programmes 2006 - Red de Juderías de España

INTRODUCTIONIt is a great honour for me, as president of theAEPJ, to introduce this brochure which presentsthe European Day of Jewish Culture 2006and the development of the European Route ofJewish Heritage in 2006.After a general presentation of the two projectsand the partner organisations, members of theAEPJ, the brochure will present all the nationalprogrammes and the results of the EuropeanDay of Jewish Culture 2006. A comparativedata will enable you to appreciate the growingsuccess of the event which increases itsEuropean dimension every year, both by thehigher number of participating countries andby the influx of the public. More than 180 000visitors turned up! From the 16 participatingcountries which took part in the first year(2000), we have now gathered 30 countries thisyear including for the first time the FormerRepublic Yugoslav Republic Macedonia,Slovenia and Russia (Moscow and StPetersburg). In some countries, the preparationof the Day has been formally structured andthus enable its pereniality around a nationalorganisation or institutional structure. It is thecase of Spain with Red de Juderias de España, anetwork of Spanish municipalities - which isalso one of the three partner organisations ofthe project at a European level, in Italy with theUnione Comunita Ebraiche Italiane and inFrance with the organisation JECJ-Francewhich was recently created and is composed ofterritorial communities, foundations, organisationsand experts. Thus, numerous activitieswere proposed to the visitors: more than 1000activities were organised in 300 cities. Thetheme of this year, “The European Routes ofJewish Heritage” enabled the visitors to discoverthe cultural and historical heritage ofJudaism by travelling through space and time.Thanks to the organisation of bike hikes andwalks, guided visits and open-doors, exhibitionsand lectures, documentaries, concerts, tastingand many other activities, historical, artistic,and/or gastronomic routes were highlighted.The other important moment of the year 2006which will also be highlighted in this brochureis the signing ceremony of the AEPJ by laws bythe presidents of the three partner organisations,Mr. Ralph Weill, EC-member, as representativeof the president of B’nai B’rith Europe, Mr.Reinold Simon, Mr. Jonathan Joseph, presidentof the European Council of JewishCommunities and Mr. Enrique Ribes Pellicer,president of Red de Juderias de España andMayor of Hervás. This ceremony which tookplace in Luxembourg on Monday, September18, 2006 was followed by an official dinner atwhich representatives of the Government ofLuxembourg, the European Institute forCultural Routes of the Council of Europe, theambassadors of different countries and therepresentatives of the three partner organisationsattended.To conclude, on behalf of the AEPJ, I would liketo thank the Hanadiv Charitable Foundation forits support and all our volunteer and institutionalpartners, and particularly the national coordinatorswhich contribute to the success of theEuropean Day of Jewish Culture and the developmentof the European Route of JewishHeritage.François MoysePresident of the AEPJ3