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עמוד:*39
* 39 phenomenon in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision - making outcome ( Janis, 1971 ) . Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluations of alternative viewpoints, by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences . Cohesiveness and homogeneity, illusions of invulnerability in situations of highly stressful external threats or moral dilemmas can provoke the worst of the decisions . Their assumptions of invulnerability were not shattered during these stages . They considered themselves the oldest Italian citizens, protected by the local population and the benevolent presence and influence of the Catholic Apostolic Church . Part of their leadership was weak, as was the Italian Jewish leadership in general, and split into contrasting voices and decisions during the critical days . For example, in Rome, Rabbi Eugenio Zolli had been given shelter during most of this time within the Vatican City - state . Zolli later converted to Roman Catholicism . Despite the Holy See’s benevolence and discontent with the persecution, it did not issue statements condemning the arrest of Jewish neighbours . This tragic episode, Italy's worst chapter of the Holocaust, illustrates contrasting fates for different parts of Italian Jews . Conclusion Tales from “the drowned and the saved”, as Primo Levi might call it, is a complicated task arising from moralism, righteousness, academic vanity and can easily transform into stereotypes . In the Israeli secular ethos and according some theological Orthodox beliefs, the state’s foundation is the beginning of the Redemption, and the sacrifice of the Holocaust was one of its chapters . For other Jews, the Holocaust was the living proof that the Chosen People have been abandoned by God . In this paper, we have described only one positive facet of Italian Judaism before and during WWII, perhaps inferring that "non tutti I mali vengono per nuocere", “every cloud has a silver lining . ”
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אדמוני, אריאל
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