Jewish Buenos Aires

A visit to Latin America’s largest and most vibrant Jewish community. In one of Buenos Aires most popular plazas, a Jewish festival draws thousands of visitors. The Buenos Aires Jewish community was established in 1862 and held its first traditional Jewish wedding in 1868. The first synagogue was inaugurated in 1875. The Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe who settled in Argentina were called rusos (Russians) by the local population.

The Great Synagogue of Vilnius

Before World War II, there were 135 synagogues in Vilnius, but the Great Synagogue was the centre of spiritual and cultural life for Litvaks. Today, the remains of the Great Synagogue of Vilna are an important part of the city’s cultural heritage. The Great Synagogue of Vilna was founded at the end of the 16th century when the Litvak community was granted the right to attend their houses of prayer. The first house of prayer was wooden. In 1633, King Wladyslaw IV Vasa allowed a brick synagogue to be built in the Jewish Quarter. The synagogue couldn’t be taller than the nearby churches, so the building’s architects found a creative solution and built a couple of floors below ground level. Outside, the synagogue looked to be about three stories tall, but inside it was over five stories. The main prayer hall was square and could hold 3000 people, but this synagogue was well ahead of all other similar structures of the time, and could host up to 5,000 worshipers. The architectural monument survived World War II despite being severely damaged, but was later destroyed under Soviet rule. Three original pieces from the Great Synagogue of Vilna survived the destruction and are now on display at the Vilna Gaon Jewish Museum: a door of the Holy Ark, a reader’s desk, and a bas-relief of the Ten Commandments.

Jews of Morocco

Jewish Discoveries visits Morocco, finding a small community sharing 2400 year heritage.
From the arid highlands to the royal cities, Casablanca, Fes, and Marakech, Moroccan Jews cling to their culture and identity in a friendly Arab country.

Discovering Antwerp

A visit to Antwerp, Belgium evokes both the transitions and continuity of Jewish history. A new museum in the port features the mass emigration from Europe, much of it Jewish, that passed through the city en route to the New World. While in the city’s Jewish quarter a different picture emerges: those who remained, linked to Antwerp by a traditional community and industry.

Jewish Sofia

The two-millennia-old Jewish community of Bulgaria has survived Ottoman, Fascist, and Communist rule, and now is emerging as a young, vibrant Jewish community in the Balkans. This video narrates the remarkable rescue of Bulgaria’s Jewish population from the Holocaust, and the rebuilding of the community today, thanks to the JDC and local leaders.

Culinary Experience in Segovia

Segovia, Spain. This Castillean city, where Jews once lived 500 years ago, has joined the network of Spanish cities to highlight their Jewish heritage. Here, in the former Jewish quarter, you will find El Fogon Sefardi (The Sephardic Cookpot), a restaurant that evokes the culinary past of Spanish Jewry. . Delicious preparations of stews, dried fruits and fish. (Not kosher.) During the making of our film, “Rediscovering Sepharad – A Journey Through Spain’s Jewish Past”, we stopped here for lunch and watched the chef work his magic. We also include a segment by Paco Diez , the Spanish musician and catalyst for reviving popularity of Sephardic music and instruments. He regales us about the noble eggplant.

Jewish Trieste

Trieste, the port city on Italy’s Adriatic coast, with a great heritage of Jewish commerce and culture. The oldest official document available mentioning a Jewish settlement in Trieste goes back to the year 1236 and it is composed of a notarial deed that mentions an economic transaction made by a certain Bishop Giovanni: he paid 500 ‘marche’ to the Jew Daniel David, who had spent them to fight thieves on the Carso.

Jewish Spain

A preview of a travel documentary film where we discover the Jewish heritage of Spain.
The history of the Jews in the current-day Spanish territory stretches back to Biblical times according to Jewish tradition, but the settlement of organised Jewish communities in the Iberian Peninsula possibly traces back to the times after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The earliest archaeological evidence of Hebrew presence in Iberia consists of a 2nd-century gravestone found in Mérida. From the late 6th century onward, following the Visigothic monarchs’ conversion from Arianism to the Nicene Creed, conditions for Jews in Iberia considerably worsened

Jewish Heritage Europe

A project by Louis A. Davidson and now hosted by the Bet Hatfutsot web site, Synagogues360 allows you to visit individual synagogues located all over the world, by means of interactive 360 degree panoramic photos. You can look around, zoom in, explore details.
The web site also has put together a number of thematic “Synagogue Tours” that you can follow — linking synagogues by architectural or artistic style.
Třebíč is a small town in the Czech Republic not far from Brno that has one of the largest and most intact old Jewish quarters in central Europe. The Quarter includes two synagogues, the Jewish town hall, and many other buildings amid the streets and squares of the original layout of the district. The old Jewish cemetery spreads out on a hill above.
The ensemble of the Jewish Quarter, the old Jewish cemetery and the nearby Basilica of St. Procopius are included on the UNESCO roster of world cultural heritage sites; among the few specifically Jewish heritage sites on the list.

🌍 Celebrating One Year of the Jewish Silk Road Portal

World Jewish Travel was thrilled at #IMTM 2024 to present a copy of the WJT Jewish Silk Road Pressbook to the CEO of the Azerbaijan National Tourism Board Florian Sengstschmid and Jamilya Talibzade its Israeli representative Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB).

The Pressbook celebrates the one year anniversary of the Jewish Silk Road Portal launch, an amazing example of using Jewish travel as a means of cultural diplomacy, whilst highlighting the significant Jewish contribution to the ancient trade route. Kudos to our participating partners from the Kiriaty Foundation (Turkey), National Board of Tourism of #Georgia, National Board of Tourism of #Uzbekistan, and Israeli Embassy of #India. 

See the overwhelming reaction from the press, by downloading our free pressbook. Special thanks to Moshe Gilad of the @haaretzcom for highlighting this forgotten but important story in the Galeria section of the newspaper and available to download on WJT.

👉Link to WJT Jewsih Silk Rad Pressbook and more is in our bio

...

39 2
Step into the soul-stirring Pesach traditions of Jerusalem virtually. Experience the resonating echoes of Birkat Kohanim🌿

 Link is in our bio

#VirtualTravel #JerusalemVibes #SpiritualJourney #JewishTravel #Isarel  #BirkatKohanim #JewishJerusalem

...

18 0
Discover the enigmatic “Donkey Stable” in Jerusalem's underground. Unveil the city's secrets from home. 🌌

Find link in our bio

#JerusalemUnderground #CitySecrets #ExploreHistory #JewishTravel #Israel #Travel #WesternWall

...

19 2