If you are in Europe — in virtually any country in Europe — next weekend, you will be able to experience the European Day of Jewish Culture, an annual continent-wide festival of Jewish heritage and history that is celebrating its 16th edition this year.
Each year events revolve around a common theme — this year it is “Bridges” — and many events stress aspects of dialogue and inter-religious and other cooperation, while others highlight “spiritual” bridges and other meanings of the concept: anything that “joins or connects.”
Events are scheduled in more than 30 countries, and while there are only a couple of events in some countries, in other countries the “day” has become “days” or even a full week of events.
“>See full Italian program here (in Italian)
Spain also has a very rich program, coordinated by the 24-member Network of Jewish Quarters.
“>see the full UK program here.
All told, all over Europe there are hundreds of individual events to choose from – lectures, concerts, food-tastings, book fairs, and more — plus many guided tours and informal visits to Jewish heritage sites that are generally closed to the public or limited in access.
Events are geared primarily for local people — Jews, but also, in some cases overwhelmingly, non-Jews: the Day is aimed at education as well as tourism.
You can access some programs in participating countries at the website of the