The Jewish community in the US is in a strange place at the moment. While rapid assimilation and mixed marriages are changing the makeup and character of American Jewry, an ugly wave of antisemitism is isolating Jews and creating tough challenges. It’s never been more important to explore Jewish culture and history and to give the next generation a positive view – and real pride – in their Jewish identity. Family Jewish heritage trips are ideal for a deeper exploration of your Jewish roots – and are a great opportunity for family bonding too!
Jewish Roots: A Journey of Exploration and Discovery
Every American Jew is descended from immigrants. Most of our Jewish ancestors came from Russia and Eastern Europe, fleeing antisemitism and pogroms, or simply seeking better economic opportunities and greater freedom. By and large Jewish immigrants thrived on the American Dream and overcame obstacles and prejudice to make a real mark in business, the professions and cultural life.
Despite success – or perhaps because of it – there’s also a need to explore our roots in Europe (and an interesting variety of other countries). For Jews, there’s seldom any sentimental attachment to “the old country” as there is for other ethnic groups in the US. In many cases, our ancestors were expelled from the old country, or were barely tolerated there. Nonetheless, the need to understand where we came from and to explore deeper family history is a very human one.
For US Jews, Eastern Europe and Russia are sometimes a kind of blank space. Six million European Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, often completely obliterating networks of families and friends who hadn’t emigrated to America. Parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents who lived in cities like Krakow, Berlin and Prague disappeared into the camps, extinguishing all living family connections to those places. The extended family trees of many American Jews were devastated, with the European branches abruptly ending by 1945.
Taking Jewish Roots Exploration a Step Further
Jewish family heritage trips to Europe are often sad, but they can also be extremely rewarding. A top tier Jewish tour company can help you to research your family history, using specialist local historians to overcome language barriers and access a range of historical archives. Many archives were destroyed in the war and it sometimes takes a bit of professional detective work to uncover deeper family history – or even discover distant relatives who are still alive!
It can be an amazing experience for young American Jews to walk the same streets that their great, great grandparents walked. Nothing creates a more intimate connection with the past than exploring the old Jewish quarter, or actually visiting the graves of your own ancestors. Although Europe was ravaged by war, many old buildings survived and would be immediately recognizable to people who lived in them during previous centuries. It can be an eerie and emotive feeling to see an old family home in the Jewish district of a European capital.
The best Jewish heritage trips are individually tailored for each family. Each family itinerary can be adjusted to make it enjoyable for all age groups and can contain enough background activities to give real insight into Jewish culture and history – museums, galleries, monuments and other Jewish cultural excursions. Imagine the profound effect on a typical American 13 year old if his heritage tour culminated with a bar mitzvah ceremony in the Krakow or Prague synagogue where several generations of his ancestors prayed!
Other Jewish Heritage Tours
Although most US Jews can trace their origins back to Europe and Russia, many have family connections to far more exotic locations. Jewish heritage tours to Argentina, Brazil, Morocco, India – and even China and Japan are attracting adventurous travelers who want to combine a wider exploration of international Jewish culture and the history of some fascinating diaspora communities, with a luxury travel experience.
A Jewish heritage tour to a location like Buenos Aires or Harbin is a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in a foreign culture, experience local Jewish traditions – and try some of the world’s best kosher cuisine. Even if your ancestors didn’t originate in a far flung location like one of Saudi Arabia’s Jewish villages or a Bukharan quarter in Central Asia, there’s still a wealth of Jewish cultural history to explore!
Tailor the Perfect Jewish Heritage Tour
A Jewish heritage tour that will please all the family (especially when there’s a significant age range) takes a bit of planning. It really pays to work with the pros and coordinate your planning with a Jewish tour company that has years of experience and – most importantly – local knowledge and connections. Even a simple advantage like knowing the best weeks to travel in each season can make a big difference to the quality of your vacation.
If you need luxury kosher hotels and kosher dining, it’s definitely better not to rely on online research. You need guaranteed recommendations from expert Jewish travel organizers with uptodate knowledge. The same goes for local security arrangements, and ensuring that your tour guides, drivers and other local staff are fully vetted and trained.
It’s also worth thinking outside the box and tailoring your trip to include more than one country. For example you could fly to Poland to visit family sites in Krakow and Warsaw, continue to Prague, and then take a river cruise down the Danube, visiting historical Jewish locations enroute. Your tour company can leverage their local connections to put together an affordable package that makes traveling comfortable and convenient and doesn’t skimp on luxury!
Gil Travel is one of the most experienced and flexible Jewish travel companies in the world. The company is passionate about helping travelers to make a deeper exploration of their Jewish roots – and actually visit the exact locations where their ancestors lived and worked. If you want to create a customized luxury tour that will educate teens and children, and create some amazing family bonding, talk to us now.