Madrid, 31 de enero de 2013

The President of the Network of Spanish Jewish Quarters and Mayor of Ávila, Mr. Miguel Ángel García Nieto, along with other mayors and representatives from the rest of the cities belonging to the Network, presented this afternoon the last projects of the association in Fitur.

The first project he mentioned has been Caminos de Sefarad, a platform developed by Google which allows worldwide users to travel and virtually discover the 24 cities of the Network of Spanish Jewish Quarters, to walk through their streets, to discover the main highlights by getting to know the history behind them all from a unique and special website.

Moreover, the Network has included the last Google Maps technlology in order to allow the visitors to experience the discovery of all this places related with the Jewish heritage in this cities, as well as to access all information regarding the monuments or places, its history and main characteristics and pictures. Visitors can see all this highlights through Google Street View.

Another of the great projects presented today has been the Sefarad Card, the loyalty card of the Network that will provide better and nicer trips and visits to Sepharad destinations. A personal card which visitors can obtain through the website of the Network and that offers interesting discounts to the cultural and touristical services belonging to the project RASGO, as well as special promotions, raffles and others.

Finally, a debate on the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe in Spain has been held in order to dynamize and improve the Spanish touristic and cultural product in the world market. Several people has participated in the debate, such as Penélope Dénu, Director of the European Institute for the Cultural Routes and Executive secretary of the Council of Europe for the Parcial Agreement on the Cultural Routes; Antonio Barone, Director of the Phoenician Route and representative for the Cultural Routes in the Parcial Agreement, and Pilar Barraca, from the General Section of Historical Heritage Protection of the Ministry of Culture, all of them beside the President of the Network.

The Network of Spanish Jewish Quarters is a founding member of AEPJ (European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage) and the Cultural Route “European Route of Jewish Heritage”, stated in 2005 as “Great Cultural Route” by the Council of Europe, and its one of our most consolidated international projects.

Furthermore, since it was participating in Fitur, the Network has taken the opportunity to officially sign the contract of adhesion of the first RASGO Tour Operators. They include several travel agencies and tour operators specialised in tours to the Spanish Jewish heritage. This first tour operators are the following: Viajes El Corte Inglés, Hife Tours, Nextel, Veronia Tours and Vips in Spain. Offers and vacation packages offered by them are already available at the Network’s website. Several other companies are still in process to be part of this group. Therefore the Network is working in order to transform its promotional effort into real sales.

Through all this projects, the Network of Spanish Jewish Sites keeps on developing the programmes part of its strategical plan, which objective is to make Spain a real touristical destination on the Jewish heritage for tourists, both national and international.

More information: secretaria@redjuderias.org – T. 972 41 41 46
www.redjuderias.org – Facebook – Twitter – Google+

On June 11th, 13th and 14nd 2012 the Network of Spanish Jewish Quarters has organized several presentations of the RASGO product in the USA cities of Los Angeles, Miami and New York.

Authorities in the presentation of the Network in L. A., California.

The Network itself and Spain in general through its product, they both have an extraordinary niche in the American market, mainly based in the roots tourism by Jewish communities, a lot of them coming from a Sephardic origin. Therefore the activities hosted by the Network had a very important attendance and success.

Recently, the B’nai B’rith Europe president, Mr. Ralph Hoffman, has presented the ceremony honouring Valerie Bello and Barbara Nathan for their joint efforts in organising this increasingly popular cross-communal event and achieving a success which has led to around ninety different events being staged each September in the UK.

More information: www.bnaibritheurope.org

Copyright © 2012 Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority

The Network of Spanish Jewish Sites joins the events of remembrance and commemoration of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The chairman of the Network, Mr. Ferran Bel, will be present at the scheduled event to commemorate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will take place in Madrid on January 26th in Sala de Europa of the Senate building at 6.30 pm. You will find more information in Casa Sefarad-Israel website.

Other cities of the Network have scheduled several commemoration events. In Barcelona, for instance, on Wednesday January 25th, the Catalan government Generalitat de Catalunya has organized an event in the Palau de la Generalitat, which will include the lecture Memòria de la barbàrie i construcció del futur, by PhD. Reyes Mate (CSIC), at 5.30 pm. After that, the city council of Barcelona, in collaboration with several Jewish communities and organizations, has planned a public event at 7.45 pm in Sant Jaume square.

In Seville, the Foundation Tres Culturas has planned several activities, such as the lighting of eight candles to remember the eight million people who died during the Holocaust, or a concert by the singer and composer Mor Karbasi.

The Network of Spanish Jewish Sites signed last January 19th 2012 in Madrid three agreements with several institutions and companies.

Agreement with Productos Campos

M. Ferran Bel, chairman of the Network of Spanish Jewish Sites, and the representative of Productos Campos, Mrs. Rosario Campo

The chairman of the Network of Spanish Jewish Sites, Mr. Ferran Bel, signed the agreement with the representative of the company Productos Campos, Mrs. Rosario Campo.

The agreement will allow the company Productos Campos to produce and distribute theSephardic Sweet, winner of the 1st Sephardic pastrymaking competition organized by the network in 2005.

Agreement with the Chamber of Commerce

The chairman of the Network of Spanish Jewish Sites, Mr. Ferran Bel, together with the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Spain-Israel, Mr. Gil Gidron, and the director of EL AL airlines, Mr. Walter Wasercier.

The chairman of the Network of Spanish Jewish Sites, Mr. Ferran Bel, signed this agreement with the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Spain-Israel, Mr. Gil Gindron, and the director of EL AL airlines. Mr. Walter Wasercier.

This agreement between both institutions and its collaborating companies will allow the organization and creation of all kind of projects by contributing with the information and support they needed to be developed. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Spain-Israel will advise the Network of Spanish Jewish Sites in the promotion and transmission of marketing projects related to the products or the services of the network and in any other similar topics, specially the ones connected to Israel.

Agreement with Meetings in Sefarad

The chairman of the Network of Spanish Jewish Sites, Mr. Ferran Bel, together with the chairman of Toledo Convention Bureau, Mr. Fernando Jerez Alonso, and Mrs. Ana Isabel Fernández Samper, city councilor of Tourism, Craftworks and Economic Promotion of the city council of Toledo.

The chairman of the Network of Spanish Jewish Sites, Mr. Ferran Bel, signed this agreement with the chairman of the Toledo Convention Bureau, Mr. Fernando Jerez Alonso, and Mrs. Ana Isabel Fernández Samper, city councilor of Tourism, Craftworks and Economic Promotion of the city council of Toledo.

With this agreement, Red de Juderías will be part of the Annual Plan of promotion and advertising of this association, and we will be able to participate actively in the events celebrated in the cities which make up the organization.

Last Wednesday, January 18th, was celebrated in Madrid (Real Casa de Correos) the closing ceremony for the commemmorations of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Spain and Israel. This event consisted of the presentation of the Awards “Samuel Hadas” Spain-Israel Friendship, which were given by the Israel Ambassador in Spain, Alon Bar, to the eighteen people and institutions awarded for their work towards the rapprochement between both countries and societies. This awards are meant to be a public acknowledgement to people who contribute to the creation and streghtening of bilateral relationship.

The award is named after Samuel Hadas, first ambassador of Israel in Spain (1986-1987), who died two years ago. He was a distinguished for his work around the improvement of the relations between Israel and Spain, as his professional career proves, therefore he has become a symbol of the relationship between both countries.

Source: Israel Embassy in Spain