Italy’s national Jewish museum joins cultural sites donating day’s proceeds to earthquake relief

Marcy Oster

ROME (JTA) – The National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah is one of dozens of state museums and cultural sites that will donate all proceeds from Sunday’s visitors to aid earthquake victims and rescue efforts in central Italy.

The museum, which is under development, does not yet have a permanent exhibition but announced it would donate Sunday’s entire proceeds from visitors to its temporary exhibit on the Torah.

Italy’s Culture Minister announced Thursday that Sunday’s proceeds from state-run museums and archeological sites all over the country would go to the area devastated by the quake that hit early Wednesday morning and urge Italians to visit them to show solidarity.

At least 291 people have been confirmed dead in the 6.2 magnitude temblor, which struck on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, more than 20 volunteers from the Israeli aid organization IsraAid have been working in the earthquake zone since Thursday, along with other relief organizations including volunteers from Islamic Relief Italia.

Italy’s national umbrella organization, UCEI, and the Rome Jewish community initiated a blood drive in Rome, where outgoing Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon was one of the blood donors. Local Jewish communities as well as the UCEI collected funds and material for relief operations, and the UCEI opened a special bank account for earthquake relief donations.

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