Prego! Rome and Passover in Berlin

Just said goodbye to my parents and little sister last weekend. It was rough to part after an amazing trip around Rome and Berlin. It was interesting to contrast Berlin, a once-destroyed, now reconstructed, modernized city with Rome, which has millennia of history that has been discovered and preserved, at least enough for a four-day trip.

One of the highlights of the trip was learning about the Jewish community of Rome, the oldest Jewish community in Europe. Our tour guide Micaela Pavoncello made our visit to the old ghetto especially thrilling. She is well-respected and loved by the Jewish community there and worldwide. As we walked through the streets, filled with kosher restaurants and jewish bakeries, she was greeted by everyone from young, greased workers to the old ladies sitting on the benches. Here’s a description of her from an article that ran in the Jerusalem Post this year:

“Beautiful. Sexy. Stunning. Cultured. Charming. And steeped in rich Jewish history.

No, I’m not talking about Rome, Lazio or even Italy itself, although they are all these things too.

I’m referring to the vivacious Micaela Pavoncello, who leads the most fascinating guided tours of Jewish Rome.”

She quizzed us on our Jewish knowledge and was impressed with the youngest boy on our tour for knowing most of the answers (“a cappuccino for you!”). She made jokes about her typical overbearing Jewish mother (who has backed off since Micaela got engaged). But more important than her games and humor, she loves her community and the history so much that the information she shares is charged with passion. It’s the kind of passion that gets people to wake up on a guided tour and sense the past and living history of where they are.

We ended the tour by all eating lunch together in a traditional Jewish Italian restaurant, where they served specialties such as fried artichoke. Afterwards, we jumped into a kosher bakery and picked up some macaroons, delicious pastries that are kosher for Passover (think: coconut, chewy cookies in the shape of large chocolate chips).

Passover started yesterday, and Bambinim hosted a large Seder (traditional Passover meal where one tells the story of Passover with a special book called a Hagaddah). During the seder, Jews are supposed to wear relaxing clothes and recline, like the Romans would during dinner. Over thirty guests including 10 children came to our Roman-style, reclined seder. We sat on pillows, and went through a traditional seder, led by 23-year-old Ruth, a young, energetic woman from Vienna. Michelle, another JDC fellow, who works in Bratislava, helped me make a few activities for the kids, which kept them going until the seder ended at midnight!