Some years ago, the leaders of the EC of BBE-Europe launched the idea that it could be of great importance, if between the Lodges of Eastern Europe and some of the Lodges from Western countries, closer relationships could be established via twinning.

This idea was discussed in the Lodge “Carmel” in Sofia, Bulgaria and it was immediately accepted by members of the board. We were then faced with the problem to determine our goals if we succeeded to find the right partner for twinning and what could then be the joint project of mutual interest.

As previously reported last year, as a result of the common project between our Lodge and the French Lodge “Marinette Artman” in Boulogne Billancourt, lead by Brother Solomon Berner, on 4th November 2007 a successful exhibition by Bulgarian painters of Jewish origin was organized in the Center Rashi in Paris.

The contacts between our members and the members of the French Lodge were consolidated after the friendly visit of the French group in Sofia. This exchange of cultural and B’nai B’rith activities should be diligently pursued as a recognition of our efforts to create a bridge between Eastern and Western Lodges.








Numerous other activities have taken place during the mandate of our board.  This year another common project based on twinning between the Milan Lodge “Anna and Nathan Cassutto” and Lodge “Carmel” – Sofia, was successfully concluded. As a result of our agreement described in our project, a novel written by Victor Baruch, Bulgarian writer of Jewish origin, entitled “La poetessa defamata” (Italian version), was proposed to be translated from Bulgarian into Italian, edited and published in Italy.






The reason to propose this idea to the Italian Lodge was well founded:  in the above mentioned novel the story of a Venezian Jewish poetess, Sara Copio Sulam, who lived in the 16th century, Sara Copio Sulam, is described. The novel was well received by Bulgarian readers, and it seemed to me that it should also be of interest to an Italian audience. Our Brother from the Italian Lodge, Uberto Tedeschi, as a coordinator of the project, accepted the idea and following considerable preparatory work the book was translated by Alexandrina Djeneva and edited by Prof. Fabrizio Lelli. The book has already been published.


The presentation of the book took place in the hall “La Limonia” on 4th December 2007 in Pisa, where every year a festival of Jewish cultural events is organized by Andrea Gottfried, Director of a symphonic orchestra. The author, Brother Victor Baruch, the translator, Mrs. Djeneva and myself as a coordinator of the project, and Vice-President of Lodge Carmel-Sofia, were invited by the organizers of the event. Brother Uberto Tedeschi with his wife Sister Liana Tedeschi also took part in the event as distinguished guests from the Milan Lodge.




A short summary of the content of the book was presented by Brother Baruch. Prof. Lelli, in his professional analysis of the novel, emphasises that in this literary work the reader could discover not only important information about the intellectual life in Venice in the 16th century, but also about the concepts, the way of thinking of the representatives of the Catholic and Jewish religion, their relationships and intimate feelings. I dare to hope that the valuable presentation of this book satisfied more than 60 visitors to this event, initiated by two B’nai B’rith Lodges as a result of a fruitful cooperation and brotherhood.

My grateful thanks to Brother Tedeschi, Prof. Lelli and Andrea Gottfried for their much appreciated contribution.

Report by Hanna Lorer, Vice-President of Lodge “Carmel”, Sofia, Bulgaria