2022 Annual Report

Tarbut Foundation’s Revival Year

An overview of some of our activities post-pandemic

Fundatia Tarbut Sighet Cultura si Educatie Iudaica

 

Activities

The year 2022 started on a high note with dozens of online presentations to junior- and high-school students across Romania during the observance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th. Some of the schools followed up with in-person sessions, honoring the memory of the Jews who were deported on October 9, 1941 to Transnistria.

During the months of May to late September our “Family Roots to Routes Journeys” program had a marvellous revival. All the genealogical research done during the lock-down months came handy now and was applied when families visited their ancestral home towns across Romania. These journeys have a deep impact on each family and family member, albeit in a different manner: while it isn't always a joyful time, each family does bond deeper and gains valuable insights into their origins and history to share and pass on to younger generations.

In 2022, Tarbut participated in various seminars for educators across Romania; meeting outstanding educators who put a strong emphasis in their curricula on civil rights and equality values for Romanian citizens. We are proud of the new friendships we fostered in 2022 and the programs and activities we planned for the current school year.

 

A New Translation

One of Tarbut's missions is translating Holocaust related publications from Hebrew and English into Romanian. We are proud to announce our 3rd. translated book: “The Takeaway Men” (SparkPress 2020), a novel by American author Meryl Ain. If you haven’t read it yet, please go to your local library or buy it - it’s an outstanding story in which the author was able to incorporate many important concepts that we as survivors or children of survivors as well as future generations encounter in our daily lives. You can find reviews of the book here (goodreads.com)

Gratitude

A special thank you to all donors who support our activities and bring Holocaust studies closer to Romanian students. We look forward to your input and suggestions, never hesitate to contact us – we are here for you. We thank you for your continued support through the good and not so good times- we know at Tarbut you are always with us- as we say. Sighet is in our hearts from all of us here at Fundatia Tarbut Sighet.

Peninah Zilberman (15.02.2023)

 

2020 Annual Report

Tarbut Foundation during difficult times

A brief overview of our activities during the pandemic

Fundatia Tarbut Sighet Cultura si Educatie Iudaica

 

The year 2020, will be remembered as a less active year as far as Holocaust teaching and instructions in Marmaures Region. With school lockdowns and not too many opportunities for zoom teaching, the Education department was not in function at all.

At the same time, we were not able to travel freely, so no “Family Roots Journeys “either. However, emphasis on “Genealogy Research” did take place with great success. So that many families are getting ready using this period for intensive research for their upcoming “Family Roots Journey” as soon as free travel will became possible. We look forward to this opportunity hopefully in spring/summer of 2022.

On November 15, 2020, we launched the Parallel Traces Exhibit “A New Lens on Jewish Heritage” co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union. You are cordially invited to watch this incredible Exhibit representing Jewish Heritage in Spain, Poland, Slovenia, Romania and Georgia.

 
 
 
 

Tarbut has been also very active online:

  • We were able to participate at various educational forums dealing with questions such as “How to teach the Holocaust, without survivors?”

  • We took part in two online presentations via the Qesher platform (qesher.com), discussing the “Romanian Jewish Community in the Last 100 years” and its numerous challenges and post Communism encounters. Qesher is a new website that offers virtual Jewish stories from around the world with speakers from different regions and communities.

  • We delivered zoom presentations in Israel during The International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 in the English language for Hi-Tech International Companies.

We look forward to your input and suggestions. Please feel free to contact us.

Thank you from all of us here at Fundatia Tarbut Sighet.

Peninah Zilberman (01.11.2020)

 
 

2019 ANNUAL REPORT

Another Year for the Books

Here’s what we have accomplished in the past year

 

Dear Friends and Supporters of Tarbut,

While we are still working on our full annual report for 2019 that will be published here, here’s a roundup of some of the things we have been doing this year.

  • To begin with, we updated our website from the ground up and are proud to present the pages you are reading now about Fundatia Tarbut Sighet – Cultura si Educatie Iudaica. Many thanks to Daniel Grünfeld for the new website.

  • This past October, Tarbut has completed five years of activities starting in Sighet and gradually growing across Romania and also into Israel. This past year has been a very dynamic and busy year.

  • In April we took part in a national project entitled “The Future of Memory: educating about yesterday for a better tomorrow”. Three local high schools participated, for a week guided and exploring Holocaust issues through art, storytelling, and movement. It all culminated with an evening performance, well attended. You can read more about the project on Forbes Magazine Romania.

  • May 2019, marked the 75th Anniversary to the Maramures deportations. Once again we organized an All Generations Gathering; among the many guests we were honored by the presence of Elisha Wiesel and his son Elijah and Rabbi Boteach and his son David. Some participants traveled to Auschwitz and Krakow, as part of their full tribute to their families.

  • In June 2019, Tarbut was part of the planning committee of “From Bullets to Auschwitz “, a conference in Uzhgorod, Ukraine. Following the conference a group of university students from the USA visited Sighet. Among various activities they had a lesson in Romanian folk dancing at the Sighet Cultural House.

  • During the summer months we had many visitors who were looking for the family roots, not just in Sighet but across Maramures.

  • The European Days of Jewish Heritage were held in October with guests from the USA: Leonard Lehrman, internationally known composer and Helene Spierman, an internationally famous opera singer. The concert was dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of European Jewish Heritage Days, and Tarbut’s 5th edition. The concert’s theme was “Jewish Women in History”.

  • Towards the end of 2019 we launched George Tabori’ s play “My Mothers’ Courage”, a co-production with the Cluj Nomad Theatre under the exceptional directorship of Chris Nedea and actors Diana Ioana Licu and Matei Rotaru. An outstanding acting team!

  • Parallel Traces is another ongoing project that will continue in 2020 with two exhibits that we will be organising in Sighet between March 21 and April 26, 2020; as well as in Cluj at the Museum of Art, between April 27-May 27, 2020. Many thanks to Alina Marincean, for coordinating this project.

We look forward to your input and suggestions about future projects or improvements. Please feel free to contact us.

Thank you from all of us here at Fundatia Tarbut Sighet.

Peninah Zilberman (01.12.2019)