Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning

12/05/2026

We congratulate the JCC Krakow on its 18th anniversary!

For nearly two decades, the JCC has played a central role in rebuilding Jewish life in Krakow and engaging visitors from around the world in contemporary Jewish life in Poland.

Mazal Tov! To 120!

🇵🇱 Mówią, że czas leci, gdy dobrze się bawisz – a najwyraźniej my bawimy się świetnie! Skoro mamy już 18 lat, to technicznie jesteśmy dorośli. Postaramy się tak zachowywać.

W judaizmie liczba 18 - czytana jest chai i często tożsama jest z ideą "życia"! Dlatego nasze 18 urodziny są dla nas tak znaczące! Przez te 18 lat odbudowywaliśmy społeczność, którą kiedyś uznano za utraconą, troszczymy się o Ocalałych z Holokaustu, pomagamy setkom tysięcy osób w kryzysie uchodźczym z Ukrainy, gościliśmy światowych liderów oraz otworzyliśmy pierwsze żydowskie przedszkole w Krakowie od czasów II wojny światowej. Całkiem nieźle jak na "nastolatka"!

Prawda jest taka, że nic z tego nie wydarzyłoby się bez Was. Ten jubileusz należy do naszej społeczności – tej blisko i tej nieco dalej – która wierzy w odrodzenie żydowskiego ŻYCIA w Krakowie.

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🇬🇧They say time flies when you’re having fun – and clearly, we’ve been having a good time! Since we’re 18, technically we’re adults now. We’ll try to act like it!

As an organization laser focused on LIFE, we have been waiting, well..18 years for our Chai birthday! Over these years, we have worked to rebuild a community once thought lost, cared for Holocaust Survivors, helped hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees, welcomed global leaders, and opened the first Jewish preschool in Krakow since WWII. Not bad for a teenager! The truth is, none of this happens without you.

This milestone belongs to our community, near and far, who believe in the rebirth of Jewish LIFE in Krakow.

08/05/2026

Debora Vogel, a Polish-Jewish writer, philosopher, and art critic, was one of the most original voices of the interwar avant-garde. Closely associated with Bruno Schulz, she developed a unique language at the intersection of literature, philosophy, and visual art.

Her work focused on perception, everyday life, and the quiet structures that shape how we experience the world — often revealing meaning in what appears ordinary.

Her writing invites us to look more closely and to notice how deeply we are connected to the world around us.

05/05/2026

Lag BaOmer — the 33rd day of the Omer — marks a pause in the traditionally reflective period between Passover and Shavuot, bringing with it a sense of light and joy.

It is one of the few days during this time when celebrations can take place. In Jewish tradition, it is also associated with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, linked to the Zohar — a source of spiritual illumination.

In prewar Poland, Lag BaOmer was marked in various ways. In the Lublin region, for example, people celebrated with sweets or cheese-filled pierogi, while children would go on outings into nature, where picnics were organized.

The day would often end around a bonfire, a symbol of community and continuity.

03/05/2026

May 3rd is often remembered for a simple fact: the Constitution of May 3, 1791 was the first written national constitution in Europe, and the world’s second, after the United States.

Adopted by the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in Warsaw, it was an ambitious attempt to reform a fragile political system.

But beyond this milestone, the Constitution also raised a deeper question: What did it mean to build a modern state — and who was meant to belong to it?

It marked a brief moment when change felt possible. When the idea of a shared, reimagined society was not only debated, but within reach.

27/04/2026

We invite you to join an online Q&A session about The Open Gate 2026, organized by Brama Grodzka (Grodzka Gate) and NN Theater Center.

📅 April 29, 7:00 PM (Warsaw time)

The Open Gate (July 6–9, Lublin) is a special gathering for Lubliners and all those connected to the city — through family, history or simple curiosity. The program focuses on Jewish Lublin and includes lectures, conversations, guided walks, film, theatre, and music, along with a behind-the-scenes look at the Grodzka Gate.

Participants can also take part in the international festival Following I.B. Singer’s Traces, with an additional program on July 10 organized by the Lublin Jewish Community.

Registration is open until May 31 — and this Q&A is a good chance to learn more before signing up.

Picture: Teatr NN

Link in comments!

23/04/2026

Only 3️⃣ days left to register for the Hebrew Summer course!

On behalf of the University of Warsaw, we invite you to Warsaw Ulpan – Hebrew Summer Course — an intensive two-week program designed to develop your Modern Hebrew skills while exploring the Jewish heritage of Warsaw and Poland.

⏳ Application deadline: April 26, 2026
📅 Dates: July 5–17, 2026
📍 Location: University of Warsaw, Main Campus
ℹ More info: https://hebraistyka.uw.edu.pl/en/ulpan/

WARSAW ULPAN 2026 - CALL FOR APPLICATIONS!
⏳Application Deadline: April 26, 2026
📅Dates: July 5–17, 2026
📍Location: University of Warsaw Main Campus
ℹ More info: link in comment.

21/04/2026

If you couldn’t join us live, we invite you to watch the recording of our latest TJHTalks session:

The Warsaw Ghetto: Resilience and Resistance

organized by the Taube Center in partnership with the Muzeum Getta Warszawskiego / Warsaw Ghetto Museum

More than 80 years after the uprising, places like Miła 18 remain powerful reminders of Jewish armed defiance. In this conversation, our guest scholars reflect not only on the uprising itself, but also on the many forms of resistance in the Ghetto — and how these stories are remembered and carried forward.

Stay tuned for our next TJHTalks!

The Taube Center, in partnership with the Warsaw Ghetto Museum*, invites you to join the next session of TJHTalks on April 15, 2026:The Warsaw Ghetto: Resili...

19/04/2026

It was meant to last three days. It lasted nearly a month.

Today, we mark the 83rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
At its peak, the Warsaw Ghetto — the largest in occupied Europe — held over 450,000 Jews confined within just 307 hectares. It was as if the entire population of a city the size of Miami had been forced into the space of Central Park.

Noise, overcrowding, hunger, disease, epidemic were a natural consequence of these unimaginably unnatural circumstances. Restrictions, armbands, the loss of basic freedoms — these were only the beginning. What followed was escalation: executions, deportations, systematic destruction.

After Aktion Reinhardt in 1942, something shifted irreversibly.

Life, which had somehow continued despite unimaginable conditions — through underground education, cultural activity, religious practice, both formal and informal institutions — began to disappear. Following the mass deportations, the Ghetto was reduced to around 60,000 people. It grew smaller, emptier. And most already knew what deportation meant.

With each new rumor of upcoming actions, the remaining Jewish population was left with no real choices.

On April 19, 1943, on the eve of Passover, between 1,000 and 1,500 fighters took up arms against the Germans. They had very limited weapons, many of them damaged or without ammunition. They had almost no chance of survival.
And yet, they fought.

As Marek Edelman, one of the uprising’s leaders, later reflected — “Iit was not a matter of winning. It was a matter of dignity.”

Let us remember their heroic resistance in the face of certain destruction and the courage to stand with dignity when everything else had been taken away.

17/04/2026

Before the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out, there was a moment of heavy silence. The night of April 17th–18th, 1942, remembered as “Bloody Friday”, was a cold, calculated, and methodically planned murder of dozens of Jews and their families. It spread fear through the Ghetto — deepening the uncertainty of an already uncertain future.

Among the victims were those who refused to remain silent — those who resisted one of the most inhumane systems ever created.

“Hate is easy, love requires effort and dedication” wrote Marek Edelman, one of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

His words echo with the same force. Although the contexts change, their meaning does not.

15/04/2026

TJHTalks #52 | Today

It's the last moment to register for today's TJHTalk: The Warsaw Ghetto: Resilience and Resistance.

Join our conversation, which will look not only at the Uprising itself, but also at the everyday forms of resistance in the Ghetto — and how these stories continue to shape our understanding of the past.

Co-organized with the Muzeum Getta Warszawskiego / Warsaw Ghetto Museum.

Link in the comment.

13/04/2026

Until April 15, schools, libraries, and cultural institutions can take part in the Daffodils Campaign, organized by Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN / POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, to commemorate the 83rd anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

All participating institutions will receive access to free educational materials, including:
• a poster exhibition
• short stories and audio materials
• films
• lesson plans and worksheets

These resources are designed to support meaningful educational and commemorative activities.

🌼 Register your school or institution and take part in the campaign.