Jewish Heritage Europe

Jewish Cemetery Clean-ups: Special Winter Round-up edition

Between May and October  2021, we published four Jewish cemetery clean-up round-ups, in which we listed around 270 initiatives in 18 countries and more than 150 towns, cities, and villages. In these round-ups, we showed how hundreds of volunteers and others … continue reading →

JHE Year in Review: Check out our most popular posts of 2021 — an amazing variety of topics and geographical locations

As we close out a second year marked by the pandemic and more forward into 2022, we look back at the most popular news, views, and insights we have posted on Jewish Heritage Europe over the past 12 months. The … continue reading →

Happy Hanukkah 2021 from JHE!

Jewish Heritage Europe wishes all our readers and friends a Happy Hanukkah! Thank you for your interest and support — and thanks especially to those of you who have contacted us with questions and comments, with news of publications and … continue reading →

Kristallnacht anniversary 2021: countering memories of destruction with images of wonderful surviving — and restored — synagogues

We’ve made it a JHE tradition. Last night — night of November 9-10 — marked the  83st anniversary of the so-called Kristallnacht pogrom — Reichspogromnacht — in 1938, when the Nazis launched coordinated violent attacks on Jews, Jewish property and … continue reading →

Pipe Organs in Synagogues — Pride and Polemics. (See pix and access an article and music)

Ark in the Fabric synagogue, Timisoara, showing the organ behind and above it. Photo © Anna Szentgyörgyi

Having an organ in a synagogue is a fairly recent innovation, related to the emancipation of the Jews and spread of reform Judaism in the 19th century.  The introduction of a pipe organ into a synagogue sometimes sparked heated polemics. … continue reading →