Jewish Bucharest Tour
A quick introductory video tour into the Jewish Bucharest.
Use your visit to Romania to explore the Jewish history of the country. Although, much of Bucharest's Jewish quarter was knocked down during the Communist times, many unique artifacts have been preserved and are now exhibited in the Jewish History Museum housed in the former Synagogue of Tailors. The Great Synagogue of Bucharest, hidden behind the Communist-era apartment buildings, is a beautiful and well preserved Temple. The Holocaust museum, located in the Temple, features photographs, people's testaments, facts and figures related to this tragic time. Coral Temple, which is undergoing interior works and is closed for visits now, is the 3d temple in Bucharest. The Holocaust memorial is a must.
Jewish Bucharest tour is a must for those interested in learning about the past and present of Romania's and Bucharest's Jewry.
Jewish Bucharest tour can be arranged as a shore excursion for those coming to Constanta with a cruise. More about our Constanta and Bucharest tours and shore excursions at odessawalks.com
Jewish Romania: Holy Union Synagogue of Tailors Museum, Bucharest
Steve and I kept on going with guide Eduard (romaniajewishtours.com and medievaltours.com) to the Holy Union Synagogue of Tailors, now a Jewish History Museum. This temple managed to survive in its entirety through both World War II and Ceausescu (Romania's last Communist leader) who was intent on destroying anything having to do with religion. Built in 1850 by the Jewish Tailors' Guild of Bucharest, this stunning temple had Moorish, Romanesque and Byzantine elements.
Displays inside included a collection of books, paintings of and by Romanian Jews, and archives of Romanian History.
Bucharest Jewish Museum
Bucharest's Templul Unirea Sfântă (United Holy Temple) synagogue houses the Jewish Museum.
The museum include books ,paintings and fascinating memorabilia gathered from the city's Jewish theaters .The museum focuses on the jews and theur continuing contribution to jromanian society
Jewish Romania: The Great Synagogue of Bucharest
Wonderful Guide Eduard (romaniajewishtours.com and medievaltours.com) escorted us through the remnants of Jewish Bucharest and filled heads to bursting. The first stop was to the Great Synagogue of Bucharest which is also a Holocaust Museum, built in 1845-1846.
A Jewish presence in Bucharest was first documented in 1550 and the Jewish community was once the largest minority community in Bucharest.
I'll let Eduard dispense information in this and subsequent videos since he communicated the facts so well. Eduard, who is NOT Jewish, is a perfect example of how important it is for all peoples to visit important religious sites throughout the world. The ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I are forever lighting candles in Churches, making kora (circumambulating around a Buddhist sacred site), and even a Jain pilgrimage. Have got to cover all eventualities, right?
Bucuresti - Piata Universitatii
Jewish Romania: The JCC, Bucharest
Still on the move with guide Eduard (romaniajewishtours.com and medievaltours.com), the next stop was at the very active Bucharest JCC, Jewish Community Center to meet with enthusiastic Shai, Deputy Director of Development Programs here.
Volunteers work their buns off providing support to Romanian Holocaust survivors and other remaining members of the Jewish community. They furnish meals to the indigent, a gathering place for adults and children in a warm environment, and even have a radio station open to anyone with something to say! A wonderful place that does so much good...
Purim play - Jewish Community Bucharest Romania
Purim play - Jewish Community Bucharest Romania
Jewish Romania: The Holocaust Memorial, Bucharest
Another stop with guide Eduard (romaniajewishtours.com and medievaltours.com) at the Holocaust Memorial which was dedicated in 2009 and designed by Romanian sculptor Peter Jacobi.
The Romanian Government has only recently owned up to its part during the holocaust. Between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews, and 25,000 gypsies (Roma) were killed by Romanian civilian and military authorities in Romania and areas it controlled during World War II.
Many were slaughtered in pogroms (already talked about in the video taken inside the Great Synagogue) while others were transported to labor camps, primarily Auschwitz.
What can I say...
Vijita de Alhad - Thessalonika (Salonika) Then and Now
Sunday visit with Yossi and Judy Kaplan of Balkan Jewish Communities;
Sharing personal experiences and stories from our work in Thessalonika and the Balkans since 2009.
Presented at the Sephardi Federation of Palm Beach County
On Sunday November 1, 2015
More information at balkanjewish.com
To book a Vijita De Alhad presentation for your group: contact Judy
History of the Jews in Romania | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
History of the Jews in Romania
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written
language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through
audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio
while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using
a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
In case you don't find one that you were looking for, put a comment.
This video uses Google TTS en-US-Standard-D voice.
SUMMARY
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The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after around 1850, and more especially after the establishment of Greater Romania in the aftermath of World War I. A diverse community, albeit an overwhelmingly urban one, Jews were a target of religious persecution and racism in Romanian society – from the late-19th century debate over the Jewish Question and the Jewish residents' right to citizenship, to the genocide carried out in the lands of Romania as part of the Holocaust. The latter, coupled with successive waves of aliyah, has accounted for a dramatic decrease in the overall size of Romania's present-day Jewish community.
Today, the majority of Romanian Jews live in Israel, while modern-day Romania continues to host a modest Jewish population. In the 2011 census, 3,271 declared to be Jewish.
Jewish communities existed in Romanian territory in the 2nd century AD. During the reign of Peter the Lame (1574–1579) the Jews of Moldavia, mainly traders from Poland who were competing with locals, were taxed and ultimately expelled. The authorities decided in 1650 and 1741 required Jews to wear clothing evidencing their status and ethnicity. The first blood accusation in Moldavia (and, as such, in Romania) was made in 1710, when the Jews of Târgu Neamț were charged with having killed a Christian child for ritual purposes. An anti-Jewish riot occurred in Bucharest in the 1760s.
During the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774 the Jews in the Danubian Principalities had to endure great hardships. Massacres and pillages were perpetrated in almost every town and village in the country. During the Greek War of Independence, which signalled the Wallachian uprising of 1821, Jews were victims of pogroms and persecutions. In the 1860s, there was another riot motivated by blood libel accusations.Antisemitism was officially enforced under the premierships of Ion Brătianu. During his first years in office (1875) Brătianu reinforced and applied old discrimination laws, insisting that Jews were not allowed to settle in the countryside (and relocating those that had done so), while declaring many Jewish urban inhabitants to be vagrants and expelling them from the country. The emigration of Romanian Jews on a larger scale commenced soon after 1878. By 1900 there were 250,000 Romanian Jews: 3.3% of the population, 14.6% of the city dwellers, 32% of the Moldavian urban population and 42% of Iași.Between the establishment of the National Legionary State and 1942, 80 anti-Jewish regulations were passed. Starting at the end of October, 1940, the Iron Guard began a massive antisemitic campaign, torturing and beating Jews and looting their shops (see Dorohoi Pogrom), culminating in the failed coup and a pogrom in Bucharest, in which 125 Jews were killed. Antonescu eventually stopped the violence and chaos created by the Iron Guard by brutally suppressing the rebellion, but continued the policy of oppression and massacre of Jews, and, to a lesser extent, of Roma. After Romania entered the war at the start of Operation Barbarossa atrocities against the Jews became common, starting with the Iași pogrom. According to the Wiesel Commission report released by the Romanian government in 2004, Romania murdered, in various forms, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews in Romania and in the war zone of Bessarabia, Bukovina and in the Transnistria Governorate.
Jews in a Changing World, Svetlana Amosova, Jews and their ethnic neighbors in Latgale [RUS]
Svetlana Amosova (Russia/Estonia, anthropologist, expert on Jewish ethnography) “Specificity of memories of the Jews and their ethnic neighbors of Jewish life in Latgale in the 1920-1930s” [in Russian]
9th International Conference “Jews in a Changing World” devoted to the 25th anniversary of the restoration of the Jewish community in Latvia, November 24-25, 2014, Riga Jewish Community Center, Skolas 6.
Organizers: Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia, Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Latvia, Museum “Jews in Latvia”.
Conference program:
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Svetlana Amosova (Krievija/Igaunija, antropoloģe, speciāliste ebreju etnogrāfijā) “Ebreju un viņu etnisko kaimiņu atmiņu specifika par ebreju dzīvi Latgalē 1920.-1930. gados” [krievu val.]
9. Starptautiskā konference «Ebreji mainīgajā pasaulē», veltīta Latvijas ebreju kopienas atjaunošanas 25. gadadienai, 2014. gada 24. - 25. novembris, Rīgas Ebreju kopienas nams, Skolas 6.
Organizatori: Latvijas Ebreju draudžu un kopienu padome, Latvijas Universitātes Jūdaikas studiju centrs, muzejs “Ebreji Latvijā”.
Konferences programma:
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Светлана Амосова (Россия/Эстония, антрополог, специалист по еврейской этнографии) “Cпецифика воспоминаний евреев и их этнических соседей о еврейской жизни в Латгалии в 1920-1930-х гг.” [на русском языке]
9-я Международная конференция «Евреи в меняющемся мире», посвященная 25-летию восстановления еврейской общины Латвии, 24 – 25 ноября 2014, дом Рижской еврейской общины, Сколас, 6.
Организаторы: Совет еврейских общин Латвии, Центр изучения иудаики Латвийского университета, музей “Евреи в Латвии”.
Программа конференции:
The Jewish Community in the City of Cluj part one
A film by: Ioana Cosman
© 2004 Cluj-Napoca
Romania marks seventy years since Jewish pogrom
Romania this week marked the seventieth anniversary of the Iasi pogrom of June 1941, in which thousands of Jews were rounded up and shot. Leizer Finchelstein is one of the few who survived. Now 88 years old, he still struggles with the memories of what happened.Duration: 02:35
Museum Of The History Of Polish Jews - Core Exhibition
The Core Exhibition is a journey through 1000 years of the history of Polish Jews – from the Middle Ages until today. Visitors will find answers to questions such as: how did Jews come to Poland? How did Poland become the center of the Jewish Diaspora and the home of the largest Jewish community in the world? How did it cease to be one, and how is Jewish life being revived?
more here:
ISTANBUL JEWISH HERITAGE TOUR
We begin Istanbul Jewish Heritage Tour with a visit to the Ashkenazi Synagogue. Built in 1900 by Austrian Jews, it is the only active Ashkenazi Synagogue in the city. From there we will take a short walk to the Neve Shalom Synagogue*, built by two young Turkish-Jewish architects to meet the demands of the growing Jewish population in the neighborhood in 1930. Afterward, we will visit the Istanbul Jewish Museum of Turkey, located in the former Zulfaris Synagogue.
Jewish Romania: The Yeshua Tova Synagogue, Bucharest
One last Bucharest temple with guide Eduard (romaniajewishtours.com and medievaltours.com) at the Yeshua Tova Synagogue. Yeshua Tova is an ultra-Orthodox Synagogue run by the Chabad Lubavitch, a Hasidic sect who incorporates the teachings of Kabala/Kabbalah. Hmm, I wonder if Madonna or Demi have ever visited this Synagogue...
Yeshua Tova Synagogue was built in 1827, renovated in 2007 and very easy to find, located only a few blocks from University Square. It is Bucharest's oldest synagogue.
On a side note that has nothing to do with Judaism, there was a wonderful bakery across the street - great cheese rolls!
Time Off: Jews of Romania
Before WWII, Romania was home to one of the biggest Jewish communities in Europe. On the European Day of Jewish Culture, we are looking at the country's Jewish present. And future. Join us!
4 24 Aug 2013 Romania Remnants of a Rich Jewish Life
Bratislava Synagogue - Jewish Community Museum
The Heydukova Street Synagogue is the only synagogue in Bratislava. Constructed in 1923-1926, it is a Cubist building designed by the Bratislava-based Jewish architect Artur Szalatnai-Slatinsky and is listed as a national cultural monument. Orthodox in orientation, the synagogue still serves as an active Jewish house of worship. A Bratislava Jewish community museum with a permanent exhibition The Jews of Bratislava and Their Heritage is installed upstairs and during the summer season is open to the public.
Piata Universitatii, Bucharest, Romania
University Square (Romanian: Piata Universitatii) is located in downtown Bucharest, near the University of Bucharest.