Customer Reviews

Before the Dawn: Autobiographical Reflections by Eugenio Zolli, Former Chief Rabbi of Rome

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eugenio Zolli was the chief rabbi in Rome during the Nazi occupation of Rome. In this beautifully written and utterly absorbing autobiography Zolli captures the terror, the confusion, and even moments of spiritual grace during the era.

Zolli was born in 1881 in Austria to a devout and intellectual family. His gentle mother, a woman who never once raised her voice, died young. Zolli notes "All of her sons fell victim to the hatred of the Nazis" (p 27) except Zolli.

When Zolli was twelve, Zolli felt God "had begun to knock on the door of my soul" (p 35). His conversion deepened after the death of his first wife. As his interior life became intense, he plunged into studying the Torah and the meaning of Israel and the Jews for humanity.

World War II shattered the peace of the Jews of Italy. Stripped of his Italian citizenship, Zolli helped to form the Hebrew College of Rome. They sent out representatives to all the various Jewish communities in Italy, warning them of danger.

As the reality of the occupation sunk in, fear spread among the Jews. Soon, "The German police were going out every night in search of Jews" (p 159). Plus, the Germans demanded gold, and then further amounts of gold from the Jews.

It was during this time that Zolli came across a copy of the Didache, an early Christian document, which stunned him by its Jewish character. "The author of the ritual followed in his mind the Sabbatic Festival, the Hebrew Banquet" (p 135).

After the war ended, Zolli converted to the Catholic religion. "'Did you become a convert out of gratitude towards the Pope, who did so much for the Jews of Italy during the Nazi persecution'" was a question constantly asked of him by reporters.

The Pope did, indeed, protect the Jews of Italy, and Zolli, a friend, in particular, but Zolli denied that it was friendship or gratitude that started him on his conversion. Instead he always claimed it was sheer grace.

Israel Zolli (1881-1956) wrote this book about his reflections of why he converted from Judaism to Catholicism. This book and the undersigned's review are not intended to convert religious Jews to Catholicism, and the review is not intended to convert devout Catholics to Judaism. The book is a profound and at times a mystical journey of the Chief Rabbi(Rabbi Israel Zolli) of Rome who converted to Catholicism after years of reflection. Readers may get the impression that Zolli's conversion was a gnawing interest in Catholicism based on intensive reading and the examples of compassion and kindness of many devout Catholics whom he met including Pope Pius XII (1939-1958).

Zolli began this book with childhood memories. He remembered his mother's kindness in helping less fortunate Catholics while Zolli's father was at the synagogue. Zolli relected upon the Crucifixes he saw and thought about why a kind innocent Man was put to death. Zolli also reflected the compassion Italian Catholics showed to his family when Zolli's family faced economic problems.

Zolli added humor to this book. Zolli wrote anecdotes re his childhood school days. He gave a couple of anecdotes of student pranks to reduce their work load. One example he gave was the use of deception when teachers assigned lessons. If the teacher assinged five lessons, the studentw would do three and insist in unison that the teacher had assinged only three. Zolli wrote about a deaf teacher whom the students could fool with their oral answers. However, one day the teacher's hearing was good enough to detect that a student had not studied much to the student's dismay.

Zolli wrote about his association with Catholic friends and how reading of the Gospels and other Catholic works sparked his interest. Zolli asked if God suffers, and if so, was Christ God who suffered. Zolli stated that he had a spiritual void which he thought the Gospels and other New Testament Literature helped to fill. Zolli's book could be compared to Martin Buber's book titled I AND THOU which deals with men's encounters with God. Zolli was clear that his spiritual journey was more intense during times of solitude.

Zolli's spiritual journey or introspection was further kindled by his vast learning. Zolli commented that the Ancient Greeks had spiritual deities who were close to men but whose nature had a "dark side." Zolli did not dismiss the Scholastic proofs of God, but he thought his taste for approaching God was more mystical. In fact, Zolli stated he had a brief mystical encounter with Christ which he (Zolli) could not explain. In fact, Zolli readily admitted this may have been subjective and a trick of his imagination. However, Zolli was clear about the experience regardless of what it was. Zolli was also impressed with Henri Bergon's (1859-1941)high praise for Catholicism.

Zolli's later sections of the book dealth with problems of Jewish people in Europe and especially in Italy where he lived. Zolli recounted that he convinced a Jesuit priest to change a lecture topic. The Jesuit priest was going to berate Jews until Zolli reminded the Jesuit priest that Christ emerged from a Hebrew/Jewish background and that the Jesuit priest would be demeaning both Christ and the Jesuit's status as a Catholic priest.

Zolli also devouted sections of the book of the heroic efforts of Italian Catholics (lay and clerical) who thwarted German efforts to arrest and Jewish people. Zolli commented on nuns and monks who opened their convents and monaastaries to harbor refugees including Jewish people. Zolli had high praise of Catholics and gave them credit for their heroic compassion.

Alone these lines, Zolli had a chapter dedicated to Eugenio Pacelli who was Pope Pius XII (1939-1958). Zolli re-enforced the documents and oral testimony of refugees including large numbers of Jews who were befrinded by Catholics who worked to save Jewish lives at the risk of their own. This section of the book completely undermined the anti-Catholics who have tried to smear Pope Pius XII.

Those who have deep seeded religious convictions would like this book. The book is intended for bona fide religious men and women and not for those who adhere to cheap religion and thin philosophy. The book will also appeal to those who have no religious convictions. Readers should note that this book was highly recommended to this reviewer by someone who was an atheist but who had high regard for Pope Pius XII and Israel Zolli.

James E. Egolf
January 24, 2010

Eugenio Zolli was born Israel Zolli. Zolli was the chief rabbi of Rome before and during the Nazi occupation of Rome during the period between 1943 and 1944. In February of 1944, Zolli converted to Catholicism. This book is Zolli's thoughts about the nature of conversion, man's relationship to God, his reflections on Christ and Judaism and various experiences that he had on his journey to Christianity.

Zolli is presently best known as a kind of "bit player" in the contemporary "Pius Wars," i.e., in the attack on the papacy of Pius XII, which typically involves the charge that Pius XII was "Hitler's Pope" and was either an anti-Semite or criminally indifferent to the circumstances of the Jews. Zolli's memory gets "played" as a trump on these claims; the argument goes, inasmuch as the chief Rabbi of Rome converted to Catholicism immediately after the German occupation of Rome and took as his baptismal name the name "Eugenio," in honor of the Eugenio Pacelli, who was Pius XII, this is evidence that Pius XII was not an anti-Semite or indifferent to the situation of Jews.

I began my reading of "Before the Dawn" with this view in mind. I had known the remarkable story of the conversion of the chief Rabbi of Rome for some time, but after reading John Cornwell's "Hitler's Pope," I realized that I didn't actually know anything about Zolli other than the broadest of talking points. I thought that by reading Zolli's book, I might get some insight into the circumstances of Jews during the Nazi occupation of Rome which would be useful in assessing the charge that Pius XII foreswore his moral responsibility by, according to Cornwell, failing to give warning to the Jewish community of the impending Nazi round-up of Jews.

Zolli's book does provide some fascinating insights into the situation of Jews under Italian fascism, and the perspective of leaders of the Roman Jewish community during the Nazi occupation, but the gist of his book is not historical or autobiographical. Rather it is the closest thing to The Confessions of St. Augustine that I've read. Zolli follows the same style of St. Augustine of interspersing the autobiographical portions of his life with extended theological meditations. Large parts of Zolli's books are taken up by his meditation on the meaning of Jewish practices, the significance of studying the law, the nature of conversion, his early and continuing love of the crucified Christ and other meditations. I was taken up by these meditations are would recommend reading the book for these parts by themselves. Zolli provides an off-hand reflection on the nature of law and justice, and its distortion by "Hitlerism" that is far deeper and more useful than anything found in Cornwell's "Hitler's Pope." (See Before the Dawn, p. 132.)

Reading Zolli's meditations on Christ convinced me of his claim that he was a convert in the making for decades before his actual conversion. The stereotype story of Zolli is that he converted out of gratitude for Pius' generosity to the Jewish community. Zolli denies that gratitude toward Pius was his motivation, and that seems abundantly clear from his meditations. On the other hand, Zolli affirms that he was grateful to Pius because he had seen throughout the war how it was Catholics who had engaged in acts of mercy and charity toward Jews and other persecuted people during the war at the behest of Pius.

The historical material is actually "few and far between." What impressed and surprised me was the absence of anti-Semitism in his recollections of his growing up in Polish Austria. His elementary school was composed of Christians and Jews who conspired together against the teacher. One of his friends was a Christian and he was impressed by the love and charity of that friend's mother toward him and his friend. Christians often gave small Christmas gifts to him.

Even during the Fascist years in Italy, Zolli found ecumenical hope. He tells the story about how he met with anti-Semitic rabble-rouser in Trieste - through the auspices of a Catholic priest - and how he persuaded that anti-Semite to reconsider with the question, "[w]as Christ a Hebrew according to the flesh." (Id. At p. 130.)

Zolli's recollections reveal a person of good nature and wisdom. The recollections are free of the bitterness that Zolli would have been entitled to in light of his mistreatment by his adopted Italian homeland and by his fellow men.

Zolli's discussion of the period of the Nazi occupation of Rome is extremely insightful. Today, we tend to think that everyone knew and comprehended the enormity of the Final Solution during World War II. A large part of the attack on Pius' purported silence is premised on the idea that Pius knew then what we know now. Reading about the debate in the Roman Jewish community about the proper response to the Nazi occupation of Rome is a useful reminder to us that people living at the time did not have same opportunity to truly comprehend the utter scope of the evil of the Final Solution.

When the Nazis occupied Rome, Zolli knew that his name was at the top any SS list for the deportation of Jews. Other Rabbis had been among the first in their communities to have been rounded up, tortured, deported and murdered. Zolli had also translated documents from Jewish refugees that had described the Nazi murder of Jews for the Italian Jewish community. So, when the Germans occupied Rome, he argued that the Jewish community should go into hiding, avoid the synagogue and take refuge with Catholics who would hide them from the Nazis.

Perplexingly, Zolli's recommendations were resisted by the leaders of the Jewish community who believed that abandoning the jobs and the synagogue would be an unmanly cowardice. These leaders even fired synagogue employees who did not show up for work. Zolli points out that these leaders relied on the assurances of their contacts in the Italian government that no persecution, round-up or deportation of Jews in Rome would occur.

Of course, we know now that these leaders were wrong and that approximately 1,000 of the 8,000 members of the Jewish community were deported to their deaths by the Nazis. Nonetheless, it is a historical reminder to us that when the Final Solution was occurring, even those with the most to lose by not trusting the Nazis did trust what they thought was the reasonableness or common decency of the Nazis.

This ties in directly with Cornwall's claim in "Hitler's Pope" that the Pius XII failed to give a warning to the Jewish Community that might have saved lives. As we see from Zolli's recounting of events, history is not as neat as the finger-pointing of a polemicist with an agenda. The Jewish community was warned, and nonetheless its leaders decided - in good faith - to believe the assurances that they had been given because they feared to appear to be cowardly.

Zolli also provides details of the Vatican's offer of the gold demanded by the Germans in lieu of hostages from the Jewish community. According to Zolli's eyewitness recounting:

"The Vatican had already spent millions in aiding fugitive Jews to reach safety. I said, "the New Testament does not abandon the Old. Please help me. As for repayment, I myself shall stand as surety, and since I am poor, the Hebrews of the whole world will contribute to pay the debt."

Both the Treasurer and the Monsignori were moved. The Treasurer disappeared, and after a few minutes returned. He had gone to the Holy Father. "Come back shortly before one `clock. The offices will be deserted, but two or three employees will be here waiting for you and will give you the package. You may leave a receipt in the form of a simply note. There will be no difficulty."

Cornwell does not mention this incident in "Hitler's Pope." He mentions another incident involving a different offer to loan the gold to the Jewish community. He also smears the memory of this generosity by depicting the offer as some kind of niggardly business deal. Obviously, it was no such thing. Even if it was nominally described as a "loan," in a business deal, no one seriously would simply hand over pounds of gold on the basis of a receipt, without the terms of repayment, without security, without interest, without a fixed date for repayment. By offering to provide the gold without repayment specified, the Vatican was expressing its hope, confidence and prayers that there would be a Jewish community in the future.

Modern readers can learn much from Zolli's book. I recommend it strongly.

Few can pinpoint the moment of conversion. Rabbi Zolli expounds on a lifetime of hearing Christ's call before realizing who it was that called him. It is at once philosophically rich and emotionally charged with the anatomy of conversion. With Rabbi Zolli, like so many, it was not a single event or moment in his life so much as a lifelong growing in awareness of that still small voice. No one seems to convey that sense of gentle guidance as does this moving tale of the chief Rabbi in Rome who came to understand and embrace the Roman Catholic tradition of Christianity. It was not an understanding that rejected his roots for something new - it was a growing sense of completeness in his faith. Very highly recommended for every seeker.

Eugenio Zolli was blessed with the hand of God upon him since he was a child and he writes
as one who knows The Lord. This book touched my heart in so many ways. I was taken by the spirituality of the book more than its historical content of world war II. Zolli is a man who kept his heart open to hear the Truth of the Lord and to follow it.

Excellent read--great history and religious conversion story--reveals the close work of the Jewish Community in Rome and the Catholic Church to save lives during the World War II

This book opened a window through which I could capture a little of what Eugenio Zolli experienced.
I was surprised to discover the level of communication and co-operation already in existence, between the Jewish community and the Roman Catholic church, prior and during the war.
Zolli shares a good deal of his emotions and inner battles which might not appeal to readers that are not familiar with the Latin culture.