Mishkenot Sha’ananim, the Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem present “On Dante: Conversations, Lectures, and Encounters With The Divine Comedy”
On the occasion of the Week of the Italian Language in the World 2026, we dedicate a special evening to the literary reception of one of the greatest authors of Italian language and literature, Dante Alighieri, through three languages: Hebrew, Arabic, and Italian.
We will explore the dialogue that authors and intellectuals, from the mid-twentieth century to the present day, have held with the Divine Comedy, from Primo Levi and Leah Goldberg to contemporary poets. We will ask how the journey of Dante, a Florentine poet in exile, became a language for passing through the horrors of the twentieth century, for telling of the search for a homeland, and for reflecting on love as an instrument of redemption.
We will also devote ample space to modern translations of Dante into Hebrew and Arabic: to the challenges the text poses to those who translate it, to what is lost in the passage from one language to another, and to what, precisely thanks to that passage, can be revealed.
“On Dante: Conversations, Lectures, and Encounters With The Divine Comedy”
Mishkenot Sha’ananim, October 22, 2026
17:00–18:00 | Session One
Found in Translation – Translating Dante into Hebrew and Arabic
Chair: Giddon Ticotsky
Participants: Marwa Sa’abni, Reuven Cohen, Yoav Rinon
18:00–18:30 | Reception
18:30–20:00 | Session Two
After Dante – Dialogues with The Divine Comedy in Hebrew and Italian Literature
Chair: Manuela Consonni
Asher Salah, “The Afterlives of Dante’s Work in Italian Jewish Literature”
Gur Zak, “A Hebrew Dante in Berlin: Lea Goldberg’s Losses and Dante’s Afterlives in Modern Hebrew Literature”
Uri S. Cohen, “Angelic Butterflies: Dante and Primo Levi Return from the Camp”
20:00–20:30 | Break
20:30–21:30 | Session Three
Giacomo Loi in conversation with poet Sharon Hass (in Hebrew)
Music: Yonatan Suissa
Tickets are available on the website of Mishkenot Sha’anani