Jewish Heritage Europe

Calendar

Feb
13
Thu
Guided tour @ Lisbon synagogue
Feb 13 @ 14:45 – 17:00
Guided tour @ Lisbon synagogue | Lisboa | Lisboa | Portugal

A guided tour of the Shaare Tikva synagogue in Lisbon.

Inaugurated in 1904 and designed by Miguel Ventura Terra, the synagogue was the first synagogue to be built in Portugal since the 15th century. Its facade faces an inner courtyard because at the time the state banned non-Catholic houses of worship from fronting on the street.

Register online by following the provided link.

 

Jun
17
Wed
Old Jewish quarter tour @ Eisenstadt, Austria
Jun 17 @ 10:30 – 11:30
Old Jewish quarter tour @ Eisenstadt, Austria | Eisenstadt | Burgenland | Austria

 

Curator Christopher Meiller leads a tour to the Jewish quarter including the former community synagogue and the two Jewish cemeteries.

  • Registration is mandatory up to 2 days before the event, limited number of participants (by phone: +43 (0) 2682 65145 or by E-mail: info@ojm.at).
  • If there is a high demand, the events / tours / tours will be repeated.
  • Free donation.
  • Please take your own mouth and nose protection with you (for use where required by the authorities).
  •  
Jun
23
Tue
Jewish cemeteries tours @ Eisenstadt, Austria
Jun 23 @ 18:00 – 20:00
Jewish cemeteries tours @ Eisenstadt, Austria | Eisenstadt | Burgenland | Austria

There are two Jewish cemeteries and two tours — the Old Jewish Cemetery at 6 p.m. and the New Jewish Cemetery at 7 p.m. You can register for one or both.

In the old Jewish cemetery the oldest gravestone goes back to the year 1679. The cemetery was used until the summer of 1875. The new Jewish cemetery was established in fall of 1875 as the “successor cemetery” to the older one and was used until 1938. In just a few unusual cases, there were burials after 1945.

Registration is mandatory up to 2 days before the event, limited number of participants (by phone: +43 (0) 2682 65145 or by E-mail: info@ojm.at).

Oct
6
Tue
Synagogue guided tour @ Wertheimer synagogue, Eisenstadt, Austria
Oct 6 @ 15:00 – 15:45
Synagogue guided tour @ Wertheimer synagogue, Eisenstadt, Austria | Eisenstadt | Burgenland | Austria

Guided tour of the Wertheimer synagogue, accessible as part of the Austrian Jewish Museum. Dedicated to Jewish life in the province of Burgenland, the museum opened in 1982 in the former mansion of Samson Wertheimer (1659-1724). The private synagogue is part of the mansion.

Wertheimer had a prominent role at the Viennese court, where from 1694 to 1709 he worked for emperors Leopold I, Joseph I, and Charles VI as Hofoberfaktor or chief administrator of financial affairs. He also served the Esterhazy family in Burgenland and was Rabbi of Hungary and Moravia.

A mob destroyed Eisenstadt’s main synagogue on Kristallnacht in 1938 but the they overlooked the  Wertheimer Shul,  hidden in the mansion. The synagogue was re-consecrated for Jewish worship in 1979.

In its current form the synagogue dates almost entirely from 1832, having been refurbished after the Eisenstadt ghetto was badly damaged in a fire of 1795. Its design includes many elements typical of the period, including a high ceiling and a chandelier hanging from a painted rosette. At the inauguration of the building in 1834, members of the community contributed ceremonial silver, a painted glass beaker for the Hevrah Kadisha (Burial Society), Torah scrolls, an elaborate Parohet (Ark curtain) and a parchment Megillah (Scroll of the Book of Esther) executed by the scribe Elie Gabriel, all of which are among the items displayed in the museum today.

 

Oct
7
Wed
Jewish cemetery guided tour @ Jewish cemeteries, Eisenstadt, Austria
Oct 7 @ 20:00 – 21:15
Jewish cemetery guided tour @ Jewish cemeteries, Eisenstadt, Austria | Eisenstadt | Burgenland | Austria

A nighttime tour of the Old and New Jewish cemeteries, in Eisenstadt. Bring a flashlight!

Of the older cemetery, in used from 1679 to 1874, can be considered one of the most important Jewish cemeteries in Europe. The newer cemetery, used until 1938, tells stories about the last decades of Jewish life in Eisenstadt.

 

 

Oct
8
Thu
Synagogue guided tour @ Wertheimer synagogue, Eisenstadt, Austria
Oct 8 @ 15:00 – 15:45
Synagogue guided tour @ Wertheimer synagogue, Eisenstadt, Austria | Eisenstadt | Burgenland | Austria

Guided tour of the Wertheimer synagogue, accessible as part of the Austrian Jewish Museum. Dedicated to Jewish life in the province of Burgenland, the museum opened in 1982 in the former mansion of Samson Wertheimer (1659-1724). The private synagogue is part of the mansion.

Wertheimer had a prominent role at the Viennese court, where from 1694 to 1709 he worked for emperors Leopold I, Joseph I, and Charles VI as Hofoberfaktor or chief administrator of financial affairs. He also served the Esterhazy family in Burgenland and was Rabbi of Hungary and Moravia.

A mob destroyed Eisenstadt’s main synagogue on Kristallnacht in 1938 but the they overlooked the  Wertheimer Shul,  hidden in the mansion. The synagogue was re-consecrated for Jewish worship in 1979.

In its current form the synagogue dates almost entirely from 1832, having been refurbished after the Eisenstadt ghetto was badly damaged in a fire of 1795. Its design includes many elements typical of the period, including a high ceiling and a chandelier hanging from a painted rosette. At the inauguration of the building in 1834, members of the community contributed ceremonial silver, a painted glass beaker for the Hevrah Kadisha (Burial Society), Torah scrolls, an elaborate Parohet (Ark curtain) and a parchment Megillah (Scroll of the Book of Esther) executed by the scribe Elie Gabriel, all of which are among the items displayed in the museum today.

 

Feb
11
Thu
Virtual Opening of Romaniote Memories: Photos of Vincent Giordano @ Online Zoom event
Feb 11 @ 17:00 – 18:00
Virtual Opening of Romaniote Memories: Photos of Vincent Giordano @ Online Zoom event
The exhibition can be seen at this link: https://scalar.usc.edu/works/romaniote-memories/index
 
In 1999, photographer Vincent Giordano made an unplanned visit to the small Kehila Kedosha Janina (KKJ) synagogue on New York’s Lower East Side. He knew little about Judaism or synagogues, and even less about the Romaniote Jewish tradition of which KKJ, built in 1927, is the lone North American representative. In this he was not alone. Romaniotes are among the least known of Jewish communities. Beginning in 2001 and guided by members of the KKJ community, Giordano documented the synagogue and its religious art of the congregation using film, video, and audio.
 
In 2019 the Giordano family donated the archive of Vincent’s work to Queens College, where it is a major part of the Hellenic American Project and is preserved as part of the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library’s Special Collections and Archives.
 
The exhibition is sponsored by the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, Hellenic American Project, and Center for Jewish Studies at Queens College, in partnership with the International Center for Jewish Monuments, an independent non-profit organization.
 
The exhibition includes more than one hundred photographs, presented in ten thematic sections, accessible here.
 
To register for the exhibition’s opening reception on Zoom, featuring a conversation with curators, distinguished guests, and friends go to:
Apr
23
Sat
Yearning for Baden: Jewish Houses tell (Hi)stories @ Kaiserhaus
Apr 23 – Nov 6 all-day
Yearning for Baden: Jewish Houses tell (Hi)stories @ Kaiserhaus | Baden | Niederösterreich | Austria

Baden bei Wien – Baden by Vienna – was long a popular spa and summer guests were originally attracted by the glamorous presence of the Imperial Court.

Many of these families who spent their summers in Baden had Jewish roots. They built villas in a variety of styles – historicist, art nouveau and modernist – a fascinating mixture and shaped summer life in Baden until 1938.

This exhibition  is dedicated to ten families and their villas.

Click here for an interactive map with the villas

 

Jul
23
Sun
Kos synagogue reopens @ Kal Shalom synagogue
Jul 23 @ 11:30 – 12:30
Kos synagogue reopens @ Kal Shalom synagogue | Greece

Inauguration of the restored synagogue on the island of Kos.

A new Ark and Bimah and other interior furnishings have been installed and — after decades out of its original use — the building will be rededicated as an active house of Jewish worship.

The Kos synagogue was built in the mid-1930s to replace an older synagogue that was destroyed in an earthquake in April 1933. It was abandoned after the near-total destruction of the circa 120 member Jewish community during the Holocaust, and then was purchased by the Municipality around 1984 and used as a local cultural centre.

See our post

 

Sep
19
Tue
Salonique, Jérusalem des Balkans, 1870-1920 @ Museum of Art and History of Judaism, Paris
Sep 19 2023 – Apr 21 2024 all-day
Salonique, Jérusalem des Balkans, 1870-1920 @ Museum of Art and History of Judaism, Paris | Paris | Île-de-France | France

Presenting a selection of nearly 150 pieces from various sources, this photographic exhibition recreates the history of Salonika (today Thessaloniki) Greece from the second half of the 19th century to the end of the First World War. Men and women are captured in their traditional costumes: modest artisans, porters, traders, members of the local “aristocracy;” society is revealed. Urban modernization is also shown: the quays and the White Tower, cafes, restaurants and entertainment venues; the Countryside sector where the notables established their residence; deprived areas, where emerging industries were established.

But also, in the now Greek city, the great fire of August 1917, an authentic trauma for the Jews who saw their historic neighborhoods, the municipal archives and more than thirty synagogues swept away by the flames, before the geopolitical upheavals caused by the First War worldwide.

 

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