Jewish Heritage - European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage (AEPJ)

Member Organizations

Closing dinner of the General Assembly, January 2012, Luxembourg. From left: Mr. Ralph Hofmann (President of B'nai B'rith Europe), Mr. Claude Marx (Luxembourg route's responsible), Ms. Penolope Denu (Director of the European Institute of Cultural Routes), Mr. François Moyse (AEPJ President), Mrs. Laure Amoyel (AEPJ board member), Mr. Raffaele de Lutio (Italian Ambassador in Luxembourg), Assumpció Hosta (General Secretary of AEPJ), Ms. Annie Sacerdoti (AEPJ board member), Mr. Luis Casado (Vice-President of Red de Juderías and Mayor of Tudela), Ms. Claude Bloch (Honorary President of AEPJ), Mr. Ferran Bel (President of Red de Juderías and Mayor of Tortosa) and Mr. Nuno Wahnon Martins (B'nai B'rith Europe).

The European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage is formed by 2 organisations: B'nai B'rith Europe, the Red de Juderias de España - Caminos de Sefarad and, since June 2012, the European Council of Jewish Communities.

B'nai B'rith Europe
B'nai B'rith Europe is a Jewish association that intends to humanitarian and social aid and is present in 28 countries. It has the non governmental organisation status. B'nai B'rith means "Son of the Alliance", the concept of alliance is a key concept in the Bible and in Judaism. B'nai B'rith Europe pursues the action initiated by the Strasbourg branch and intends to spread it to its entire network. It mobilises many volunteers.
European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC)
The European Council of Jewish Communities is a voluntary non-profit, non-political association of centralized European Jewish community service associations and communities involved in identity, culture, education, heritage, health and welfare.
Our Mission is:
1. To strengthen Jewish life in Europe.
2. To assist its members in promoting and developing inter-European networking, planning and co-operation mainly in the areas of education, heritage, culture and social welfare.
3. To co-ordinate activities, programs and events, exchange information, and share expertise, ideas and co-operation between various Jewish community organizations across Europe and among ECJC’s members, while respecting Jewish pluralism and the diversity of Jewish expression that exists worldwide.
4. To identify and share best practices as between European Jewish community organizations.
5. To represent the interests of European Jews with respect to certain apolitical European issues.
6. To assist in co-ordinating the activities of all member organizations and European Jewish organizations in the fields of identity, education, welfare, heritage and culture, but not on political issues.
7. To help promote through trainings the skills necessary for the implementation of programming, budgeting, staff development and other communal management issues for Jewish communities across Europe.
8. To initiate joint studies of common problems and to develop solutions jointly and plan their implementation.
9. To cooperate with any other persons, organizations and/or governments, in order to carry out the purposes enumerated above.
Red de Juderias de España - Caminos de Sefarad
Red de Juderías de España (Network of Spanish Jewish Cities) is a non profit public association with the goal of protect urbanistic, architectural, historical, artistic and cultural Sephardic Heritage in Spain. It is a cultural and touristy network that brings together 24 members (Ávila, Barcelona, Besalú, Cáceres, Calahorra, Castelló d'Empúries, Córdoba, Estella-Lizarra, Girona, Hervás, Jaén, León, Lucena, Monforte de Lemos, Oviedo, Palma, Plasencia, Ribadavia, Segovia, Sevilla, Tarazona, Toledo, Tortosa and Tudela). Each of these towns has highlighted its ancient Jewish heritage and manages a programme of animations, tours, and training. This network has actively participated in the organization of various events since 1999.

The Steering Commitee

François Moyse, Claude Bloch, Miguel Ángel García Nieto and Assumpció Hosta.

François Moyse. President.
Claude Bloch. Honorary President.
Miguel Ángel Garcia Nieto. Vice-President.
Assumpció Hosta. General Secretary.
Caroline D. Lambert. Treasurer.
Annie Sacerdoti. Board Member.
Mario Izcovich. Board Member.
Laure Amoyel. Board Member.

Goals

The AEPJ is working towards the preservation, appreciation and promotion of Jewish culture and Jewish Heritage in Europe. The association also strives to encourage Jewish sites, including synagogues, cemeteries, ritual baths, museums, Jewish quarters, etc., to be opened to the general public. These goals are notably achieved through the annual organization of the EUROPEAN DAY OF JEWISH CULTURE.

Furthermore, the AEPJ also develops and promotes the EUROPEAN ROUTE OF JEWISH HERITAGE.

Survey about the European Jewish Culture and Heritage

The European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage (AEPJ) launches a survey in order to improve the Jewish culture and heritage discovery conditions in Europe.

Created in 2005 at the request of the Council of Europe, the APEJ coordinates the European Day of the Jewish Culture for 13 years in the framework of a transnational partnership.

With the purpose of preserving and enhancing historical and cultural Jewish sites while consolidating the networking of lead actors in the Member States, the APEJ embarks on a sustainable partnership with the Council of Europe in order to work towards the structuring and development of the discovery of European Jewish heritage itineraries.

This wide-ranging investigation, disseminated to the 47 Council of Europe Member States aims to identify and characterize the areas in order to recognize those it needs to highlight through a labeling agreed by the Council of Europe.

The questionnaire is aimed at the largest possible number (sites casual and regular visitors, professionals and volunteers). Indeed, the inquiry aims at gathering as much information as possible on the different sites (localization/accessibility/attractiveness/purpose/services). All information provided is therefore essential for identification and better acknowledgment of the sites.

The questionnaire is available on the electronic platform:

Click HERE

Please, fill it by Friday 23 september 2011.

The time necessary to fill this questionnaire is about 8 minutes. All you have to do is follow the instructions and tick the box corresponding to your answers.

We thank you in advance for taking part.

Please contact aepj@jewisheritage.org for further information.