| About The
Journey into the Jewish Heritage Project |
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About Moreshet |
| The Avi Chai Foundation and
the Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History
are setting out on the project "Journey into
the Jewish Heritage", for the sixth time this
summer. The Aim of the project is to bring
Israeli students closer to their Jewish heritage
as well as train professionals in the field
of documentation in further documentation
and conservation of Jewish communities. As
of date, sixth delegations have been sent
out: to Izmir in Turkey, to Eastern Slovakia,
to the Moravia region in the Czech Republic,
to Oradia in Transylvanya, to Bulgaria and
to Thessaloniki in Greece. Students who have
participated in the project note that they
had undergone through a "thrilling and moving
experience" wherein they dealt with important
questions concerning identity and memory.
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How does this work? |
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Every year, a community is chosen, and a group of students heads out to document its sites. The public institutes, the neighborhoods and the houses which have remained reveal something of the past, and give evidence to past existence of established communities. The status of these sites: empty synagogues or such which have been transformed for different purposes, disintegrating graveyards and neighborhoods empty of Jewish residents point at crisis and collapse. The documentation work takes place in groups and includes measurements and photography of the chosen sites, archival documentation which is limited in its scope (do to language barriers) and interviews with local community members. Upon their return, the students gather the materials they have collected during the summer and prepare a written report, a conference and an exhibition. The material at large goes through translation and editing and is put up on the Net.
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Training |
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During training students take the course: "learning to document the Jewish heritage of Jewish communities in the Diaspora". The training takes place during a number of concentrated meetings, which run through the second semester of the academic studies. Studies include conservation, documentation, Jewish art, and the culture and history of the communities (both in the general aspect and in the Jewish aspect). The lectures are given by the best of Israeli professors in the different fields.
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Who is this project aimed at? |
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Around thirty students are admitted to the project every year. The students must have good communication skills and a wide range of interests. The students arrive from academic institutes from all around the country. Most of them are in the final stages of their first degree, or in the midst of their second degree. They represent a wide spectrum of the Jewish population on the country: men and women, Sephardic and Ashkenazim, religious and secular, Israeli-born and new immigrants. They come from different academic backgrounds in each delegation there is a fixed number of architecture and photography students, who form an integral part of the group. Students who take part in the project may receive academic credit.
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