involved with as well how long does it take you to put this to Canvas to take a scene like this and bring it to life uh about uh two or three months uh there are many layers and also you always have to think about the concept uh yeah it's uh so if you multiply that by each one of these pieces we're talking about a lot of dedicated time to this project yeah it took me about uh a year and a half wow pretty amazing uh as we continue along here we see some of the uh uh Jewish holidays that are depicted and uh again more of the uh different um synagogues right the German synagogue 11 synagogue the Italian synagogue you have all five up here right these are the five synagogues correct yes these are the five uh no uh this is not the five synagogues this is the life of uh rabi lutat uh very interesting story uh these are the these are the five synagogues over here so this is and his interesting life and these are the five synagogues that you have each one of them uh depicted on a separate canvas in addition we should point out that you have created two things that have been uh remarkably accepted around the world and have made quite a hit one is a an illuminated Jewish Festival scroll if uh M you have this shot and you can you see all the different scenes of Jewish festivals um 12 Jewish Festival 12 different ones and then on the other side as we walk around just for a moment you have actually gone ahead and taken all 54 am I right 54 parot of the Torah 54 par 54 par of the Torah and you have gone ahead and created a specific artistic rendering uh an example from each one of the parot yeah starts with a baret over here and goes uh right uh to V which you cannot see here this is where we are today in Kara yeah that's Illustrated torist scroll has been uh well received as I say around the world and many people use it to dedicate to honores and to others who they want to recognize as part of their organization and give a very special gift uh it really looks incredible it's also a teaching tool it's used in schools to teach Torah to children well congratulations and thank you very much for this tour um we've had the pleasure of speaking to uh really an incredible couple Alon and M merome uh who are here in Venice when you visit Venice you can come and see their gallery and um and check what they have uh to offer right now of course it is concentrating completely on the 500 years of the Venetian Jewish ghetto and this has been a remarkable way to look at the last 500 years and a cheerful and very happy depiction so congratulations and again thank you thank we continue with more here at JM in the we're in the studio in Venice where we've already had an amazing visit and our amazing visit continues here at the studio with josepi balsano josephi is director of B Vena the home of Jewish culture Shalom thank you very much for joining us nice to have you here thank you very much um tell us about Venetian Jewish culture um why why does it need a specific home with its Rich history in order to make to ReDiscover the Jewish culture for Venetian for Jewish ventian for Venetian and especially For Tourists and for people who are coming here in Venice to to visit to discover Venice for as an Italian city okay but uh specifically we we we wish to let discover the specificity of the Jewish culture here in Venice and to learn to people what's mean to be Jewish and to live in in Venice here and to ReDiscover all the specificity of Jewish culture in general of course and also here in Venice we've gotten a taste of culture here in Venice uh firstly by visiting some of the synagogues yes and seeing the incredible Rich Mosaic that was formed here by community from different places who settled in Venice uh we also were able to see the museum and some of the beautiful pieces of the rich Jewish history here in Venice uh is there a way to describe the culture of Venice we understand it's somewhat of a Melting Pot it also has this Rich history of its own hundreds of years is there a way to describe it how different it is from other places in the world um Venice for 300 years and the the Jewish community in in in in Venice you know Venice in those time was a little bit like New York today so it's a and you use the word Melting Pot and exactly Venice in those time was a Melting Pot so lot of a lot of Commerce lot of Commerce a lot of Traders a lot of merchant coming from everywhere in the world from the world from bringing their own culture here exactly and that the encounter the meeting of all those culture that make the specificity of Venice at what point did it take on its own character at what point did it become become what we know the way it is today that it has its own un you you know again it's like New York today evolving it's keep evolving and people which their own culture they're meeting and they're mixing and that specific mix is creating the venan identity is this any different than some of the other cities of Europe because of their own Rich history and how how old they are compared to New York and other places uh you know have this attraction for people to come and visit in see what it has to offer the the problem you mean in the past or today both both so in the in the in the past Venice was a very important city okay today is different uh some people have see Venice like you know some kind of of Disneyland but it's not like that it's a still in my eyes a very important city uh able to give to people the the idea what is a multic Cal City what is meeting the other what is meeting different culture and um to to act and and react together in the same way uh trying to make things better so was the case I think it's not what the case in the past of course because in the past was very different but the the idea is to to maintain a cision of the society and to go ahead with um peaceful and wanting to to create a a living together right is there an appreciation and you're from bit Venia so you can you can speak on behalf of of the way the Jewish Community is viewed is there an appreciation in Italy for the Venetian Jewish Community do they because we know and we've discussed this for the last few days there was not always the friendliest relationship but is there a great appreciation for what the Jewish Community has brought to Italy through Venice one of the problem is the Jewish committee is very small one like the Italian Community you know 60 uh 5 million Italian globally speaking 35,000 Jewish people in Italy so very small it's the the context is very different from the one of France for for example so you know trying to put together all the community the dynamic is quite uh it's not easy I can only imagine all right B Venia is where where do people visit you we are we have a um an office but most of all the time we meet people in the street here in the gallery or in the community office or in the museum so there is not one center it's a it's a net in the city you know just not trying only to have um uh a meeting viewing point but most in Rel we believe more in relation than just a specific office Justa did the 500y year commemoration help the Jewish Community here was it yes it's a it's a very important vitrine for for us to to let uh to let know B Vanessa to the to the public it's very important element just one only 500 years so we try to to to keep the occasion to to to to to be seen by people and by ventian and international people well 500 years from now I hope to have you on for the 1,000th commemoration of yes we are yet preparing the the next one yes the blueprints are in the works uh josepi thank you very much thank you very much and shalom it's nice to visit with people who are keeping the Venetian Jewish Community not just alive but thriving as well are you listening to JM and the am our Jewish Unity initiative continues on our very special visit to Venice Italy it's 500 years since the start of the Venetian Jewish ghetto and we are here 500 years later to talk about the rich history and the incredible present and the wonderful future you're listening to JM in the AM we are here in the heart of the Jewish ghetto in Venice as our Jewish Unity initiative continues we are in an art gallery called Iona Vena and Dalia is with us and first of all welcome to the show thank you very much you tell us uh what exhibit we are looking at now in the gallery now in the gallery there is an exhibition of photog photograph of pegy name pyan name has had origin of jewi and uh now for the celebration of uh two uh 500 years of ghetto of um ghetto since the ghetto started right yeah uh we would like to report it uh Peggy in ghetto and in ghetto of Venice so for celebrated this uh for celebrity this we can take this uh exhibition right and uh we started with uh a photo of Mary with a important uh photo and uh Peggy name had an important um life uh she lived in Paris New York uh where she was born and she lived also in Venice where she had an beautiful life with a different uh kind of art uh and she had opened uh two Art Gallery one in New York City and one in Venice uh where uh where it was um her house um before she had um take a house only for house and then she was uh taken for House and Museum and uh and finally that was in Venice yeah that was is there a photograph of that here at the exhibit yeah there is two photo of her Museum house and uh there is also two photo of um the art of this Century the gallery in New York City in New York uh so this is so the Guggenheim family has a very close connection to Venice yeah and you've used the opportunity of the 500 years to highlight the special connection that they had and that she had specifically uh so when people come they'll see through photographs the story of her life or the story of her artistic contribution what will they see uh here um the tourist or everybody come here uh looks like a photo of Peggy and uh with um some artists uh she work and um also there is um some photo uh uh like Hair House in Venice and Hair Gallery in New York City right and also there is also another picture of the Salomon gugai Museum in New York City the Museum of a uncle right very well known um what's it like for you Dalia to be here in the middle of the Jewish ghetto such a historic Place such a significant place in Jewish history what's it like for you being here I assume you're here almost every day right yeah what's it like for you could you give us your feelings when you're walking in the ghetto square and sometimes thinking back about history uh here in ghetto there is a lot of Jewish people and uh it's beautiful to look some people different like Venetian so for me it's beautiful like this place because it's different from the other place in Venice and the other place in Italy also so and you're also meeting a lot of people from around the world yeah who are constantly coming here well it's a pleasure meeting you thank you very much and continued good luck with the gall thank 500 years since the start of the Venetian ghetto and in this case the connection between the gugenheim family and Venice is being exhibited in this beautiful Gallery right in the center of the ghetto uh this time each and every Monday through Thursday or goldwaser here is Rabbi goldwaser with morning when an auspicious occasion it is that Jews throughout the entire world have been brought together in unity in commemoration of the 500th year of the Venice Jewish ghetto all part of the N seagull Jewish Unity initiative the tamin brus relates that when the Great Rabbi AKA would pray together with the congregation he would abbreviate his prayers so as not to inconvenience others but when he prayed by himself one could leave him in one corner of the room and afterwards find him in another Corner due to his many bowels and frustrations our sages explain that when Rabbi Akiva prayed together with the congregation the power of the tior the community was so compelling that it effectively raised his own personal prayers to Heaven however when he did not join the congregation in prayer he had to exert himself more in order for his prayers to be accepted even the great Rabbi Akiva on his exalted level was spiritually elevated by the presence of dominion and the unity that it represents Aus is generated by a strong sense of AEL Brotherly Love in feeling another's pain as our own in the time of the Great kic Master rakel of ksk there was one man that did not show up to the minion he didn't pray together with the congregation but rather remained at home and so one day the great Rabbi of ksk made a personal visit the man when he opened the door of his home and he saw the great Rabbi of kot standing there the person was ready to faint he never thought in a million years he's going to have the privilege of seeing the great Rabbi of kotz at his own home he immediately ushered the great Rabbi into the living room and they both sat down with the fireplace lit in a glow the rabbi said nothing whatsoever after a few minutes he got up he took a stick and moved one of the coals out from the fire put it separately on the ground they both watched eventually the the cold that was separated from all of the others went out and was cold the the great Rabbi of Kut then got up said goodbye and went on his way the unspoken sermon shouted volumes all of us we are united in our journey through this world in our destiny we share a common goal May the commemoration of the 500 year of the Venice Jewish ghetto be a beacon of light to the entire world this has been Rabbi doid goldwaser bringing you morning kisuk have a nice day JM and the am thank you very much R goldwaser we are in the final half of our final broadcast from Venice those of you who've been following our Jewish Unity initiative those of you who've been excited for all these weeks about the trip to Venice that we've been speaking speaking about uh those of you who've just discovered that we've been in Venice over the last couple of days uh all of you together have an opportunity to see and hear everything that we've been able to enjoy and uh and learn from Venice by going to our website at nig.com and checking out the videos that are online you have a video there of our uh Monday Morning Show you'll have a video there of this show the Tuesday Morning broadcast and of course the video that is the pesta resistance as they say in Italy uh and that is the video of Saturday night mat Shabbat the malava Mala that really inspired a community and brought a lot of music and great spirit to the Jewish ghetto here in Venice Miriam Al wallik is here you are set I assume to open up with me the final 90 minutes of our visit to Venice during the Jewish Unity initiative good morning to you good morning good morning behind us I am told by Mark zamic is a canal that's what he says he says there's a canal behind us boats water there with boats water with boats and water and delivery boats and Ambu boats and saw that before yes and every other type of boat you can imagine uh they're all there in the canal because that's how it works here that's how it works you can probably see through our video right now the door of the gimmel garden uh the backyard of gimmel garden is a canal you don't want to walk too far uh past the gate of the giml Garden restaurant there no guard rails by the way there are no guard rails and was it barbar who told us when we were here in SE and then they learned to swim the kids learned to swim immediately because they're because on a regular basis people are falling into the canal because of that all right um let's talk about some of the things that we have learned about Venice that our listeners may not be familiar with yet but we're about to educate them and then we're going to meet one of the residents of Venice Italy um one of the Jewish residents of Venice Italy one of the Imports I thought someone was going to say the Jewish resident okay uh number one uh have you ever tried to find an address in Venice well yes I know the answer to that question CU I watched Miriam wall try to find an address in Venice it very very frustrating ordeal to say the least Google Maps does not work in Venice houses in Venice are numbered according to districts and not streets it's confusing even for the mailman it's confusing the easiest way is to find some type of Monument shop or famous building and then take it from there or scream loudly and ask for help and pray that t answers exactly uh gondolas I don't know if you've been on one I was on one on Friday uh and we know that both ITA and danela javel were on one those of you who missed that video you got to check it out you have any at this point right um one of the most recognizable symbols of Venice are gondolas and all this information is of course in front of me but this is stuff I already know because our our Gondola driver what do you call a gondola driver a Gondolier the Gondolier educated us uh on Friday and told us that each Gonda is made of eight different types of wood the left side is longer than the right side for some reason and the parts of the gondolas are symbols of different parts of Venice representing six City zones then the back part represents one of the islands and the central part represents the famous Rialto Bridge you take all those eight together and you have a gondola a gondola that's pretty cool actually it certainly is are you going to talk about the the the flooding that we learned about which I'm not sure is on your pieces of information but one of the things that we were warned about or given a heads up about when we were doing our preliminary um work for this Venice trip was that we should be concerned about flooding here in the ghetto do you mean Aqua Alta is that what you mean why why yes one should be concerned with aqua Alta it's a big problem for the for the venetians uh tourists find it interesting picturesque sort of like the way school kids look at snow when the adults of course can't stand it uh but they they find it fascinating right but what is it and what it is is the uh the canals are actually overflowing due to the high tide in combination sometimes with heavy rain and those canals overflow and alarms go off alarms go off in the district in fact they just commemorated the 50th year of the 1966 flood here in Venice where someone told me that that Italian flood which was not only Venice was different parts claimed over 200 cph Torah really yeah could you imagine that no but when you and I were warned about flooding we thought that the rain was so heavy and everyone looked at us like we were nuts like no the water comes up from the canal I said oh well what happened was as we were planting the laaa uh we were told that you know it could be flood conditions and we're s there going wow it rains that much and then of course no no partically you idiot ID the high tide cuz you're on a canal all right so that's one of the problems is water there are how many canals in Venice Miriam El wallik how many canals in the entire area of Venice I'm going to go with 177 oh I was so it's amazing how awful you are at trivia 177 canals that's amazing how bad I am when nobody preps me there we go the s-shaped Grand Canal is the biggest canal in Venice and splits the city in two and the Grand Canal has on it over 170 buildings where those of you who wonder how these buildings survive uh being built on canals there are 170 just on the Grand Canal uh canals were main roots of communication in Venice because there was a time when there were no cell phones no telephones I don't know with the cell service here it feels like we're in a time there was no no communication hundreds of years ago the only method was of course to travel the canal and get a message from one area or scream for t to the next yeah that might have worked actually in those days right we scream pretty loudly how many palaces because anybody who's been around over the last couple of days during this visit has seen palaces how many palaces are there in Venice the answer is you ready for this I'm going to stop cheating 450 palaces I was going to guess 449 because at a time here's my guess based on what I've learned at a time uh hundreds and hundreds of years ago uh this was a status symbol to be in Venice and many wealthy people were here and literally built palaces to have as either regular homes or summer homes and the like and now they're over 450 palaces some of them being used for all variety of reasons today there are hotels that used to be palaces there's a casino that used to be a palace there are religious houses of worship that were palaces in one time oh it's amazing how much I know about this stuff uh Jamie is very good how many Chip have you noticed this I noticed this last night did anyone notice the chimneys all over Venice yes there are 7,000 Chimneys in Venice built in over 10 different styles and shapes that is very cool yeah it's pretty amazing it's a little bit Yeah and uh while we're doing this and those of you who are listening now to jamm you're getting your fill of Venice Venetian trivia um you should know that the the water is not safe for swimming we do not see people deliberately swimming in the canal that would be accidentally or drinking the water that is correct uh I thought ZK put in a request to go swimming in Canal we Nix that I guess for safety reasons we NX that exactly exactly Venice was not built directly on the surface of the islands buildings are supported by wooden platforms I did not know that who would have guessed that now wood is not exactly uh you know it's not Everlasting and it's in in the in the condition that uh you know that it's oh is it so Simon told meon I've gone ahead with a supposition that's completely incorrect I thought it would it would rot and uh and um and would not be able to is it's in salt water but if it's in salt water it's not in your notes it's not I'll blame Jamie for that at some point it's actually yon's fault and uh Venice is sinking Venice is sinking every single year um I don't know if people like Barbara uh feel it I don't know if you feel the ride but it's about 1 to 2 millimeters a year that Venice is sinking at that rate that's rough yeah in fact it's funny because the other the other night I was sitting here in gimmel Garden during the concert and I said boy I'm shorter it feels a little wobbly here oh that may have been the music that was uh that was creating that effect exactly Venice is in six districts with 118 Islands how many bridges you know how many bridges we've walked over during our visits to Venice I keep walking over the same three 416 Bridges you have only 413 to go the over the Lagoon is 15 M deep although I am told that these canal in terms of feet though 15 me about 40 ft um but I have been told that most of the canals are only 5 to 10 feet right does that make sense about 5 to 10 ft of water in most of the smaller canals I was going to say ZK you'll be fine for those who are worried about ZK around the canals without the railings he would be able to stand in most of the smaller canals uh the sea and Lagoon I am told according to my notes is in fact safe for swimming so you better check that out oh boy population to Venice which we were told at one time uh 50 years ago or so was 150,000 is now in the 60,000 range in terms of people who live here most of them senior citizens and the first woman in the world that graduated I assume College it was right I think that's what we heard am I right was it a college right the first college graduate in the entire world was born in Venice in 1646 first female college graduate 1646 that's very cool and the first public Casino in the world although I don't know who would go there uh was opened in Venice 16 in 1638 and the interesting fact about that casino is that that was the home of Vagner correct that casino was the home of Vagner the uh composer and what else is interesting or next door to the casino I know I know it it's right there along the thing nobody's fact checking you and and he died in Venice the German composer that has played such a role in our we grow up and think of you know German culture and things that our our predecessors may have wanted to avoid and Vagner of course being played and Israel was always an issue uh when we were growing up uh he actually died here in Venice and finally Miriam Al wallik yes sir if you're in Venice and you wanted to feed a pigeon would that be legal or illegal illegal what how do you know about that well if you're a New Yorker you're not feeding the pigeons in the first place and now we get Tali elani with us tal stay where you are there Miriam l wallik t you're right here because I'm sure you have some fascinating questions about what it's like living here you do tal how long have you living in Venice hi tal hi hi hi to all the listeners um thank you it's been 11 years a very long time a lifetime actually where were you before that in Israel and uh when you first heard about the possibility of moving to Venice and making this a permanent home um it was my suggestion was your sure why cuz you just love travel by water is that your thing no no I just um I actually um to very very briefly I met my husband in Venice at a wedding and um when he asked me to marry him I really didn't enjoy the idea of going to live where he came from so I and I knew I had to come to Italy so I Venice had been the only other place I'd ever visited so I just pulled it out of my hat and I said well Venice is nice well now for my husband said okay there you go uh so for listeners of ours who've been following all this and have already started to get a feel that this is a very different type of place you know the water transportation the uh uh the the fact that you are one of probably one of the capitals of the world when it comes to tourism you probably see people from all over the place constantly especially it's 11 million tourists a year which is yeah I've heard every figure you can imagine I've heard from 10 to 24 million like people insane for a population of 50 plus 60,000 whatever the number is it's just remarkable uh but what about day-to-day life you've been asked I know by people who are traveling with us about going to a supermarket about getting things delivered about trying to you know navigate what we normally call you know the ease of life and and incorporate that into your own life what can you tell us about day-to-day life here okay well just to give a really simple example but one I think that's very relevant to your listeners is like shabas shopping right right so people probably go to the supermarket load up their SUVs right bring it home park it in the garage and then get all their kids to help them bring it all up right something like that and then complain about how hard that process was yeah so it's a little different here um I don't know if any of the people who are with us have noticed but when people go shopping they shop very little they shop every day they have like one little bag of shopping which is like crazy well there's a reason for that the average family in Italy is uh one child so obviously very different than ours we we have three children so it's already kind of a different household um just bringing drinks home is like quite a major accomplishment lots of bridges granny carts you know shook carts that's how we do it plenty of walking yeah but we're healthy we're good and the majority of the population do not own boats a lot of people do but the majority of population no boats are really a big like extra heavy thing to add on a dayto day I mean if you leave your boat in the shop because it's being fixed and you leave it there for an extra day they'll charge you rent for the day so it's like it's a bit much of an undertaking to have a boat you really have to have time to take care of a boat it's not it doesn't make life more practical it makes it less practical if that makes any sense at all yeah it certainly does make sense uh you mentioned three children so raising children here being a Jewish Family what could you tell us about that um it's definitely very different look this is a very very tiny Jewish Community there is no Jewish school there is a very small Jewish kindergarten but it works very nicely and there's a Sunday school for elementary age children um we our children also have teachers in Israel that they study with on video so they're following certain programs um it's not simple but actually there's something very nice about Venice it's very very simple every very simple I don't have so much um clut going on so it's very simple we have school we have home we have meals together we cook from scratch cuz there's not that much kosher available so we eat very well very healthy it's kind of like uh I I don't know how to really explain it to people who live in New York cuz I think what I'm saying is almost right well we brought you some of the New York clutter right didn't we bring some of that along with us butter that we brought uh do you worry about your children getting older and and uh and being concerned about their Advanced Jewish Education I do worry of course it's a worry it definitely is a worry when my husband and I came here we H we were young and we thought this was a great adventure but um we didn't think we would get as far as putting our kids in school but here we are and they are in fact in school and I think that you know yes we have to do some long-term planning but you also have to live on a day today and that does we take our kids very frequently to Israel I have my family there and uh yes we worry and we try and we're working on it and but it's not not not simple uh tal aliani is here resident of Venice all right uh a little bit of a self- serving question it's rare I would think that this community enjoys a live Jewish music concert it's a rarity right well um yeah a modern such a modern yeah so with that in mind what do you think of the spirit here on Saturday night Oh I thought it was wonderful um I you know it was very nice that we had a ban shabbaton here at the same time that really added a lot of sim but even the smaller kids of Venice I think the viewers can see from the pictures they were rocking it they loved it it was really nice uh your son uh we noticed in synagogue is actually spending a lot of time next to the Kazan does he have a specific role like what does he uh so in ven in Venice um they like to encourage the children and also according to the Minh so children younger than Bar Mitzvah can say certain parts of the of of the and so Izzy is working indeed on Kabal chabat and so that's where that's the background for that story he's working on kabala that's his uh that's his aim for the year is that the same son that's playing violin yes doing pretty well huh and when you first told him that Daniel Jael would be here he had he had known who he was from watching him on videos Etc yes yes he watched him on YouTube he was very excited I can only imagine a special message you know one of the messages that you gave us on Shabbat uh when when you were with some of the um uh men and women from New York who were in the Square was sort of to appreciate what you have if you're in a major Jewish Community absolutely and certainly United States and and it goes without saying in Israel if you have an opportunity to live in communities like that um uh people should uh really put things in perspective and understand what we do have is is that is that is that the message basically well I think it's a very good message look I think it's wonderful that people live in uh big beautiful communities and I think the community certainly in Amica America really should be extremely proud of those but at the same time we would like to be remembered for being Jewish in places where it really isn't very easy and so um that to me yes is a very very important message your husband mosha said to us a couple of months ago that it's good we came here for this visit now because he thinks that Jewish life in Venice is going to continue to dwindle and may not even be around 5 to 10 years from now do you get that kind of feeling or do you think there'll always be a core of Jewish life in a city like this not sure huh I don't think there's any way for any of us to tell the future uh after the war I think this community was about double the size that it is um I think the fact that this community is a very ancient community and there certainly very few communities around the world that can boast 500 years of history but I on the other hand I also think that that in a way you know weighs down the community and they're not they don't feel as free to innovate or to modernize because of that great history and and connection that they have to the past and you know it's a pro and a con depending on what you do with it and it'll remains to be seen what they'll decide to do with it I'm afraid right um it's impossible to know but we had lots of kids here on on M say Shabbat and all those Elementary age school children were all our children so I don't know there are probably about 30 Elementary age school children here now it changes all the time every time a leaves I think oh this is awful and then all of a sudden another one pops up so I just say bar hasem and I try not to worry cuz I feel like Hashem is always always watching out for us really this is a place where you're so broken down to the Bare Bones of everyday life that every single thing is appreciated in a way and you feel Hashem every single day that I almost don't know what I will do when I move to a place that's so Jewish and so rich with jewishness because I I think I'm going to miss that wow interesting any your kids want to say hello to our audience what do we have here say hi yes or no yeah why not especially for our video let people see the young Jewish life here in ven she's very shy all right so one thing I learned the average um the average grocery uh trip for Tali yields about three four items fosa average fosa yields three four items average grocery trip for Mir M wallik about yeah more than that more than three four items that's one of I say that we do it like that said the average Venetian that we do you know bigger carts but of of course we have to break it down because there's only so much you can carry right I understand that I'm just comparing it to people like us who could fill two two carts in a grocery store and then slep at home you know in an instance so it's a different type of Life the cost of living the cost of living cost of food cost of Transportation right I mean besides the fact that we're we've been translating everything into Euro which is a totally different mindset just the cost of everything just makes it that much more cumbersome just to live life absolutely this is a city I mean of course if you lived off Venice island like in MRA the cost of living is at least the third cheaper which is crazy but there's no shol in me so what would you do that's like a whole other existence that really I mean we're already on the Bare Bones really I don't think we could do less than this can I ask you one other philosophical question although you're here 11 years already so I don't know if it strikes you as much as it would someone like myself who's only been here a short period of time uh as a visitor but are you intrigued by the human ingenuity that it took to create the entire system of Transportation communication Bridges and just in general to build a city like this well coming from Israel I'm not sure I find this Ingenuity um good point this as I understand it is 400 Islands connected by Bridges some of the streets that you will see that have the word Rio before them are actually canals have sort of been filled in you may have done this in your trivia before I'm not quite sure they were canals but they had been landed right so um yes I take my morning walks every morning so you do think of it sometimes it's pretty well even if it's not remarkable or ingenuous it's very very beautiful there you go especially in the Morning Light yes absolutely absolutely let's hear it for Tali Alani everybody for having me thank you so much and thank you for all your help greatly appreciated and I'm glad your family was able to enjoy the wonderful malava Mala this past Saturday night speaking of malava Mala how about a selection from itk dya we continue our Jewish Unity initiative in Venice this is the Nal [Music] Network [Music] for [Music] she [Music] for call [Music] [Applause] she H kind ELO [Music] okayy me [Music] eloh Elohim oh [Music] [Applause] oh oh oh [Music] JM and the am that's itk dya who we enjoyed tremendously this past M Shabbat right here at giml Garden where we are in the center of the Jewish ghetto of Venice thank you to itk dya David fadida and to Danel Jael and to is sna and everybody who was here in attendance a lot of great people from the Community came out to enjoy to be inspired and to really have something that uh is a rarity here in Venice a uh a rock and Jewish music event uh sha Basi who is originally from Venice yes correct is here with us uh he is the um a member of the Jewish Community here member of Jewish Community leadership he is a member of the committee for the 500y year commemoration of the ghetto which of course was established in 1516 and you also had a major role in a in in an event that got International attention in regard to the uh reenactment of The Merchant of Venice we will talk about that in just a few minutes um so you as you just told me off the air you're member of the Venetian Community from birth the synagogue we were in you have prayed in many times yes and you grew up right here what is it like to grow up and be a child in Venice well when when you grow up you take it for granted because that's your you know all you know it's our playground and uh but I've seen it changing a lot and uh so it took many years to realize how important this place was not only for us but for Jews worldwide how far from here did you live when you grew up uh I don't know 20 minutes 20 20 minutes yes yes because my family came in the ghetto in the late 18th century uh so they chose to come to leave here when it was already right around the time of the liberation of the exactly so chances are that they wanted to be in a nice Jewish neighborhood but without the gates right and the gates were open at that point the gates were open at the point and then they came and then so you have real Roots here we're talking about 200 years 200 plus years I'm sure you know there are families that can you know Trace their Orin back but yeah so we don't meet all of those you know here we have a chance to meet somebody who represents over 200 years of Venetian I can also claim a searing ancestor from the grandmother's side who was here in the 16th centuries so I also have some claim to the that's pretty remarkable do you travel a lot or you spend most of your time here uh I spend most of my time here but I love to travel and you know just you know this year in particular so you know how unique this city is you know it's not you it's not duplicated anywhere else around the world well actually it's duplicated in many places there a lot of you know a lot of replicas of Venice in China but this is the real thing me this is the real thing yes this is unque the authentic one the authentic one at some point and and we discovered back in March as we've told the story many many times uh that that the community was going through this 500th anniversary this 500th commemoration uh of the um of the ghetto at that time uh we made contact with Barbara and started our own efforts to come here uh was this naturally an event that was not going to pass without a tremendous amount of attention from the Jewish Community was this a concerted effort already for years to make sure to commemorate the number 500 uh not really uh not really actually I think that the idea needs to be credited to an American and visitor I was uh um a professor from California who was here as part of a educational program it was back in 2008 and I remember clearly the moment where she raised her hand you know during our brainstorming session says well you know in a few years it will be the 500 years you should do something about it so the idea is long in the making but I I to be quite honest I don't think that uh everybody was truly enthusiastic happened actually happened and uh but I think the important point is that eventually the community leadership appreciated that this was a unique opportunity to build for the future so the important thing is that you know it's about the future it's not about the past I've seen a couple of documentaries on the ghetto I saw one that specifically dealt with the memorial that was set up for the for World War II uh in memory of those from Venice who were taken to concentration camps and and who never returned um and we've seen you know other historical elements be commemorated here uh is there a and and of course that Memorial that hangs on the wall of the ghetto one would say is really the centerpiece of the entire story at this point in history of that era was there something that happened during the 500 over the last few months where you said to yourself this really symbolizes what this commemoration is all about well um first of all I'd like to say that you know the the the the showah what happen here as everywhere else in Europe is of course the the darkest page but I would not that to be I would not like that to be the defining aspect of the ghetto right and in fact I objected the idea that the ghetto was uh in a way the uh conducive to uh the um to to to to to aitz in fact you know the Jews were deported and and and rounded up and taken to aitz at a time where the integration look at its and uh like you know my grandparents felt that they were Italians like everybody else except they were uh jewi Jewish or Israelites as they call themselves back then so in a way it's a kind of self- serving point because I was very involved in the in the project but The Merchant of Venice to me was important not because The Merchant of Venice is a Jewish thing and Merchant of Venice is very much a known Jewish thing but because it recreated a sense of the ghetto is a place where um Jews from all over the world gather and they discuss and they debate and they do fun things together and it brought Venice again to the front and center hold the thought for a moment it's America's one and only Jewish moments in the morning radio program heard and listeners sponsor WFMU East Orange W mfu Mount Hope Rockland County at 91.9 in the FM dial around the world in the web j.org of course on the NSN app we're speaking with sha obasi we're here in Venice final hour of our visit for the Jewish Unity initiative on the heels of an amazing program this past Saturday night I'm love ofala that uh brought a wonderful spirit and inspiration to the Jewish community here sha is a member of the Jewish Community leadership he's one of the coordinators on the committee the 500 years and now you mentioned The Merchant of Venice I asked you about a highlight and you bring that up uh it happened when the reenactment and did it happen right here in the center of the ghetto it happened right here in the last week of July and it ran for 5 days it didn't rain thanks God big crowd big crowd yeah it was uh full house every single night to reenact The Merchant of Venice Merchant of Venice staged in an Engish Eng language uh International production first time in history so the first time that shilok the most famous venan Jew Of All Times whether we like it or not was you know just having his own story staged right here and it was very much an international effort this is something which is very important so something that we came up with the idea we come up it was a New York thing because it was a New York company explain the role of uh of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in all of this um as a collateral event but then became also an extraordinary event in in its of its own um we also had a mock appeal you know famously in the play Shiloh is sentenced to convert to Christianity and the play is fictional just to this was the point no we said you know shylock's ghost has haunting this place for a long time so we use the opportunity to show the difference between the real Jews of Venice and the fictional Jews of Venice no 3,000 deads duckets and things like that so the um um the the the in the play there is a trial and there's a verdict and so the uh great idea that uh uh we come up with and we were recommended was that to have an appeal right and the appeal was prided over by no real 21st century appeal process uh real 21st century appeal with three lawyers representing the characters and a a panel of five judges and the president was no less than extraordinarily generous Ruth Peter Ginsburg so that you know who had lunch right here in gim giml Garden yes one of the highlights I'd like to know what table um so now how did it end up how did the appeal go in the end well the appeal unsurprisingly was that shlock didn't have to convert didn't have you know was there a celebration in the ghetto no there was no celebration you know it was yes and and Porsche who you know just was instrumental in in PR the sentence was um sentenced to going to law school because she pretended to be a lawyer when interesting that's one way of handling it um Shakespeare when you grew up was a was a uh a bad name it didn't matter it was The Merchant of Venice was not no actually The Merchant of Venice was not a big thing you know big deal you know if you go to Verona there's you know Rome Romeo and Juliet po up everywhere here it wasn't some people also we a bit nervous about including Merchant of Venice in this commemoration they say there's nothing to do with the Jews and they said well you know there's no doubt that The Merchant of vanice has been used for anti-semitic purposes in many places and many times but it's also true that it has generated a lot of interest and sympathy even for the Jews no question so you know we have to deal with him right and you'll never know where his presentation will pop up there's always a role for in so many different venues that we've seen through different cultural uh you know areas we had we had five shocks in the production itself you know it was an experimental production each each one had a different one yeah no no no what do you mean every night the character of shock was played by five different actors alternating in the scene so oh in the scene itself scen itself yes um all right so 500 years I'm assuming that now that it's the November it's essentially coming to a close all the commemorations correct um at this point well if we're looking at the you know big events yes that's correct but in many ways the whole process is on only happening now because the major project is the whole restoration of the synagogues the renovation of the Jewish Museum so this is a process that started this year but could not conceivably End by 2016 so we're looking at you know uh a few years where we really build for the future of the community and the future of the community I think has been tested this year and the main point is that the future of the community depends as far as I'm concerned on the interaction between those of us who live here and those like yourselves who visit and so this is a kind of mechanism that we hope we have activated and that should continue and one of the points that Barbara made to us on more than one occasion is that the government here the government uh in Venice has been instrumental has been helpful has been has had a role in in bringing this 500th commemoration to the world well within the uh economical constraints that they are at because this not but it's very important that the city wanted to be a protagonist of this commemoration the G was not just something they wanted a part of it yeah is not something just of or for the Jews this is really part of the city Heritage as at large so I think one major major difference you know between now and the times where I was growing up that the GTO was not perceived as something that really belonged to the city as a whole right now there's no question that it's really felt as an fundamental component of of Venice and I would guess that touring companies and those who suggest places of interest to tourists are much more including the ghetto in those plans people here absolutely and of course there's a major role played by Jewish visitors who make a point of of visiting the place and it's important that they appreciate the many uh layers that of here I um what we we're really concerned about is that of course you know you come to the ghetto you don't mistake this ghetto with other ghettos from Eastern Europe or ghettos that were only created in the during the war and that you can also appreciate you know we never want to depict the ghetto as a positive place in general but there are so many things that happen here the synagogues The crosscultural Exchange the intellectual debate the learning the so those are things that need to be really celebrated right Jewish life in general even in difficult times has a habit of having real life and celebration to it the Jewish creative yeah I think you know the slogan that I think i' I think I've used most frequently is you know we're not celebrating the ghetto we're celebrating the amazing creative response that the Jews offered to the creation of the the ghetto and its limitations shasi what a pleasure for meeting you thank you so much for joining us today thank you for coming it's a pleasure to be here and thank you for welcoming us um yet another uh perspective on the 500 years here at the Venetian ghetto as we broadcast our final hour of our Jewish Unity initiative to Venice uh from the center of the Jewish ghetto more coming up on this JM and the am Tuesday we've been featuring the uh music of itk dya because he has uh he has really brought a tremendous the spirit to this area through the malava Mala this past Saturday night this is a duet that he has with Ohad it for you at JM in the am more coming up from [Music] [Applause] Venice call me [Music] for [Music] time me [Music] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] for call the S the call [Music] oh for [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh for [Music] la inshah la la la la inshah inshah la la la la la inshah inshah [Music] shal for [Music] la la la la in la la la la inshah inah la la la la insh [Music] inshah [Music] for [Music] for am heart [Music] insh insh inshah inshah la la la la la inah inah la la la la la la la la la la insh in la la la la inshah inah la la la la la inshah [Music] JM in the AM that's Yakov schi before that it's igad with Ohad want to thank Ohad by the way he was one of the people behind the scenes over the last couple of months that was instrumental in getting our music together for our Venice Adventure want to take this opportunity to thank gimal Garden ZK is going to pan down to this incredible dish it's just one example of the delicious kosher excuse me kosher Venetian Cuisine which I probably should not have had before I started this segment the delicious Venetian Cuisine this just one example of that we have brought along with us to um Venice an amazing team many of whom you know our producer for these uh for these shows including our Bart tenura show yesterday on I should say on Sunday rather uh and our broadcast from Venice the one and only Mark zamic I want to thank Mark I want to thank our staff at the N seagull Network including Miram Mal wallik and Jamie turel and um Yoni Pollock and uh a special thank you to ZK who always is the one who gets the least amount of sleep on these trips um and knows that it's uh it's in fact very difficult uh to get any rest when it comes to these trips because of all the uh different things have to be done behind the scenes so thank you ZK our chief engineer uh one of the members of our team that has uh been added Rec ly uh in the last year or two and has really um enhanced our experience in places like Venice because of his abilities and his unique capabilities is Mayor crudder mayor crudder is a photographer an artist uh somebody who um has an eye for things that I think is beyond what the normal person sees or comprehends when they see something and has been able to capture that in both photography and in Artistry thank you for being here with us and welcome to the show thank you it's my pleasure to be here um it's obvious from those who have seen your work or will see your work based on this journey that um you have a unique perspective when it comes to the photographic aspect of all of this I ask you in terms of being here in Venice and being part of this Mission what are your impressions of this community and this entire effort that we made to bring to Italy well first of all aesthetically totally overrated no I'm kidding Venice is amazing it's gorgeous and um to to to listen to some of your last guests who have an opportunity to spend so much time here it's uh it's amazing that they live here and um participate and so getting to know them through your Jewish Unity initiative is a wonderful experience for me I always like to meet people and just stop and just talk to random strangers so um for me to have an opportunity to do that here and to make them not strangers anymore to make them a part of our Greater Community is very special I keep emphasizing how unique this place is is um like I say you have an interesting perspective when it comes to visuals do you agree that there's a uniqueness here that's to be admired absolutely absolutely last night when we were coming back from the uh the vineyard uh we had to take a water taxi in the middle of the night and just standing out there going up and down different canals normally you're on a boat and you're kind of in the middle of the ocean or maybe you're going down a river but uh to go up and down so-called Streets On A Boat is just uh something very special and uh I hope I was able to do it justice by capturing with my camera I don't know well I think the majority of our team agrees that you've done a lot of Justice to the uh to the incredible visuals that we've seen and you're going to be preserving these memories for us uh with what you've done um is there anything artistically that you would want to pursue based on this journey is there anything that you either picked up or learned or or noticed about Venice or the uh the Jewish community's uh edifices the architecture of the synagogues Etc that you're going to be bringing back with you of course um I think uh a lot of has been made of the different shows around here the synagogues and um I I I I'm inspired to paint them but I think that um that's been done already so I'm looking to perhaps make a body of work myself as a as a painter as an artist uh with some of the uh historic judaic objects that are in the museum um there was just a when we went there uh AR of chabas I was amazed by the amount of um the mountain the quality of what they had and I think I I would like to do something that's a little bit contemporary a contemporary Twist on these traditional objects so that's my plan at least it's a great goal um you've really like I say you've enhanced these Journeys for us the ones that you've been on WE greatly appreciate it and anybody who wants information about what you do they can go to cruder docomomo your work and uh uh I I I would love to be able to say to everybody out there that you're so far beyond the average wedding bar mitzah photographer but I think people need to see what you do in order to app appreciate that so if they go to the website they'll be able to see some examples right some some examples new website coming soon oh even even better uh mayor crudder everybody KR r.com and he gets a nice round of applause from one of your close comrades on this trip ZK could you imagine yeah he doesn't let me sleep either that's true you're another person I should have pointed out is getting very little sleep uh thank you very much more coming up as we'll visit with some of the key figures in our Jewish Unity initiative who can start comparing some of the journeys we've been on because because they have been part of at least four that I can count maybe even more but at least four of our Jewish Unity initiatives Aon cats is next you are listening to JM and the am and we are live in Venice for our Jewish Unity initiative in this very special Journey [Music] da [Music] I I [Music] yet I've know yet I've know see your left king of Shame king of sh s a yet of now [Applause] yet king of sh king of sh [Music] [Applause] [Music] I I [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I I yet have now oh yet i' [Music] see King k [Music] [Laughter] [Music] canot change K of change a [Music] [Laughter] [Music] let know of s [Applause] your can I change [Music] [Applause] [Music] CH [Applause] [Music] our of sh in our sh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in our ch [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] can I [Music] for for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let let let [Music] today me I'm [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] for for [Applause] everybody sing [Applause] can [Applause] that's Ohad who we've been thanking this morning as well uh here at JM in the AM Tuesday broadcast two special guests uh people who have been so instrumental on our Jewish Unity initiative two of the people who've gotten what our mission is all about uh and they both at one point were from West Orange New Jersey now one of them is from Jerusalem Israel how do you like that I of course refer to Mr Simon Jacob who's here in Venice with his wife Barry and Dr Joe rosada who's here in Venice with his wife Lori welcome to both of you a pleasure to speak to you here in Venice thank you good morning good morning good morning good morning nak good morning good morning let's uh let's do this first let's talk about this trip then we'll talk about the overall mission in a few minutes uh we had some wonderful things that went on here I'd love both of your impressions of what happened on Saturday night and then we'll start talking about some of the things we saw uh between Sunday and Monday uh Dr Joe rosada what do you think of uh what happened here on Saturday night satday night was really really amazing um you know just just watching these kids that was the highlight for me at least that actually the kids and the older senior citizen people that were in the audience the way they were dancing they were just getting up and shaking and and dancing and you know the kids were jumping up and down I don't think they've ever ever experienced something like that cuz I thought it was like you know like at first they were worried to do something and then little by little through the night they really jumped up and down and and going crazy which was really amazing to see from the little little child to you know 80 90-year-old men and women yeah the show was really for people of all ages wasn't it it really was I would say from 9 to 90 and the truth is I think there were people younger than 9 and people older than 90 who were here enjoying it uh Simon uh you always have a unique perspective because like we discussed when it came to the Paris show you insisted on being with the people up in the balcony while all of us were downstairs when it came to the show on Shabbat you got to see it not only by being a member of the audience you got to see it as somebody who videoed the entire proceedings for us you're one of the people we're indebted to that folks can actually watch A Beautiful video of what happened during the malava Mala what were your thoughts how hard zk's job is that's first of all with all of these guys dancing Back in Forth it was almost impossible to keep them in frame but besides that it was amazing being on the dance floor with uh with with everybody and and Es especially um having all the members of the Venice community um represented and all of them together dancing was just uh amazing it was an amazing uh an amazing evening it honestly when the rabbis got together and um and went hand inand dancing with all the kids I started to cry it was very hard to focus um it was just really beautiful and you know it was our luck you know like I always say God is the ultimate producer so things by coincidence but uh the banaka students the youngsters were from all over Italy so we had a chance not just to unite Venice we had a chance to really bring Jews together from all of Italy a unique opportunity for us and again the one above I'm sure arranged all of that it was it it truly was it truly was uh unbelievable to having to have them all here they lit up with the with the music that was provided I don't think we I don't think David fedida could have it organized the music any better could not have done more with what he had he could not have possibly done more and but he also knew exactly what to do with it he knew exactly which performers would light them up and it they did and everybody just responded Simon Jacob Dr Joe rosada they're both here with us let's speak for a moment it's no secret and both of you both of you um know what it's like to um instantly show your support and your enthusiasm for a project it's no secret that the what we now refer to as the first formal Jewish Unity initiative was when we expressed the desire to go down to Houston after the floods and Simon basically said okay let's let's make all the arrangements um in this case it's no secret to either of you that we went to two different people and entities the first our American chairman Mr Leon Goldenberg who we thank profusely who had tremendous enthusiasm for Venice and just you know was was over the moon to uh uh to oversee our mission here and we regret that he wasn't able to make the trip with us and the second was the people at banura the people at banura and we have some of their bottles right here on the table the people at banur when they heard we coming to Italy and we had this mission to accomplish uh they said hey whatever it is you need let us know because we're 100% behind it so it's it's to get a action like that is wonderful on Sunday we actually took a trip to the banura winery and Joe and I from a Layman's perspective get to speak about it you obviously from an expert perspective Simon get to speak about it so Joe first what do you think of the long journey and the many hours that we spent both on the road and at the BART neuro wiy besides the fact that we came to Italy that was my one of the highlights not because I mean we went to B it was amazing to see but the fact that Simon said and this is very important I want to make sure that everybody booken please J books be listening I will never ever make fun or say anything else about bonan when you having it on Shabbat so I just want to make sure you know that but really honestly it was it was really amazing to see the whole process it was it's like and an enclave of kashrut in the middle of nowhere that was really really it's like like you know and he said that like you know there was like MIM that really sleep like a house away because they need to make sure that like you know at the time of fermentation whatever it is that they got to be there which was really amazing to see how they're sealed and everything it's like and the guy is not Jewish you know and he respected everybody like so nicely like the yeah the whole thing was like amazing for me to see how much respect he had for the mas and and it was amazing to see no question about it and Simon you're somebody who enjoys and uh always loves being introduced to brand new wines especially on the fancy wine side and yet you had an incredible appreciation for bartur I have I tend to like drier um less sweet yes less sweet less sweet wines um but to be honest uh I got a huge appreciation of um Moscato dasti uh from the bonura people the thing that was amazing to to me there was that um that they supported this so wholeheartedly you know it's hard to imagine coming to Venice and doing a project and a program in Venice the thing that's beautiful with it is that if you've ever been to Venice before which I had not you immediately uh realize how special this city is and I know the banura people know that even though they're halfway across the country and even though we drove halfway across the country to get there they knew how special this would be to be in Venice and that they supported it and that they helped that the people from kettum and Royal supported it and helped from the United States um is just just tremendous so really that they that they reached out to this Jewish community and allowed us to come here and do this project and program uh it it it's very special there's two other really quick perspectives I had um one is a silly perspective uh in America we have satellite dishes on top of all of the buildings on top of people's homes and what have you in Venice they have them as well but they're orange and they match the orange uh color of the roofs why they don't do that in America I don't know okay so I just I just want to tell you it's it's beautiful you don't notice them because they blend into the roofs so it's it's very cool that's one perspective the second is um a perspective that uh mayor kruder brought up actually uh before that when you walk around the churches and really see the level of um Christianity here and all of the icons and statues and and what have you um and that the church really limited what the synagogues could use to build they weren't allowed to build with marble with inside them because the church had an edict that only the church was allowed to do that Jews were not permitted uh it gave it gives you a real perspective these are things standing today these are Church These are synagogues that are being used today by the Jews of Venice um and and you can see the impact of that today uh it it brings back the history very vividly to you and and and it's and it's special to see uh the museum here is an incredible Museum it needs as much support as it can get and I'm happy we were here to highlight that and to help the museum in any way we can but we also are pointing out that they could really use the help and support of the broader Jewish Community uh you'd think that they'd get a lot of support from people but they really don't um so that's something that you know we we wanted to highlight as well but it's just it's it's been a totally eye-opening amazing trip from many perspectives all right Simon uh where does it fit in no no stick with you for a second where does it fit in Houston stot uh the streets of your in Tel Aviv had a very important time obviously Paris which uh which probably got the most International attention where does this all rank with all those very straightforward very straightforward answer it's something again I realized in the balconies in the sh in in in Paris we're Americans we were French people we were Israelis we were all singing in Hebrew bottom line is that we're old Jews and couldn't have been more noticeable here there are so many languages that came by us here not just Italian but there's so many tourists and so many people speaking all different languages and they're all Jews and we're all Jews and the bottom line is that we really need to make sure that Jews know the message of aat and is and that's that's bottom line across all of those venues even in Belgium even in London no matter where we go no matter where we go we're all Jews so brashem and Dr even in Iran even Iran is right and Dr Joe so let me let me start by like really honestly sitting on shabat morning in one of these synagogues in one of the shs one of the ancient shs that I just closed my eyes for a second and said you know how many centuries of Jews sad where I sat and ding the same from the same s or maybe same that I did and you know doing doing Bri kohanim in front of that Sho that you had to open up with a the master key to do and and all the in the the history that went into that Sho was amazing you know at one point Simon got an Aaliyah standing up and you turned to me and you said only if I had a camera to take a picture that was unbelievable by him standing right by the Torah you up and it's it's remarkable it really really was remarkable to see that you know and also like the way they did hgba you know like all the all the different we have never seen H like that before never I never I never seen it anywhere else in the world it's amazing to see and the fact that you know like little kids and you know as as Simon said so many different languages so many people came to me that were that were speaking Persian and they you know like I walked to the to the pizza store and I see oh Joe you know like how do you know you know like who like whatever like they they they like the that's in here and the way that you made the ACT here I thought it was amazing like you know the laich the kabad the every single different type of Jew that walked in and saw what you were doing they were amazed and and the Kazan this morning comes to me he goes tell that we got to come here every two three months that's what he said said you have no idea what what it meant for them to have this concept I guess we made an impression on him you definitely did special I'm sorry not only him I think the whole community special thank you to Simon Jacob Dr Joe rosada everybody and we will wrap things up coming up at JM in the AM and a special of course thank you to Barry Jacob and Lori rosada who accompanied their husbands on this unique Jewish Unity initiative Sim liner is next more coming up thank you both more coming up at JM and the am [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] AO a El [Music] [Applause] sh [Music] a [Music] for for [Applause] sh sh sh [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm high I'm oh I'm strong I'm strong I'm I'm I need my I need my [Music] [Applause] [Music] I [Music] call I'm I'm I'm you so I'm you so [Applause] [Music] oh Mommy night [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm [Music] I'm I'm is I'm strong I'm [Music] [Applause] [Music] strong I'm I'm I'm oh I'm oh I'm oh I'm [Music] JM and the am ready to wrap things up from Venice what a Jewish Unity initiative it's been Mark zic join uh me please Mal wallik join me please as we close out a um another amazing Jewish Unity initiative this time to Venice Italy big thank you to our friend zabar tanura uh a big thank you to our American chairman Mr Leon Goldenberg a big thank you to the km wine Corporation and everybody who found this trip to be worthwhile I think that between the um M shabas mava Mala that we presented here for the community and everything that we've learned and the people that we've met and theuk that we've given uh to leaders and uh and residents of Venice this has been a very successful Venture Mark zic your thoughts as we wrap things up from Venice so the first thought is I don't know if M agrees with this but because we've been around for a few years doing these things and I always feel a tinge of guilt when I get home to tell relle what we had gone through right especially you know have a good time everyone you know you know and so at least this trip there's zero guilt because we're able to have our spouses here I know you feel the same to be able to share it with everybody this was such a great weekend to be able to do that so thank you everybody for for arranging that look I I I don't think that you compare this to Paris I think it was very very different but again this the the the theme of it holds up and and you know you come into a community and I think it was true to some extent in Paris and I think it's true to some extent here everybody has their little you know they've been here they have their little groups of people but when we walk in the room it all seems to melt away and you know we saw here at the concert no matter what you know the different communities or different groups whether they're religious or not religious whatever it is that music as Simon said a number of other people said sort of makes it all melt away whether it's here in Paris or anywhere else and I think it um you know it's a testament to the vision and the dream of what we're doing to be able to to be able to pull it off it really is it's hard to put into the words here now that we're not even officially over with it yet um but you know you have to let it let it sink in but to some extent the Paris thing still hasn't completely sun in that's true well I thanked our amazing team before I thank you for all your help oh it's my pleasure I I during and after I uh I appreciate the freedom that you give me to tell you what to do and I appreciate you um as often as I get away with taking you out of your comfort zone um and again then giving you back your comfort zone um to uh to try to just bring it bring it all to as much as we can to the listeners and I think and whether it's up or now or whatever it is everybody really has to go back and watch the video of the concert and watch the video of yesterday's show and watch the video of today's show when you have the time just to see Jewish Venice and just to see really Venice coming to life Mary Mal wallik final minute what do you think um so much has already been said and I certainly do not want to repeat but I guess what I'm feeling right now is a tremendous amount of pride I am incredibly proud of the work that we do I'm incredibly proud of the work that we do on a normal given Tuesday but um this is an unbelievably unique opportunity there is no one else besides you on the planet who could spearhead something like this that people could rally behind that people could connect to the way that they do that's true about any JM in the am but it is certainly true when we go on the road whether it's to JC or whether it's to Venice or whether it's to the Pama and the besides that your team thanks you your listeners thank you for bringing their Jewish World closer and for allowing them to interact with Jewish life in in an intimate way that they would never be able to do so it's it's it's a tremendous amount of pride and I thank you for that opportunity and I thank you for helping me lead this effort and we should continue to go from strength to strength brothers and sisters of Israel we are with you this is America's one and only Jewish moments in the morning radio program heard and listeners sponsored WFMU East Orange W mfu Mount Hope Rockland County at 91.9 on the FM dial broadcasting from Venice around the world in the web at j.org and on the NSN app and as you hear haika in the background a song that unites a song that wrapped up our evening on Saturday night a song that continues to be the theme of this radio presentation I remind you that we are back in studio Wednesday morning tomorrow at JM and the am continue to listen all day long at j.org and of course on the NSN app and comment away during all of our programming get ready for our big transition as we go all digital in just a few days make sure you have the NSN app and that all your your methods of tuning in whether it be web radio or the website uh or uh special uh not special but your auxiliary cable or Bluetooth in your car is all set up so you're ready for our transition uh from Venice it's n seagull reminding you remember the past live the present and Trust the future [Music] oh [Music]