The Role of the Holy Place in Memory and Nostalgia: The Immigration of Italian Jews to Israel before and after WWII

Abstract

Holy places have always played an important role in the preservation of different identities, including religious, cultural, and national identity. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate, through the study of Italian Jews who immigrated to Israel from the early 1930 to the beginning of the 1950s, that their attitudes to Italy were similar to those of other Italians who emigrated from Italy to countries around the world. Like many Italians who reestablished or reconstructed their places of worship in their newly adopted countries, Italian Jews who came to Israel did the same, with the same modalities and aim, which was to preserve their Italian national and cultural identity.