Celebrate Shavuot With Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation June 11 - Program Features Family Pot Luck Dinner, Children's Services, Ice Cream/Cheesecake Social And Presentation By Author Of Americordo: The Italian Jewish Exiles In America

The Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation reports:

The Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation (RIJC), led by Rabbi Leana Moritt, will gather on Saturday evening, June 11 to observe Shavuot, the holiday that celebrates the moment the entire Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai together to receive the Ten Commandments.

Image From RIJC

Families are especially welcome at the event. Children who are students in the RIJC Hebrew School will participate in a Consecration ceremony during the children’s service that will mark the completion of a year of study.

The program features a presentation by Roosevelt Island resident and journalist Gianna Pontecorboli, author of Americordo: The Italian Jewish Exiles in America.

Following the enactment of anti-Semitic legislation in Italy in October 1938, Italian Jews lost their citizenship and any position in the government or professions which many previously held.

In subsequent months, about 2,000 Italian Jews, including many architects, musicians, artists, journalists, designers, mathematicians and three future Nobel Prize winners, fled Italy, seeking refuge in the United States and other lands.

Americordo is a collective portrait of ordinary and extraordinary people -- intellectuals, a seamstress, a door-to-door salesman and others -- making their way in a new land and resourcefully supporting each other.

Author Pontecorboli, niece of one such refugee, said the reason she interviewed the exiles and wrote the book is “I was fascinated by-the fact that they were perfectly integrated with Americans, Jews, and Italians, while at the same time remaining different. And I was impressed by the success that many of them had had, in spite of the difficulties they encountered.”

The Shavuot celebration schedule is:

5:30 pm Family Pot Luck Dinner
6:15 pm Children's Services and Hebrew School Consecration
7:00 pm Ice Cream & Cheesecake Social for Everyone !!
7:45 pm Gianna Pontecorboli, Scholar in Residence

For location and more information, please contact Nina Lublin, RIJC president at 212-688-0003. Donations for this and other ongoing events at the RIJC can be made online using PayPal at RIJC.org and are both appreciated and encouraged.

More information on RIJC available at their web site.