On Saturday, 30 July, the Simcha Jewish Culture Festival will begin in Wrocław. The event traditionally takes place at the White Stork Synagogue and other locations in the Quarter of Mutual Respect. The main theme of the 24th festival is the story of Jewish life in the Eastern Borderlands – the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the present-day territories of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

The programme includes many interesting meetings with authors and a concert section, with the first performance in Poland by the Ukrainian band Kommuna Lux from Odessa, which combines klezmer music with Odessa Gangsta Folk in a unique style. There will also be the traditional Jewish Fair, workshops, film screenings, guided walks and a variety of attractions for adults and children.

During the Jewish Fair, exhibitors and restaurateurs will offer kosher food, organic products, handicrafts, art, toys, clothes, souvenirs and even natural cosmetics from the Dead Sea to the visitors. They can take part in workshops on intercultural interreligious education for families and Yiddish song workshops.

A novelty of this year’s festival is a radio play “Jewish Radio Kaleidoscope”, which will take listeners into the world of the artistic life of the interwar period. It is an attempt to revive a world that had passed away, but which can exist in our imagination thanks to the magic of radio. In the radio play, which takes the form of a fictional radio programme, participants will meet Adi Rosner, Adam Aston, Michał Waszyński, Tamara Łempicka and Janusz Korczak on the airwaves.

As every year, the organisers are also inviting participants to the cinema. Daily film screenings will take place thanks to the cooperation with the David’s Kamera/Warsaw Jewish Film Festival and the Israeli Embassy in Poland. The festival will conclude on Saturday, 5 August, with a Kabbalat Shabbat welcome service open to everyone at the White Stork Synagogue.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński