Published: 17 March 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
ITALY IS IN LOCKDOWN. The streets are deserted and shop shutters are lowered. No quarter is exempt from the new directives and in recent days, the over 30,000-strong Italian Jewish community spent the holiday of Purim at home, bombarded by the increasingly dramatic news reports that arrived, one after the other. Many synagogues have closed to avoid large gatherings.
Synagogues, churches and other places of worship are allowed to remain open under the new regulations, but large gatherings must still be avoided. Visitors are also required to maintain a distance of a least one meter from each other. Large civil and religious ceremonies, including funerals, have been suspended.
Expressing solidarity with Italy’s Jewish communities, president of the Jewish Agency for Israel Isaac Herzog and Sam Grundwerg, president of Keren Hayesod, spoke this week with Jewish leaders from Rome and Milan, who described the challenges and threats they are facing and their immediate needs.
FULL STORY At a centre of global pandemic, Italy’s Jews contemplate Passover under lockdown (Times of Israel)
Photo: The Spanish Steps in Rome deserted (Reuters)
