The present-day population of Sevilla is about 700,000 with a minimal Jewish presence. Sevilla, which had the second-largest Jewish population in all of the Kingdom of Castile during the Middle Ages, is also where the destruction of Spanish Jewry began in June of 1391. Sevilla also was the first city in Spain where the Jews returned after 1860 and settled down again, creating the first Jewish community of Spain after the expulsion in 1492. Our guide, Moisés Hassán-Amsélem, runs his own travel agency, specializing in Jewish heritage trips to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. He will take us on a virtual journey through the Jewish history of Sevilla, visiting places of Jewish heritage that still exist in the city. In order to understand current Jewish life in Sevilla (and in all of Spain) we will put into context the past with the present. See you in Sevilla!

Explore the Suriname Jewish Community, the oldest existing Jewish community in the Americas, with our guide, Jacob Steinberg. After graduating from university, Jacob traveled around the world for five years. Later on, he spent three decades as a project finance executive, financing infrastructure projects in Africa, South America, South East Asia and Eastern Europe, where he met small and isolated Jewish communities. He got involved with Kulanu Canada, a non-profit organization that supports such communities. In 2016, he raised the funds to build a Memorial Monument for the 104 Surinamese Jews who died in the Holocaust. Jacob is excited to share his learnings with all of us.

Learn about Jewish life on the vast, bitterly cold and dangerous territory of Siberia, where, as popular stereotypes say, polar bears walk the streets. We will briefly cover the history of the communities and will concentrate on the Jewish renaissance in the past 30 years. Our guide, Gregory Touretsky, was born in Novisibirsk, Russia. He remembers secret Passover celebrations in his grandfather’s house in the early ’80s. Gregory was an activist in the Jewish community during the ’90s while studying Computer Sciences at university. He organized public Jewish holiday celebrations, taught Hebrew and traditions in a Jewish Sunday school, helped to publish local Jewish newspapers and eventually moved to Israel, where he lived for almost 20 years. A few years ago, Gregory relocated with his family to the U.S., where he works as a Product Manager and Architect. In his rare spare time, he continues to explore his family history and the overall Jewish history of Siberia.

Although a relatively small community today — about 6,000-7,000 Jews, the majority of whom live in the capital city of Sofia — Bulgaria’s Jewish history is quite old. In the country’s second-largest city of Plovdiv, you can find the remains of a 2nd Century synagogue. One of the most well-known moments in Bulgaria’s history was the Salvation of the Jews from the so-called “proper Bulgarian lands” during the Holocaust. It is a story with national importance, but also personal importance for our guide, Maxim. Director of Jewish education for the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria “Shalom,” Maxim also serves as Chairman of the Jewish Religious Council, the official representative body of Jewish religion in the country. Join him to learn more about the small but well-organized Jewish community of Bulgaria that, 30 years after reestablishment from the Communism, is thriving with an active Jewish school, kindergarten and different opportunities for expressing Jewishness.

The Jewish community in Sarajevo has a rich history of more than 500 years and is home to one of the oldest Haggadahs. The community now has merely a couple of hundred members, who have very good relations with their predominantly Muslim neighbors. However, the community is facing challenges, some related to the complicated economic, constitutional and political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our guide, Ana, was born in Sarajevo and spent five years in Spain as a refugee during the 1992-1995 war, fleeing the besieged Sarajevo with the help of Jewish organizations. She now lives in her hometown and works as a political advisor to an Embassy.

The city of Subotica in Serbia boasts having one of the most beautiful synagogues, and perhaps one of the smallest Jewish communities in Europe. Our guide, Sonja, was born in Subotica and learned that she is Jewish at the age of 9. She gained her Jewish identity and knowledge in the International Jewish Summer Camp Szarvas, where she spent every summer for 20 years. After high school, Sonja dedicated her professional and personal life to the development of Jewish communities around Europe by working for JDC, Rothschild (Hanadiv) Foundation Europe, MASA Leadership Centre, and as a volunteer on Limmud International. Some 10 years ago, Sonja settled in Belgrade, Serbia, where she founded Haver Srbija, an educational NGO that educates people about Jewish history, culture and tradition, the Holocaust, and other minorities. Sonja is also a Jewish educator of the European Union of Jewish Students based in Brussels.

One of the charming and smallest capitals in Europe, Ljubljana in Slovenia also has one of the smallest Jewish communities. The area’s Jewish heritage can be traced back to the Ancient Roman Empire, and Jewish life thrived until the expulsion in the medieval period, especially in Maribor, where the famous Rabbi Isserline worked. Our guide, Maja, was born and raised in Ljubljana, which was proclaimed Europe’s Best Destination to visit in 2022. Maja studied in Israel and, after returning to Slovenia, has been involved in connecting the two countries in the cultural and tourism sectors, where she is occasionally also a tour guide. Join Maja in discovering the Jewish history of Slovenia, which includes two former synagogues in Maribor and Lendava, as well as an active one in Ljubljana; stolperstones telling the story of Jewish families that survived WWII; and the establishment of the Slovenian Jewish community that received a Sefer Torah and a rabbi after the war.

Many Sephardic families from Jamaica, Curação, and other Caribbean Islands migrated to the Dominican Republic throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The majority of them were merchants in search of a prosperous future. Initially, they gathered in houses for prayers and other social gatherings. Fortunately, they were equipped with a mohel and a ḥazzan. However, they did not establish any educational institutions for the ensuing generations. As a result, some of their descendants assimilated to the host population, though a number of families maintained their identity through endogamous marriages, albeit without a solid sense of Jewish culture. Today, these Sepharadim speak Spanish and bear the prestigious surnames of their ancestors, some of whom became writers, historians, diplomats, and statesmen. Dr. Hakham Yehonatan Elazar-DeMota, was born to Dominican Jewish parents who migrated to the United States in the 1970s. He was trained as a rabbi, mohel, and shohet in Israel and America. He moved to the Dominican Republic in 2009 to gather the remnant families of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews and to organize them into a community. This presentation entails an ethnographic work of the Dominican Sephardim and how they have managed to preserve their identity through the creolization of rituals, superstition, and endogamous marriages.

The history of the Jews in Curaçao can be traced back to 1651, when 12 Jewish families from the Amsterdam Portuguese community made the six-month journey from Holland to Curaçao, establishing the agricultural community of Mikvé Israel on land granted to them by the Dutch. The Synagogue they founded, Congregation Mikvé Israel, still holds services today and is the oldest Synagogue in continuous use in the Americas. Today there are a few hundred Jews living on the Island of 150,000. But in the 18th century, 2,000 — more than half of the Island’s European population — were Jewish. In September of 2017 Rabbi Refoel, Chani and (then) baby Chaya moved to Curaçao to establish Chabad of Curaçao and serve as Rabbi & Rebbitzen of Shaarei Tsedek – Curacao’s Ashkenazi Synagogue.  Rabbi Refoel and Chani are looking forward to spending an engaging evening together discussing Curacao’s fascinating Jewish history, the unlikely role the island played in saving thousands of European Jews during the Holocaust, and the recent resurgence of Jewish life on the Island.

Once numbering over 15,000, the Jewish community of Havana is now around 1,500, consisting mostly of converts, although some of the older generation remains. The community continues to operate three functioning synagogues as well as a cemetery and community center that houses a Holocaust exhibit that chronicles the history of Cuban Jews from World War II. Jews came to Cuba in two distinct migratory waves in the 20th century, beginning with the Turcos (Turks) around the turn of the century, and then followed by the Polacos (Polish), who fled war-torn Europe.  For most, Cuba was intended as a stopover before emigrating to the United States, but many families remained and created a new life on the island. During the Castro era, organized religion was effectively barred, but Fidel Castro himself had an affinity for the community and preserved the only kosher butcher in the country, ensuring that the community had kosher meat. Our guide Saul Berenthal is a Cuban-American entrepreneur born and raised in Cuba who returned to his homeland to reacquaint himself and his family with their history. As part of his efforts to bring attention to the Jewish community, he established Cuba’s first and only kosher hotel with the idea of attracting Jews from around the world to experience their shared heritage.