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New rabbi hopes to revive Turin’s shrinking Jewish population
This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with teens across the world to report on issues that impact their lives.
TURIN (JTA) — The ancient Jewish community of Turin, in northern Italy, located in the multi-ethnic neighborhood San Salvario, isn’t hard to find. Visitors just need to point their nose upward and look for the domes of the 140-year-old synagogue.
What is hard to find is young people to fill the pews.
Most of Italy’s 30,000 Jews live in Rome and Milan. Smaller communities, like the one in Turin, struggle to survive. Since 1989, new enrollments in Turin’s Jewish community have steadily dropped. In 2001 there were fewer than 1,000, according to the institution’s archives. Today, membership stands at 748, of whom only 19% are under 30 years of age.
Those over 65 represent 55% of Turin’s Jewish residents, according to the community secretariat. There are only 21 Jewish people under 18 in Turin. Worldwide the Jewish population is growing, with a total of almost 15 million Jews.
Former community leader Giuseppe Segre is putting his hope in the next chief rabbi of Turin, Ariel Finzi. Since Finzi took office in September, he has set educating young Jews in Turin as a top goal.
Rabbi Ariel Finzi and his wife Tiziana. (Courtesy of Ariel Finzi)
Born and raised in Turin, he moved to Israel where he studied advanced programming. He earned a degree in engineering from the Technion in Haifa and eventually found his way to IBM. He completed his rabbinical studies in Turin and then moved to Naples, where he became the chief rabbi seven years ago. As the son of a former Hebrew school teacher, Finzi, 62, said he wants to teach young people about Torah.
At his inauguration, Finzi called the situation in Turin a “demographic crisis,” He said the current situation “derives in turn from a crisis of our personal and collective Jewish identity, which we will have to try to face with courage and sincerity together with our young and very young,” he said to a group of 300 attendees.
In an interview with JTA he reiterated that young people have always been a priority for him. “I have only recently arrived, but I have always had a great passion for teaching Judaism to the youngest,” he said. “We need to look for a common language.”
Finzi wants to organize private lessons with young people, to talk to them personally and understand their problems with Judaism. He plans to arrange for young people to lead prayers in the synagogue in order to stimulate their active participation.
Turin is the birthplace of one of the world’s most famous Jews: Primo Levi, Holocaust survivor and author of “If This is a Man” (titled “Survival in Auschwitz” in the United States). The city also played a key role in the struggle against Nazism in World War II through the Partisan Resistance, for which the city as a whole was awarded a gold medal for military valor in 1959.
Young Jewish Turinese are worried they are involved in a problem that is too serious for them to solve.“I have few Jewish friends with whom I can go to synagogue and celebrate Jewish holidays, and this certainly saddens and bores me,” said David Foa, 12.
Rabbi Ariel Finzi, center, in the synagogue of Turin, Italy. (https://moked.it/)
However, for Filippo Tedeschi, 27, who now lives in Florence, his time in Turin strengthened his connection to Judaism because he was one of the few Jewish teens. “I knew I had many friends with whom I shared differences,” he said. “I was in a certain respect different from them, but I always believed that belonging to a minority was a value that should be defended.”
The disappearance of young people is due to two main factors: a very low birth rate in most of Europe and the recent emigration to Israel by young people looking for more promising job prospects.
Young people in Turin rarely engage in Jewish activities, beyond attending services on special occasions like Pesach, Kippur or Purim with their relatives. Turin Jewish leaders are trying to figure out what the life of this community may be in the coming years.
“To counteract the absence of young people, it is essential to try to establish a safer channel of communication with them,” said Segre, the former president of the community. He also suggested stimulating teen’s membership in Jewish youth movements such as Hashomer Hatzair or the Union of Young Italian Jews.
The problem is that there are still very few young people, and even if they attended assiduously the situation would hardly change. But Finzi has already seen some improvements. “At Simchat Torah there were a lot of young people in the synagogue, and a Shabbaton has already been organized here in Turin,” he said.
To bring young people back together, the community is also trying to organize fun activities. Rabbi Finzi is helping to organize a soccer game in a few weeks to be played in the Valentino Park near the community.
“The absence of young people greatly penalizes our community, which is struggling to adapt with the times,” said Turin’s new rabbi. “This problem is certainly due to an important biological factor, but all of this makes the situation very complex and delicate. The community needs new blood to continue living.”
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Thousands Protest Over Israeli President Herzog’s Visit to Australia in Wake of Bondi Massacre
Demonstrators gather at Town Hall Square to protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s state visit to Australia following a deadly mass shooting during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, 2025, in Sydney, Australia, Feb. 9, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Jeremy Piper
Thousands gathered across Australia on Monday to protest over the arrival of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is on a multi-city trip aimed at expressing solidarity with Australia‘s Jewish community following a deadly mass shooting last year.
Herzog is visiting Australia this week following an invitation from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the aftermath of the Dec. 14 shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15.
The visit has attracted the ire of some people in Australia, who accuse Herzog of being complicit in civilian deaths in Gaza. Anti-Israel groups have organized protests in cities and towns across the country on Monday evening.
In Sydney, thousands gathered in a square in the city’s central business district, listening to speeches and shouting pro-Palestinian slogans.
“The Bondi massacre was terrible but from our Australian leadership there’s been no acknowledgment of the Palestinian people and the Gazans,” said Jackson Elliott, a 30-year-old protestor from Sydney.
“Herzog has dodged all the questions about the occupation and says this visit is about Australia and Israeli relations but he is complicit.”
There was a heavy police presence with a helicopter circling overhead and officers patrolling on horseback.
Police used pepper spray and tear gas to push back groups of people who were trying to breach the line and march ahead. Several protesters were arrested as they clashed with police.
Authorities in Sydney declared Herzog’s visit a major event and were authorized to use rarely invoked powers during the visit, including the ability to separate and move crowds, restrict their entry to certain areas, direct people to leave, and search vehicles.
On Monday in a Sydney court, the Palestine Action Group – which organized the protest – failed to legally challenge the restrictions on the demonstration.
PRESIDENT COMMEMORATES LIVES LOST
Meanwhile, thousands of Jewish community members, government officials, and opposition party politicians welcomed Herzog at an event, more than a kilometer away from the protests, honoring the victims of the Bondi attack.
“We all remember the boycotts, the threats, the colleagues who turned their backs on their Jewish friends … that was the prelude to Bondi,” he told a large crowd at Sydney’s International Convention Centre, according to an ABC News report.
Herzog began his visit earlier on Monday at Bondi Beach, where he laid a wreath at a memorial for the victims of the attack. He also met survivors and the families of 15 people killed in the shooting.
“This was also an attack on all Australians. They attacked the values that our democracies treasure, the sanctity of human life, the freedom of religion, tolerance, dignity, and respect,” Herzog said in remarks at the site.
In a statement, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-Chief Executive Alex Ryvchin said Herzog’s visit “will lift the spirits of a pained community.”
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Saudi Arabia Wealth Fund Set to Announce Strategy Revamp, Sources Say
A billboard at the site of New Murabba shows The Mukaab, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 26, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Benmansour
Saudi Arabia‘s $925 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF) plans to announce a new five-year strategy this week, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said, in the biggest reset yet of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic transformation plan.
The Saudi sovereign wealth fund soft-launched its new 2026-2030 strategy with key investors and strategic partners on Monday on the sidelines of a conference in Riyadh, the two people and another familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The new blueprint will emphasize sectors including industry, minerals, artificial intelligence, and tourism, while scaling back and in some cases reconfiguring expensive mega projects such as The Line, a futuristic mirrored city, the sources said.
All three sources declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
One said the new roadmap will place greater emphasis on attracting capital from major global asset managers, reflecting mounting fiscal pressures as oil prices remain well below levels needed to fund the kingdom’s ambitious transformation agenda.
The shift marks the most significant recalibration to date of bin Salman’s Vision 2030, which for nearly a decade has prominently featured mega futuristic developments. The kingdom is currently reviewing several of the mega projects.
Many of these, including The Line, which extends 170 km (106 miles) into the desert, and the planned Trojena winter sports hub, have faced delays and ballooning costs. The latest to be suspended was a cube-shaped skyscraper in Riyadh.
Last month, Saudi Economy Minister Faisal al-Ibrahim told Reuters: “We’re very transparent. We’re not going to shy away from saying we had to shift this project, delay it, re-scope it,” without mentioning specific projects.
Under the new strategy, NEOM will shift away from its earlier emphasis on tourism and futuristic urban design toward renewable energy and industrial development, including green hydrogen, solar and wind projects, and data centers that benefit from their proximity to the sea for cooling, the people said.
The Line was not on display in the venue at Monday’s opening day of the private sector forum, while NEOM’s video displays underscored the new direction, focusing on energy and industrial initiatives rather than the high‑profile real estate and tourism concepts once billed as being at its core.
PIF’s updated focus echoes details previously reported by Reuters, including a broader shift toward logistics, mining, and advanced manufacturing, as well as clean energy and religious tourism.
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US Issues Fresh Guidance to Vessels Transiting Strait of Hormuz as Iran Tensions Simmer
A map showing the Strait of Hormuz and Iran is seen behind a 3D printed miniature of US President Donald Trump in this illustration taken June 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The United States issued fresh guidance on Monday to commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane for Middle East oil supplies, as tensions simmered between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program and brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Iran has in the past threatened to close down the Strait of Hormuz, a portion of which lies within its territorial waters, and has at times seized commercial ships and oil tankers moving through the area alleging smuggling.
The US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration advised US-flagged commercial vessels to stay as far from Iran’s territorial waters as possible and to verbally decline Iranian forces permission to board if asked, according to the guidance.
“It is recommended that US-flagged commercial vessels transiting these waters remain as far as possible from Iran’s territorial sea without compromising navigational safety,” according to the guidance posted on its web site.
It also said crews should not forcibly resist Iranian forces if they board.
“If Iranian forces board a US-flagged commercial vessel, the crew should not forcibly resist the boarding party,” it said.
Iran‘s top diplomat said on Friday that nuclear talks with the US mediated by Oman were off to a good start and set to continue, in remarks that could help allay concern that failure to reach a deal might nudge the Middle East closer to war.
While both sides have indicated readiness to revive diplomacy over Tehran’s long-running nuclear dispute with the West, Washington has said it also wants the talks to cover Iran‘s ballistic missiles, support for armed groups around the region, and human rights.
President Donald Trump ratcheted up the pressure on Iran on Friday with an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on imports from any country that “directly or indirectly” purchases goods from Iran, following through on a threat he made last month.