The European Days of Jewish Culture, coordinated by the European Association for the Protection and Promotion of Jewish Heritage (AEPJ) have been celebrated every autumn since 1999. B’nai B’rith Europe and its lodges have been founders and active participants since its inception.
The fundamental objective of this European collaboration is to highlight the diversity and richness of Judaism, with the intention of promoting dialogue, mutual recognition and exchange through conferences, concerts, performances, guided tours and other activities.
Through the European Days of Jewish culture, Jewish life, religion and culture are presented to the wider public in an accessible manner, highlighting its integral role in European culture and society.
In 2023, the European Days of Jewish Culture took place under the umbrella of the Citizenship Equality, Rights and Values Programme of the European Commission.
B’nai B’rith Europe will be part of the project, in partnership with the AEPJ, the Patronat Call de Girona, JECPJ-France, Taube Center, Tarbut Sighet, Burgenland Research Society, and Jewish Community of Lithuania. In addition, key actors in the dissemination of European Jewish memory through culture are also part of the consortium: Memorial de la Shoah, Liberation Route Europe, and MahJ.
With the theme “Memory” for the 2023 edition, many people will have the opportunity to reflect about the historical memory of Europe, including the most difficult pages of its history. But, with a constructive outlook, through historical transmission, education, art and culture, which will seek to be a call for the joint construction of a Europe, with the highest humanist values, which celebrates its diversity, looking at the past and reflecting on the future.
In 2023, B’nai B’rith Europe and its lodges hosted events in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Slovakia, and Portugal, in cooperation with partner organisations and local volunteers.