Memories of Jewish Life: From Italy to Jerusalem, 1918-1960

In a delightful chapter on the daily ups and downs of Segre's father's life as a rabbi in Casale Monferrato (chpt. 3, "It's Not Always Easy to Become a Rabbi"), Segre offers a bird's eye view of how tradition and title can become almost insurmountable obstacles to community service and where a liberal approach to Jewish practice was considered assimilation-a situation that exists even today in modern Jewish Italy. [...] many Italian Jews, including my own Uncle Felice, were early supporters of what appeared to be a government dedicated to sound economic principles.