By Claudia de Benedetti, first published in Italian at Shalom.it 

As part of the European Days of Jewish Culture 2022 programme, two of the Council of Europe’s Cultural Routes, the European Routes of Jewish Heritage (and AEPJ as its network carrier) and ITER VITIS, are organising a joint event in Tel Aviv for the first time. The event, hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute directed by Dr. Maria Sica, who has agreed to host the Cultural Routes, will be held on 12 September and in keeping with this year’s theme will deal with innovation, in this case innovation in kosher viticulture in Italy.

Speakers for AEPJ will be Judith Kiriaty and Uri Bar Ner of the Kiriaty Foundation, for ITER VITIS President Emanuela Panke, Rabbi Umberto Piperno will give a lecture on viticulture in the Jewish tradition.

Full house at the opening of our exhibition “Kiechlinsbergen. Erinnerungen an Karl Wolfskehl” which is dedicated to the jewish poet, translater and presents a selection of his poems and woodcuts by Brigitte v. Savigny.

Karl Wolfskehl (1869 Darmstadt – 1948 New Zealand) was a German Jewish author and translator. He wrote poetry, prose and drama in German, and translated from French, English, Italian, Hebrew, Latin and Old/Middle High German into German.

A lecture of his poems, read by Reinhold Voss, found a great audience. His grandson Joseph Köllhofer was present.

The European Day of Jewish Culture 2022 has been very successful in Switzerland. There were over 30 events. Most of the local organizers were very satisfied with the participation and the involvement of the participants. Many questions were raised by the public who seems to have been very active this year. The guided tours of the synagogues in Basel, Delémont, Lengnau and Lausanne, the guided tours to the synagogue of Hegenheim as well as the tour about the first zionist congress in Basel, the movies and conferences have been very well received.

The European Days of Jewish Culture 2022, under the theme “Renewal”, kicked off on Sunday 4 September across Europe. More than 400 institutions in 30 countries are organising activities in their cities to celebrate Jewish culture from an open, diverse and pluralistic point of view.

This year, the town chosen to host the kick-off of the festival was Schirmeck in the French region of Alsace. But this election was not fortuitous, the reason behind the choice of this location is highly symbolic. In a historical act, the Sefer Torah of this small town has returned to the synagogue after an extraordinary epic journey, which began with a story of friendship between two young neighbours in Schirmeck, one Jewish and one Christian.

As has been customary for more than 20 years, the European Days of Jewish Culture 2022 will take place in early September. A pan-european Festival where the Jewish heritage is opened to the general public, with the aim of promoting dialogue, recognition and exchange. 

The European Days of Jewish Culture takes place each year in more than two dozen countries across the continent, and has become Europe’s most successful cross-border Jewish cultural initiative. The Festival is coordinated by the AEPJ, through a large network of institutions dedicated to Jewish heritage and culture. It also has a partnership with the National Library of Israel, which plays an active role in making available to the coordinators a wide range of archival materials and educational resources.