We are delighted to announce the publication of our 2024 Activity Report! This year was marked by exceptional achievements and challenges to be addressed. We would like to share with you the highlights and accomplishments that shaped our journey over the past year.
To view our 2024 Activity Report, click on the link below:
Download the 2024 Activity Report
On Thursday, March 27, 2025, at 7 PM, the Royal Conservatory of Brussels presents The Right to Childhood at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, a creation by Patricia Jankowska inspired by the life and work of Janusz Korczak, a key advocate for children’s rights.
Created by Patricia Jankowska, this project pays homage to Korczak, a pedagogue, writer, and doctor who dedicated his life to children before being deported with them to Treblinka in 1942. The music, composed by Piotr Moss, and the artistic coordination by Jean-Marc Fessard, bring this moving story to life.
Don’t miss this special evening dedicated to the memory and commitment of Janusz Korczak through music and artistic expression.
The Jewish Museum of Belgium participates in the Nocturnes on April 3, 2025!
Every Thursday evening, from March 13 to April 24, 2025, the Nocturnes invite you to discover Brussels’ museums and art centers from a new perspective. This year, the Jewish Museum of Belgium is once again joining this must-attend event and will open its doors on Thursday, April 3, from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM.
In an intimate and immersive atmosphere, we offer you:
The Nocturnes offer a chance to rediscover Brussels’ museums outside regular opening hours, in a warm and welcoming atmosphere. By participating in this evening, you will have the opportunity to explore our collections differently and experience a more immersive approach to the Jewish Museum of Belgium.
Attention: the Jewish Museum of Belgium is currently undergoing renovations. The museum is only accessible for the proposed activities. There are no exhibitions.
Join us for a unique cultural and human experience!
Practical Information:
📅 Date: Thursday, April 3, 2025
🕕 Time: 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
📍 Location: Jewish Museum of Belgium, Rue des Minimes 21, 1000 Brussels
🎟️ Admission: Free, booking required.
To book, please send an email to edu@mjb-jmb.org with your name, first name, email address, and the activity you wish to register for.
You can find the full Nocturnes programme here.
We look forward to welcoming you!
We are delighted to present the second episode of our Hidden Stories series, a unique format in our digital museum.
In this new episode, we shed light on a rare photographic archive: Jewish holiday camps after the Second World War. These holiday camps, organised under the impetus of the AIVG (Assistance to Jewish Victims of War), by associations such as Solidarité Juive and the CCSJ (Centre Culturel et Sportif Juif), offered surviving children a space for reconstruction, transmission and resilience. Far from being mere leisure camps, they were places of cultural rebirth, where young people could rediscover an identity that the war had tried to erase.
Hidden Stories invites you to explore objects and archives that go beyond mere testimonies of the past, revealing powerful narratives that shape identity and collective memory.
🎥 Watch our video to discover these exceptional archive images.
Roma Queer Community: Pathways to Visibility, Representation and Belonging
Join us for a panel discussion that centers the voices and experiences of queer Roma community navigating intersecting identities. This event creates space to confront structural and social barriers while starting a conversation on how we can collectively push for visibility, representation, and belonging.
18:30 – 19:30 | Panel discussion
19:30 – 20:00 | Q&A
20:00 – 21:00 | DJ set by Aldessa
This event invites you to listen, reflect, and take action towards meaningful participation.
More information about the event here.
On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Centre Communautaire Laïque Juif (CCLJ) is organizing an exceptional day dedicated to hope and resilience. This event will shed light on the reconstruction of individuals and communities after the war.
1. Study Day: “Survive and Rebuild”
Démocratie et Barbarie is organizing a study day focused on reconstruction, with a particular emphasis on the liberation of the camps. This dedicated moment will explore how survivors overcame trauma to rebuild their lives and contribute to their communities.
Study Day Program
Registration is now open via this link.
In parallel with the study day, the CCLJ and the Jewish Museum of Belgium present an exhibition in the CCLJ rotunda. This presentation highlights post-war Jewish summer camps, symbols of renewal, solidarity, and transmission. The images on display illustrate the collective effort to provide children with an environment conducive to physical and moral reconstruction. These camps, supported by various Jewish political movements, underscore the importance of childhood as a foundation for the community’s future.
2. Evening Study Session: “Beyond Survival”
More information about the evening can be found here.
Registration is now open via this link.
This evening will center around testimonies from Holocaust survivors, recounting their journeys from the liberation of the camps to their involvement in rebuilding community institutions. These accounts will be enriched by contributions from their descendants, offering an intergenerational perspective on this legacy of resilience.
We invite you to join us for this event, rich in emotions and insights, honoring the memory of the victims while celebrating the strength of human reconstruction.
Contact : info@cclj.be
We are excited to present the first episode of our new series, “Hidden Stories“, a unique format of our digital museum. Through this series, we offer you a glimpse into the objects in our collections, each carrying untold and precious stories of Jewish cultures.
In this first episode, we focus on a recently acquired piece that carries a little-known story. Introducing the “Garden of Eden” Prayer Set, which joined our collection in 2023. This set, including a tallit, matching bag, and kippah, was created in Jerusalem by Yair Emanuel in 2023.
Watch the video to discover the story behind this remarkable set. Curious about other objects or stories? Feel free to ask questions in the comments!
Our Jewish Museum In/Out digital is here! We’re opening the doors to our digital museum, where you can explore a rich blend of archives, collections, and educational programs. It’s all about making our stories and mission more accessible to all.
We’ll be sharing three unique formats: Jewish Women Voices, Hidden Stories, ABCs of Judaism.
Jewish Women Voices: Dive into the lives of extraordinary Jewish women who left a lasting mark on Belgian history and society.
Check out ABCs of Judaism, a fresh way to explore the depth of Jewish culture through engaging content from our educational team.
Get ready for Hidden Stories —a deep dive into the lesser-known narratives behind our artworks, waiting to be discovered and shared.
This is just the start—more stories and insights await. Stay tuned!
“Stolen Jewish Legacies: The Fate of the Andriesse Collection” traces the lives and cultural impact of the Dutch-Belgian philanthropists and art patrons Hugo Daniel Andriesse (1867-1942) and his wife Elisabeth Andriesse (1871-1963).
The Andriesses were socially prominent benefactors of charitable institutions in prewar Brussels who collected Old Master paintings and tapestries. Following their escape to New York in 1940, their collection of paintings and tapestries was looted by the Nazi occupation government in Belgium. Some of the collection remains missing.
While the Jewish Museum of Belgium undergoes renovation, the exhibition will be on view for a one-day presentation on November 7th, 2024.
Free admission.
Curated by the Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project Foundation (JDCRP), in cooperation with the Jewish Museum of Belgium and the Federal Public Service Economy (Economy Ministry of Belgium). Exhibition curator: Anne Uhrlandt, Research and Documentation Officer at the JDCRP.
The exhibition is part of a project co-funded by the European Union and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (the Claims Conference), sponsored by the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ) and supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).
Honoring Aristides de Sousa Mendes: The Courage of a Righteous*
The Fondation Les Justes de Belgique and the Aristides de Sousa Mendes Foundation – US, in partnership with the Jewish Museum of Belgium and the Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium, are honored to pay tribute to Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Righteous Among the Nations, on Sunday, November 17, from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM. This event is held under the high patronage of the Royal House of His Majesty King Albert II.
Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Consul of Portugal in Bordeaux from 1938 to 1940, is an iconic figure of moral courage and resistance against injustice. In 1940, during a time of heightened persecution of Jews and stateless people in Europe, Sousa Mendes made the brave decision to disobey his government’s orders. Inspired by his Catholic faith and his conversations with Rabbi Chaim Kruger, he followed his conscience and issued tens of thousands of visas to refugees, including many Jews, allowing them to escape Nazi tyranny.
These heroic actions saved people from 49 different nationalities, of various faiths and social backgrounds, including Austrians, French, Dutch, Luxembourgers, and Belgians.
As we commemorate the 70th anniversary of his death, this tribute serves as an opportunity to remember his extraordinary commitment to humanity and to reaffirm the importance of his memory in the fight against injustice and intolerance.
Please register by November 13 via info@justesdebelgique.org
*The Hebrew expression, translated as “ Righteous among the Nations”, designates, in rabbinic tradition, God-fearing non-Jews and, in medieval and modern times, those among them who maintained a correct attitude towards Jews unanimously hated and persecuted throughout Europe.
The activities of the Mediation (Education) Service continue!
Even during the temporary closure we’ll be continuing our activities.
Discover our new brochure with all the latest offers!
The Jewish Museum of Belgium invites you to the closing of the exhibition “Passage. Textile & Rituals” !
By contextually reinterpreting the “Supra” ritual, Zinaïda Tchelidze brings together a plurality of voices through the art of the banquet in Georgian tradition.
The artist is interested in the phenomenon of social gatherings and what they reveal when taken out of their usual context. By provoking the encounter between mythology, ancestral ceremony and the contemporary world, she seeks to problematize codes in cultural traditions. She invents a collaborative, performative ritual table to explore the idea of hospitality in its various forms, depending on the space-time and social environment in which it is embedded.
For this performance, the artist creates a “feast tablecloth” and invites performers who are unfamiliar with this tradition. They take up the rite of toasting with “unique crockery”, i.e. vessels-sculptures specially made by Georgian artists and craftsmen of different generations according to their state of mind.
Waiting for the performers to activate them, these unique pieces are displayed in a china cabinet within the exhibition space.
***
This is part of the ” Laboratory of Rituals ” performance cycle.
At the heart of ” Laboratory of Rituals “, four performance artists, Hilal Aydoğdu, David Bernstein, Barbara Salomé Felgenhauer and Zinaïda Tchelidze, are committed to re-enchanting the world through the construction of new mythologies that touch and inspire them.
In this artistic laboratory, these artists explore the depths of the collective imagination, venturing into the recesses of history, culture and tradition. They invite us to plunge into their artistic universes, to cross passages between the visible and invisible worlds, to discover new ways of being and understanding the world.
The ” Laboratory of Rituals ” is much more than just an exhibition. It’s a space for artistic exploration, where cross-cultural performers meet, question and share their visions of the world. It’s a call for reflection, wonder and the creation of new mythologies that allow us to re-enchant our existence.
Program :
15:30 – Doors open
16:00 – 18:00 : Performance by ZinaÏda Tchelidze – To your arrival and our welcome
19:00 : Drink & Buffet
20:30 : Doors close
Pay what you can (recommended price €6)
Zinaïda Tchelidze lives and works in Brussels. She has exhibited in various venues such as KXX – Uberchannel 2024, Border Buda 2024, Beursschouwburg for Europalia Georgia 2023, Art Antwerp fair for FW-B representation (2022); SB34-Clovis, Brussels (2022); Het Paviljoen, Ghent (2021); Morpho, Antwerp Art Weekend (2021); CENTRALE pour l’art contemporain, Brussels (2019); World Trade Center, Brussels (2018), among others.
Kids’ workshop around our “PASSAGE” exhibition: fabrics tell stories! Let’s explore them!
Have you ever wondered where the patterns that decorate the fabrics in your home or on your clothes come from? And how are their colors made? During this week’s workshop, we’ll explore the vast history of textile colors and patterns, and what they say about us and the world we live in. An opportunity, for once, to create our own colors from our environment (using dye plants from wasteland, kitchen scraps, etc.), and to reinject meaning into the images that adorn our fabrics.
The workshop will be conducted in French by Amandine Brun Sauvant, a textile designer trained at the Beaux-Arts of Clermont-Ferrand and La Cambre.
When? From 8 to 12 July 2024, 10am to 5pm.
Who is it for? Children aged 9 to 12
Price: €90 for the workshop (€70 with Pass Cultuur Marolles)
LIMITED PLACES (max 10 children)
To register, please contact edu@mjb-jmb.org
Amandine Brun Sauvant is a textile designer trained at the Beaux-arts in Clermont-Ferrand and at La Cambre.
She discovered vegetable dyeing in Malaysia in 2016, where she learned to draw colors exclusively from local plants from the weavers of Rumah Gareh.
Back in Brussels, she deepened her apprenticeship with Charlotte Marembert and Michel Garcia, never to leave this healthier and, above all, living color tool. Initially drawn to the history of printed textiles, from Indians to digital prints, she explores, through weaving, printing and resist dyeing, how a woven surface can present different degrees of legibility, meaning and color.
Performance : David Bernstein – Even if it’s not true, it’s well found – 6.06 from 6pm
The title Even if it’s not true, it’s well found is a literal translation of the Italian expression Se non e vero, e ben trovato – meaning that even though a story might be made up, it is still worth telling. The work consists of a series of abstract sculptures that have had fictional stories written about them. These stories were generated from associations while looking at the artworks, and in that way, they reveal another “truth” about the object.
Three of these sculptures are displayed within the museum with accompanying stories, told during the performance. Each sculpture is made of different materials – various kinds of wood, brass, and steel – to allow for different tactile experiences. The sculptures’ shapes are inspired by ancestral ritual instruments and modern industrial design objects. This work aims to look at the power of imagination to give different readings to the same object. It emphasizes the queerness of objects, celebrating the idea that one thing can be several things at once.
This event is part of the “Laboratory of Rituals” performance cycle.
At the heart of the Laboratory of Rituals project, four performance artists – Hilal Aydoğdu, David Bernstein, Barbara Salomé Felgenhauer et Zinaïda Tchelidze – are committed to creating new mythologies that re-enchant the world.
In this artistic laboratory, these artists explore the depths of the collective imagination, venturing into the meanders of history, culture and tradition. They invite us to plunge into their artistic universes, to cross passages between the visible and invisible worlds, in order to discover new perspectives and new understandings of the world.
The Laboratory of Rituals is more than just an exhibition. It’s a space for artistic exploration, where cross-cultural performers meet, question and share their worldviews. It’s a call for reflection and wonder, as well as the creation of new mythologies that revive our existence.
Program :
6:00pm – Doors open
6:30pm to 7:30pm : Performance “Even if it’s not true, it’s well found” by David Bernstein
7:30pm – Drink
8:30pm – Doors close
Price : Pay what you can (Recommended price 6€)
David Bernstein (1988, San Antonio, Texas) is an artist based in Brussels and Amsterdam. He makes objects and finds ways to activate them with storytelling performances. His projects deal with a range of subjects: language, hospitality, sexuality, and spirituality. Next to his individual practice, he collaborates with a variety of people and is a member of the cosmic cowboy collective, Self-Luminous Society.
The body of the artist proposes itself as a living altar, offered for a moment of reflection, meditation, prayer, and request, not for a god or saint, but for the world.
In the Christian religion, lighting a candle opens one’s heart to God and thus raises a prayer towards him. It is also a way of expressing one’s attachment to a saint in particular by making a request or even thanking him. An offering accompanies this approach.
Here, the ritual is proposed to allow oneself to express their concern, fear, and sorrow for the world – it is a way of reacting to the environmental despair that we are currently experiencing.
This performance is inspired both by the artist’s rituals in a women’s circle to celebrate, among other things, the solstices and equinoxes, and Joanna Macy’s essay, “Acting with Environmental Despair” which asks the question: “Can we recognize our sorrow for the world and live with it in a way that affirms our existence and frees our power to act?”
A year ago, the first version of this performance was presented during the Trouble Festival. In this context, more than sixty sorrows were laid at the foot of the altar. These anonymous sorrows will be engraved next to each other on one of the walls of the exhibition, during several one-off sessions between April 11 and September 1.
Performance from 6:30 pm
Barbara Salomé Felgenhauer (1992, Huy, Belgium) lives and works in Brussels. A multidisciplinary artist, her practice covers photography, film, performance, and installation. The question of narrative and the power of words and ideas runs through her work. She uses storytelling as an experience of emancipation and empowerment from gender norms and stereotypes and as a creative force of the universe to induce new relationships to worlds.
She graduated from the photography workshop at ESA Saint-Luc in Liège in 2013 and from ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels in 2022. She obtained her master’s degree with Grand Distinction and the Boghossian Foundation Prize 2022 with her project Terrapolis.
Discussion between Luc Benhamou and Sonia Wieder-Atherton and musical moments
Chantal Akerman was born in Brussels in 1950. Her parents, originally from Poland, had settled in Belgium in the 1930s. During the war, part of her family suffered deportation and were murdered in Auschwitz. The ensuing silence guided both her work as a filmmaker and her life as a woman.
Sonia Wieder-Atherton and Luc Benhamou wish to share a moment of exchange by questioning Chantal Akerman’s relationship with Judaism. Some of the possible approaches are through her work, but also through her positions on several issues, her relationship to biblical texts and to transmission. Music will also be present through the voice of Sonia Wieder-Atherton’s cello.
LUC BENHAMOU :
Born in Paris in 1959, Luc Benhamou studied cinematography at the Insas in Brussels. He subsequently worked as a cinematographer, authored short films and studied Judaism. He framed and/or lit all Chantal Akerman’s films between 1983 and 1988, among these the notables Les Années 80 (1983) L’homme à la valise (1983), Un jour Pina a demandé (1983), J’ai faim, j’ai froid (1984), Family Business (1984), Golden eighties (1984), Letters Home (1986), Histoires d’Amérique (1988).
SONIA WIEDER-ATHERTON :
Cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton studied at the Paris Conservatoire, then went on studying further with Natalia Chakhovskaya at the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow. She returned home at the age of 25, where she met Chantal Akerman. Their work and personal relation were set to last forever. Their worlds came together in film scores and stage creations. Chantal Akerman also directed several films with SWA, who performed works ranging from Monteverdi to Dutilleux. Their collaboration on the music for “Histoires d’Amérique” gave rise to a recording of liturgical Jewish chants for cello and piano.
Program:
6 pm doors open
6:30 pm start of discussion (approx. 1h30)
8 p.m. end (no drinks)
Credit: Collections CINEMATEK – © Fondation Chantal Akerman
Celebrate Pesach with us!
We’re delighted to invite you to a one-day Pesach celebration on April 14 at 3pm.
Pesach, also known as Passover, is one of Judaism’s three pilgrimage holidays, commemorating the exodus of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt according to the Torah’s Book of Exodus. The holiday evokes the notion of renewal, of freedom, and is honored through several rituals, including the consumption of unleavened bread (matza) and the celebration of the Passover meal.
Program :
Matzot-making workshop for children: Our young participants will have the opportunity to take part in a Matza bread-making workshop. They’ll have the opportunity to discover the importance of this ancestral tradition by getting their hands dirty.
Guided tour of the “Passage – Textiles & Ritual” exhibition: We also invite you to a guided tour of our “Passage – Textiles & Ritual” exhibition, a fascinating exploration of Jewish textiles and rituals.
This event is organized in collaboration with the European Jewish Community Centre (EJCC).
As part of NOCTURNES, the third “Passage” tour will open on April 11 in our Project Space, inviting you to explore the contemporary resurgence of beliefs and rituals through a program of unique performances.
In Turkish culture, when you welcome someone, you give them your bed, your home. Misafirperverlik means «hospitality » in Turkish. The term has Arabic roots: «musafir», «safar», which also means «hunger» and «he or she who goes on an expedition, who goes far away». And Persian roots: «parvar», meaning «to feed, to bring up, to educate». Misafirperver therefore means «he or she
who feeds his or her guest».
The performance is two-fold: «the preparation» and «the meal».
Duration: 2 h00.
Hilal Aydoğdu (1998, Liège), holds a Master’s degree in drawing from the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Liège and has practiced performance art for several years, in depth at La Cambre.
Hilal questions the place of women in a man’s world. She proposes to apprehend the devices that work to establish a deleterious hegemony – that of patriarchy – mainly through culture, by exploring the morbid lexicon of the values and injunctions it conveys: honor, virginity, obedience. Performance and installation allow her words to take shape; by breaking the boundaries between the object and
its flesh, by playing with what can be forced together, she attempts to suggest imbalance, to let the union give rise to vertigo, and vertigo to fall.
She aims to confront the order that strikes in the name of ideals that damage women with the consequences of its reign, reflecting back to it the horror and pain they generate.
Program :
This spring, the Jewish Museum of Belgium is delighted to present an exhibition from the Center for Jewish-Moroccan Culture (CCJM) titled “Tanger. Ville mythique” (Mythical Tangier).
Through a vast array of archives and artworks from the collection of the Center for Judeo-Moroccan Culture, visitors are invited on a journey through time and space to discover this city with a thousand faces.
As a bridge between Africa and Europe, a western beacon in the Mediterranean, Tangier has always held a special place in the history of the Kingdom of Morocco. Its strategic location has made it a coveted area since antiquity by major empires and conquerors, with successive invasions shaping its customs and traditions. These influences are still evident in its craftsmanship, a cultural richness perceptible in both its costume art and local jewelry. The coexistence of different societies and religions – Muslims, Jews, and Europeans – makes it a cosmopolitan and unique space in Morocco, oriented towards Europe. Between land, sea, and ocean, the “Pearl of the North” offers inspiring landscapes that attract artists: painters, photographers, and filmmakers come to soak up its unique atmosphere. But Tangier is also active on the political and diplomatic stage, the scene of several major events in the history of North Africa over the centuries, as the exhibition’s journey portrays.
At the heart of the Laboratory of Rituals project, four performance artists – Hilal Aydoğdu, David Bernstein, Barbara Salomé Felgenhauer et Zinaïda Tchelidze – are committed to creating new mythologies that re-enchant the world.
In this artistic laboratory, these artists explore the depths of the collective imagination, venturing into the meanders of history, culture and tradition. They invite us to plunge into their artistic universes, to cross passages between the visible and invisible worlds, in order to discover new perspectives and new understandings of the world.
Through their performances, these artists offer us intense moments where the sacred and the profane meet, where emotions blossom and questions multiply. They open doors to sensory and intellectual experiences, inviting us to reflect on our own relationship with beliefs, myths and rituals.
The Laboratory of Rituals is more than just an exhibition. It’s a space for artistic exploration, where cross-cultural performers meet, question and share their worldviews. It’s a call for reflection and wonder, as well as the creation of new mythologies that revive our existence.
The Laboratory of Rituals will open on April 11 in our Project Space and invites you to explore the contemporary resurgence of beliefs and rites through a program of unique performances. The first performance will take place as part of the Nocturnes event.
Program :
Misafirperver – Hilal Aydoğdu – 11.04.2024
La Chapelle des peines pour le monde – Barbara Salomé Felgenhauer – 22.05.2024
Even if it’s not true, it’s well found – David Bernstein – 6.06.2024
To your arrival and our welcome – Zinaïda Tchelidze – 1.09.2024
