“Israel Is Our Life Insurance”

In this episode, we travel to Rome to speak with Luca Spizzichino and David Fiorentini. Luca is the current president of the Italian Union of Jewish Students and Young Professionals (UGEI) and a freelance journalist. David, a recent medical school graduate, is UGEI’s former president and its current Policy Officer.

Luca discusses the growing challenges of combating antisemitism online and how Holocaust education has become even more central to Italian Jewish advocacy since October 7th. He also shares his efforts to defend university students whose studies were disrupted by anti-Israel protests, and reflects on his own grandparents' survival of the Holocaust without ever leaving Italy.

David talks about the difficulty of presenting Israel—a Middle Eastern country—to Western audiences. As one of just 40 Jews remaining in the Tuscan city of Siena, he reflects on the dual nature of aliyah: how moving to Israel energizes many Italian Jews, while also complicating efforts to preserve the diverse and historic Jewish culture unique to each Italian region.

Host and Creator: Manya Marcus

Managing Producer: Maya Zanger-Nadis

Editor and Producer: Ben Wallick

Logo Design: Samuel Vilemar

Outro Music: "Kama Tov" by Shlomo Lipman

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