The annual training meeting of the European Routes of Jewish Heritage (ERJH), explicitly designed and aimed at the network of Route managers, reached its sixth edition (the fifth face-to-face) this September, from Monday 23rd to Wednesday 25^th, hosted by the University of Oxford and Waddesdon Manor, the developers of the Palaces, Villas and Country Houses Route, based on a long term research project, Jewish Country Houses – Objects, Networks, People (JCH). On this occasion, the programme aimed to delve into the specificities of the members of the ERJH, providing more specific training in the different approaches the Incubator deals with.

Participants explored the process of creation and development of the JCH from its conceptualization, continuous research, the construction of a network of heritage sites and regular dissemination activities.

The third and final training of trainers of the MiDorLeDor Europe (MDLDE) project, developed with the support of the CERV (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values) programme of the European Union, has taken place in the city of Berlin between Sunday 8^th September and Thursday 12^th, consisting of an intense work program designed to consolidate the learnings and the planning of the actions that will follow.  These will consist of the deployment of the process of training for Jewish heritage educators, guides and mediators in the Upper Rhine area, between France and Germany, in southern Italy, connecting multiple localities with relevant Jewish heritage, many of which currently lack active communities; in Spain, interconnecting the Centro Sefarad Israel with the network of cities that work on the promotion of Jewish heritage under the umbrella of Caminos de Sefarad; in Greece, where the Jewish Community of Athens is in the process of creating the cultural route that will have its epicentre in the Greek capital; and in Poland, from Lublin, where Brama Grodzka TNN is developing the Shtetl Routes, which interconnects a vast area where shtetls were placed formerly and represents a great opportunity to involve Ukrainian professionals despite the current difficulties; and from Warsaw, where the Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning has been rolling out the project since 2012 and intends to give it continuity by developing a full review on their previous programmes thanks to this co-learning process.

The third phase of the  MiDorLeDor-Europe cooperative project meeting, organized by the AEPJ in partnership with the Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning, Centropa, and the Jewish Heritage Network, was held in Warsaw from Monday, July 7^th to Friday, July 12^th. Over the course of 5 days, the project’s team of trainers engaged in intensive training sessions in preparation for an upcoming educator training program on Jewish heritage in several European countries. The main goal is to enhance the network of education professionals in Jewish heritage as part of the European Routes of Jewish Heritage initiative, focusing on the accuracy, quality of the experiences, awareness rising capacity.

The working blocks of the training have mainly dealt with strategies to:

• convey knowledge about Jewish culture & heritage in its diversity through personal stories, using testimonies, photographs, films, exhibitions, and various audio-visual materials;
• point out Jewish contribution to the target countries’ societies, making Jewish life visible, audible, and tangible;
• promote a balanced culture of remembrance, present means to combat antisemitism and promote tolerance, dismantle (cultural) barriers and fearful, biased contact, and to build bridges from the past to the present.