LOVE: Announcing the Theme of the European Days of Jewish Culture 2026

For the European Days of Jewish Culture 2026 we invite you to celebrate Jewish LOVE in its manifold expressions. After collecting your suggestions, and following thoughtful deliberation, the EDJC committee decided that, in these trying times, the best way to celebrate Jewish heritage in Europe is to put the spotlight on that spark of care and passion that fuels Jewish life and keeps it going through joy and sorrow.

Jewish LOVE (אהבה, ahavah) is romantic and familial, communal and divine, joyful and fierce. It courses through Jewish life in countless guises: from mystical poetry to Yiddish lullabies and from the Song of Songs to the words of Leonard Cohen. LOVE binds the fateful commandment given at Sinai to love God with the vows spoken beneath next week’s wedding canopy.

The European Days of Jewish Culture have always been about opening doors both physical and metaphorical: to synagogues and museums, but also to memory, conversation and discovery. In 2026, let us open our doors with LOVE and invite everyone to explore how Judaism addresses the deepest questions of the human heart.

Join us in celebrating (Jewish) LOVE in all its power and hope.