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Grantee: Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life, Palo Alto
A multigenerational destination anchored by a world-class JCC and a senior living complex.
Grantee: Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow
The largest festival of its kind in the world, now in its 20th year.
Grantee: Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Now under construction on the historic site of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, completion in 2012.
Grantee: Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow
Dance, music, workshops, art, film, books, food: a major celebration each summer.
Grantee: California Academy of Sciences
Exploring, explaining and protecting the natural world; located in Golden Gate Park.
Mission & Goals
A Partnership Program established by the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture
Founded in 2004, the Jewish Heritage Initiative in Poland (JHIP) nurtures the revival of Jewish life in Poland, furthers awareness of this resurgence among Jews and non-Jews, and fosters positive interest in Poland and Polish Jews among American Jews. This mission reinforces the Taube Philanthropies’ broader purpose of sustaining Jewish culture in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
The JHIP is a partnership program, comprised of Founding Sponsors and an ever-growing number of new partners from the United States and Europe, whose commitments represent significant material investment and philosophical endorsement. The vital participation of our partners reinforces our capacity to encourage connection by Jews around the world with their East European heritage rooted in Poland. In the United States alone, at least two-thirds of American Jews have Polish ancestry.
The flourishing world of Jewish life in Poland received a near mortal blow during the Holocaust. Then, during the Communist decades, Jewish schools were shuttered, public programs on Jewish culture were forbidden, and only a handful of elderly historians were allowed to study the archives of Polish Jewish history.
All that has changed dramatically, and the Jewish Heritage Initiative is supporting institutions and individuals –– in Poland as well as in the United States –– who are helping preserve Jewish heritage or are enriching the cultural and intellectual landscape today.
THE JHIP MISSION IS TO:
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Support the ongoing revival of Jewish culture in Poland
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Further awareness of this resurgence among Jews and non-Jews
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Foster positive interest in Polish Jews and Poland among American Jews, most of whom have Polish roots
To carry out these aims, we have established a base of operations in Warsaw at the Taube Center for the Renewal of Jewish Culture at the Jewish Historical Institute. In fact, we are the only American Jewish foundation with an office and ongoing presence in Poland. The reputable journalist Konstanty Gebert, the founder of Midrasz magazine, is our Director. He and Program Associate Magdalena Matuszewska, a Hebrew Studies doctoral student, coordinate activities with JHIP Director Shana Penn, author and visiting scholar at the Graduate Theological Union’s Center for Jewish Studies in Berkeley, California.
Recent Highlights
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Songs and stories are portals to explore what it means to be a Jew. Music reports our people's daily reality, and Yidish songs in particular provide wonderful pictures of daily life and the life cycle. -TAMARA BROOKS, CONDUCTOR; TFJLC ADVISORY BOARD |



