Blog de la Red de Juderías de España

Next September 5th, the 21 member cities of the Network, together with 4 collaborating cities, will offer an ample programme of events and activities in order to discover Jewish culture and heritage.

This year’s motto “ART&JUDAISM” will explore the varied connections between both, focusing on either on classical subjects: painting, sculpture, literature, music, cinema or theatre; or on artists, or on other aspects, such as art applied to the religious sphere, patronage and art collections, and many others.

More than 20 European countries, from Norway to Italy, from the United Kingdom to Ukraine, are joining this celebration.

Their programmes can be found on www.jewisheritage.org. More information at http://www.redjuderias.org/.

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The meeting “Jews in Central Asia, India and Philippines”, organized by Casa Sefarad Israel and Casa Asia, dealed on the presence of Jews in Asia -with a remarkable number of Sephardic ones among them-, and how did they arrive through India and the Route of the Silk. The meeting, celebrated from May 30th to June 2nd in Barcelona, Girona and Madrid, counted on the participation of representatives of the communities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, as well as distinguished representatives of the academic and business fields. The program included institutional and cultural activities in order to introduce the influence of the Jewish culture in the Asian continent. In the Jewish Quarter of Girona, specific activities such a round table and a concert were programmed.

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If you like wine and good food, come to Ribadavia on June 11 and discover the flavour of the best kosher wines of Spain.

The Festival of kosher wines and sephardic cuisine is an event organized by the Spanish Jewish Network, Casa Sefarad Israel and the Ribadavia’s Town Council in colaboration with Camara de Comercio España- Israel, Escuela de Hostelería de Ourense, Cooperativa Pazo Ribeiro and other wine and cultural entities. The festival which is designed for wine lovers and wine and gastronomy fans is a perfect chance to get acquainted and savour the excellence of Spanish wine and the culinary Sephardic culture.

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The mayor of the municipality of Lorca, Francisco Jodar, visited on May 8th Israel during four days, where he conducted interviews with major Jewish religious leaders of the country, with the aim of building alliances to enhance sacrum and touristical use of the 15th century synagogue located in the castle of the city.

Source: laverdad.es

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El pasado sábado 15 de mayo, en motivo de la actividad internacional Noche de los Museos, se celebró en Girona una gimcana organizada por los cinco museos de la ciudad. Los participantes, 350 personas organizadas en grupos familiares, juveniles y adultos, pudieron descubrir de forma divertida algunos objetos de estos museos, que permanecieron abiertos hasta medianoche.

On May 15th, during the celebration of the international activity Night of Museums, Girona organized a gymkhana through its five museums. The participants, 350 people attending distributed in familiar, youth or adult groups, were able to discover in a funny way some of the objects of these museums, which were opened until midnight.

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The city of Ribadavia helds, during first semester of 2010, the presidency of Red de Juderías de España. Recently, the city has celebrated a seminar for wine professionals and lovers, in order to show the characteristics and the process for obtaining the kosher seal for wine, as well as its national and international market.

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The City council of Malaga has recently finished the 10 years project on the Jewish quarter, created on February of 2000. This project aimed to rehabilitate the Mudejar tower, situated in Granada street, so it can become the tourist office, which will take the name of the Malaga’s poet and philosopher Ben Gabirol.

More information (in Spanish) at: La Opinión de Málaga.

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The cities of Barcelona, Besalú, Girona and Tortosa recently organized a specialization course on Jewish culture and heritage, addressed to professional tourist guides of the area.

The course encountered some problems caused by the snowfall, the specialist from Griona could not arrive at the first session, so the organization scheduled a new session for them.

The course had the collaboration of specialist from the University of Girona, the Museum of the City of Barcelona, the Patronat Call de Girona, the Historical Archive of Girona, and the Jewish Community of Barcelona.

The main objective is to let people know the local Jewish history in every one of the four cities, to spread the last researches and discoveries, as well as to offer information on the Red de Juderías and its touristic certification RASGO. The spread of this knowledge is also important, so the course included a little lesson on Hebrew language to be used during guided tours through the Jewish quarters.

This course guives to the official guides the G from RASGO, the sign of Red de Juderías de España for the touristical commercialization.

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A lady called Irena Sendler has passed away recently.

During 2nd World War, Irena managed to work at the Ghetto of Varsovia as specialist of the sewer system and pipes. As she knew the nazi plans for Jewish people (because she was Deutch), she took the job to take out children from the Ghetto. She hid the children at the bottom of her toolbox and she carried a sacking bag behind her truck (for bigger children). She also had a dog who was trained to bark the nazi soldiers when she entered and leaved the Ghetto. The soldiers didn’t want to go around the dog and the barking hided the noises made by the children. While she did this, she managed to save 2,500 children.

The nazis took her and broke her legs and arms, gaving her a terrible beating.

Irena kept, buried under a tree in her house, a record of all the names of the children she saved. After the war, she tried to find all parents which had survived and tried to get the families together. Most of them were taken to the gas chambers, so she helped the children finding a foster home or being adopted.

In Memoriam - 63 years later

SOURCE: email.

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