Jewish heritage tour

Are you in the mood to find out more about the Jewish culture and heritage in Bratislava? Would like to visit the most important Jewish monuments here? Or learn about the many prominent Jewish personalities who ‘influenced’ the world significantly?

What can you expect?

On this tour, we’ll dive into a brief historical introduction to the Jewish culture and heritage of Slovakia. We’ll talk about famous people of Jewish descent and believe me, there are quite a few of them. Moreover, we’ll visit the highlights of Jewish Bratislava.

How will we go about it?

Our first stop will take us to none other than the famous Chatam Sofer Memorial, dedicated to the man who is considered the father of Orthodoxy. Hence, one of the most influential figures in early Orthodoxy. Were you aware of the fact that thanks to him, one of the largest and most influential Yeshivas in Europe was located in Bratislava? Chatam Sofer is amongst our irrevocable claims to fame. We’ll dwell deeper into that on the way back to the old town.

Our next stop? The former Jewish district. I‘ll show you where our former Neolog synagogue was located, which is also the site of the current Holocaust Memorial.

Incredibly enough, the real origin of Krav Maga (which can be directly translated from Hebrew as „contact combat” ) can be traced to none other but Bratislava? The true idea behind this style of combat, at least. Wanna hear the story? No problem whatsoever.

Our walk down the Jewish street will be accompanied by an insightful talk about the many aspects of Jewish heritage – not only from Bratislava but Slovakia in general.
Questions such as “Why the Jewish district was located outside of the city walls, why a big part of the district was demolished”, and many more will all be answered.

By the time we reach our last stop whilst together, you’ll also discover that there were many famous Jewish people who were either born in Slovakia or had lived here for some part of their lives… Let´s talk about as many of them as you’d like. Prominent figures such as Imrich Lichtenfeld, Dežo Hoffmann, or Arthur Fleischmann, might not sound familiar to you yet, but believe me, after spending some time with me you’ll be in the picture.

Our last stop will be the last standing synagogue, which is the only surviving synagogue of the former communist era. Here you’ll also get to visit the Jewish community museum, which features many Jewish cultural gems.
Note, that this tour will only take place on days that are in accordance with the Jewish calendar and public holidays, as otherwise the Chatam Sofer memorial will be closed.