European Days of Jewish Culture and Heritage 2020: United Kingdom
2020 has been a year that we never expected, with Covid 19 wreaking havoc across the UK and much of the world for many months. Here at B’nai B’rith UK, like many other organisations and charities, we feared that we would have to completely cancel our heritage activities this year.
However, we are delighted to announce that, as we emerge fromlockdown, we have decided to go ahead with our European Days of Jewish Culture and Heritage (EDJCH) and will be putting together an online booklet only, which will include both real and virtual events, talks, open days and guided walks. With that in mind, we have extended the period within which our heritage activities fall from1st September to 31st December 2020.
Our participant numbers are of course lower than usual this year, as many sites have taken the decision not to open or are not set up to welcome visitors safely or to run online events. But we are thrilled to have nearly 22 organisations, synagogues and walking guides taking part
in our heritage activities this year, with some holding more than one event. Most are virtual events but there are some venues that are now opening up with safety measures and social distancing in place, to welcome back visitors with open arms.
Initiated by the B’nai B’rith Lodge in Strasbourg, the EDJCHrapidly spread across Europe and last year celebrated its 20th anniversary. It is organised by a partnership between B’nai B’rith Europe, the European Council of Jewish Communities and the Spanish Jewry Network and is part of the Council of Europe’s project ‘Europe – ACommon Heritage.’ As a result of the EDJCH, the European Route of Jewish Heritage has evolved and is now one of the major cultural routes of Europe.
Our theme for 2020 is ‘Jewish Journeys, ’which lends itself to a huge range of potential events. For example, participants can focus on journeys made by Jewish people fromwhere they were born to those places they may have had to call home as refugees before, during or after both World Wars. Others have taken a more light hearted look at Jewish journeys across the years in food, music or arts and culture. All of these interpretations offer a wealth of opportunities for open days, talks, guided walks and exhibitions, both real and virtual.