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About Urban Cultours project



Urban Cultours project was created in 1997, as a way of connecting to a very rich yet almost forgotten part of Jewish heritage. It is also about recovering for and from Catalonia a piece of its own culture, dating as far back as the ninth century.

Here, where our ancestors lived, a remote past and a lively present meet. We have information about the old synagogues, cemetery, activities, history. Most important, there is a new growth of Jewish life, being conservative Congregation Atid in Barcelona the first of this new period.

My programs and tours focus on all aspects of Judaism in Barcelona and Catalonia. Urban Cultours is actively involved with current Jewish issues and with the local Jewish community as well as with Heritage initiatives.

I will take you along an emotional journey where you will share, understand and enjoy the uniqueness of Jewish past and present-day life in Spain, in a combination of history, current affairs, opinions and personal experience.

Together, we can keep this story alive.


Dominique talks about herself

On a personal note

My grandparents arrived in Argentina from Russia at the onset of the twentieth century. My parents married in Buenos Aires and went to New York, where I was born. Soon after they returned to Buenos Aires, where my sister was born.

My strongest childhood Jewish memories are the family reunions for the High Holidays, and my grandma's cooking: gefilte fish, chicken soup, knishes, latkes, blintzes. All those delicious recipes which I learned and still cook today.


In the late 70's, already an architect, I spent a couple of years in Europe and then decided to move to my native New York City where I lived the next 12 years.

As I frequently traveled to Spain to visit family, I became very attracted to its culture and lifestyle, and moved to Barcelona in 1991. Four years later I met a group of Jewish families who gathered on Friday evenings for kabbalat shabbat and to celebrate the High Holidays. In the beginning, nothing was very familiar; nothing related to my childhood memories.
Soon, however, I felt very comfortable in that atmosphere and joined them in their efforts to make an old project come true: founding a congregation of progressive orientation.

Traveling Jews, surprised at the news that there was a new synagogue in Barcelona, came to visit. We invited them to commented walking tours through what had once been the Jewish Quarter in the Middle Ages, and I was called upon to translate the explanations into English or French. This is how it all began back in 1997.

So it is in Barcelona, of all places, where I explore the local Jewish history and our common roots. I believe that our memory must be kept alive, brought back after 600 years of oblivion. And this is my contribution to it. I've had a lot of support in my project, and I'd like to thank my family, friends, colleagues and clients for their unwavering enthusiasm, trust, and always useful feedback.

I trust that you will enjoy these visits as much as I enjoy sharing what I continue to learn about our heritage. Hope to see you soon!

Dominique Tomasov Blinder
Urban Cultours project

info@urbancultours.com

 


 
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