The AEPJ has organized, at its headquarters at Casa Adret, in Barcelona, ​​a meeting between the cultural routes certified by the Council of Europe that have members in the territory of Catalonia. The goal of the meeting was to disseminate the outputs of the Fab Route project, a KA2 project co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme to enhance EU Cultural Routes by designing an innovative educational module to improve their members skills in relation to Cultural Heritage Management and sustainable tourism. In addition, we took the opportunity to find out, due to territorial proximity, which are the common interests, needs and realities shared with AEPJ, as well as Patronat Call de Girona and Diputació de Lleida, as members of the Catalan Route of Jewish Heritage.

The III International Seminar on Intercultural Education and Human Rights was held between 13 and 14 December, where issues and proposals of a reflective and practical nature have been presented on the prevention of racism, antisemitism, anti-Gypsyism, Islamophobia and xenophobia through different round tables and workshops with experts from different fields that will raise issues and proposals of a reflective and practical nature.

The meeting took place at the University of Alicante, organized by the Simone Veil Chair for the prevention of Racism, antisemitism and promotion of interculturalism, the European Institute of Education for Democratic Culture (ECUDEM), the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain and the University of Alicante.

In this framework, the director of AEPJ, Victor Sorenssen, has participated presenting the role of Jewish heritage and culture as a means of preventing antisemitism, through good practices implemented by AEPJ participants and the network itself in the European Routes of Jewish Heritage and in the European Days of Jewish Culture.

Last December 7th, we received at the AEPJ office the visit of the high school students of the Jewish school of Barcelona, Hatikva, with their teachers. Victor Sorenssen, director of the AEPJ, received them at Casa Adret, headquarters of the AEPJ, where the students were able to experience in first person an activity about the work we do with the Jewish heritage.

On the one hand, a guided tour of the old Jewish quarter of Barcelona, and then, a session of interpretation of the heritage, where students shared ideas and reflections on the work around the sites they have just visited, as a vehicle of historical transmission, but also, the opportunities it provides, to work on diversity, cultural dialogue and inclusion.

Last Thursday 24 November, in the context of the course The Jews in Spain: History, Heritage and Memory of the Barcelona Program for Interdisciplinary Studies of the Pompeu Fabra University, Federico Szarfer, project manager at AEPJ, gave a lecture in which he presented the projects of AEPJ, the European Routes of Jewish Heritage and the European Days of Jewish Culture, as well as the approach of the association in the work on Jewish heritage and culture from a holistic, creative and pluralistic point of view.

The course, directed by Dr. Lucía Conte and led by Dr. Clara Jáuregui, is a course of History with a trans-disciplinary approach. The course focuses on the history of the Hispanic Jews approaching it from Jewish identities and culture and an analysis of Jewish sources and sources about the Jews.

If we talk about Jewish heritage in Slovakia, Maroš Borský undoubtedly appears on the scene. For years we have been in contact with him, following the incredible work he has developed in the Slovak territory.

Last Thursday we received him at the AEPJ offices in Barcelona, with Assumpció Hosta, general secretary of the Association, and Victor Sorenssen, AEPJ director. A great opportunity to catch up, and talk about future perspectives. Everything indicates that a new window of collaboration is opening between us, and the forecast is that in the near future the Jewish Heritage Route in Slovakia will join the European Routes of Jewish Heritage, certified by the Council of Europe.

From November 6th to November 11th took place in Faenza the Ideas Market, the second transnational meeting of the Erasmus+ project Youth4Culture, hosted by the European Route of Ceramics, certified by the Council of Europe.

Together with the Cultural Routes of Charles V and the Route of the Olive Tree, AEPJ participated in a week of training, tours and reflection on spreading, promoting and engaging the participation of local communities and youth in cultural heritage promotion. The program included exchanging moments of Best Practices related on youth participation and involvement, different kind of guided visits through the city of Faenza with exploration of the relationship with ceramic, its culture and its connection with the citizens, a social media marathon to deepen the knowledge about communication and the Ideas Market to brainstorm about old needs, current challenges and new strategies.

On the third day in Izmir, the participants of the AEPJ Routes Incubator 2022 took part in a dynamic led by Yoel Mansfeld, member of the scientific committee of the AEPJ, which, following the Nominal Group Technique, made it possible to evaluate and define a roadmap for the further development and growth of the common project of the routes. In the afternoon, the group visited the archaeological site of the Roman Agora in Izmir, where the remains of the house of the Kabbalistic Rabbi Shabtai Tzvi are also located.

The programme of the AEPJ Routes Incubator has offered a multidisciplinary perspective, combining keynote sessions, workshops, study visits, plenary sessions and networking sessions.

The project of the European Routes of Jewish Heritage faces new challenges and needs.

The AEPJ Routes Incubator 2022 started yesterday in the city of Izmir, Turkey, where the route managers of the European Routes of Jewish Culture, together with the scientific committee of the AEPJ, the staff and some invited experts, met to continue developing, improving and making this European heritage and culture project grow.

The second day of the Incubator focused on participatory workshop work: after an exploration session of the routes led by Marc Francesch Camps, project manager of the routes, participants were able to share visions and take advantage of the resources offered by the National Library of Israel, represented by Caron Sethill, and the Jewish Heritage Network and the J-Story project, represented by Pavel Kats.

The AEPJ Routes Incubator 2022 kicked off this morning in Izmir, Turkiye. This programme is not only the annual meeting point for the route managers of the member institutions of the European Routes of Jewish Heritage, but also a unique opportunity to explore, reflect, connect and learn together about the key aspects of developing Jewish heritage projects. The Incubator had not been able to be held in person for three years and was only done online, so this edition has a very special meaning for the participants and for the whole network.

The programme has been designed by the scientific committee and the AEPJ team, together with the Izmir Jewish Heritage Project, which acts as host. During three days, field visits, networking sessions, workshops and plenary meetings will take place, where the different routes that make up the European Routes of Jewish Heritage will seek to take this project to the next level.