Welcome to the website of the Jewish Heritage Foundation – Menorah. Our foundation is a non-governmental, non-profit institution, which was established in 2000 by a group of Slovak citizens. The major goal is to support activities leading to preserving the Jewish culture and religion in the Slovak Republic.

Slovakia is a small country in the heart of Europe with a rich Jewish history. Bratislava (Pressburg) was, thanks to the rabbinical dynasty of the Sofers, one of the leading places of Jewish scholarship in Europe. Before World War II there were 135,000 Jews in Slovakia. Today’s Jewish population in Slovakia is estimated at 3,000 mainly residing in two major cities, Bratislava and Košice. Due to Nazi decimation and postwar Communist experience, as well as the merciless process of assimilation, Jewish life in Slovakia is disappearing. The Slovak Jewish community therefore faces similar problems as many other Jewish communities in Europe.

We closely cooperate with the Federation of Slovak Jewish Communities and other Jewish organizations in the country. Our aim is to support education within the Jewish community, to organize seminars reaching disconnected individuals and to provide a possibility to teach Judaism, to help those who wish to live a Jewish life and to learn about their heritage.

We support activities leading to protecting Jewish monuments and educating the general society about Judaism: we believe Jewish culture and religion also has to be opened to the non-Jewish world. Only this way can we promote the universal ideas of our Prophets and gain tolerance and respect in a democratic, pluralistic society.