Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews in Serbia

Sonja Viličić, Belgrad /Serbia

Language: English

Session:
Did Danon family eat gefilte fish? And what about Mr. Grossman did he ever entered Bet Israel synagogue or it was the one that he was happy that it existed so he can say ‘This is a synagogue I never went to”? This is an interactive session where we will explore Jewish community of Serbia, it’s past and present with the special focus on two similar but in the same time very different Jewish communities- Sephardic and Ashkenazi.

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Bio:
Sonja Viličić was born in Serbia. For almost 10 years Sonja lived in Budapest where she finished University and worked for the J.D.C. (Joint Distribution Committee) in various positions as informal Jewish educator, including the program director of the Szarvas youth camp and the Educational Director of regional programs with the aim of Jewishly educating youth and students through informal educational frameworks. Sonja is a graduate of the Melton Senior Educators Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Today, Sonja lives in Belgrade, Serbia where she is one of the founders and Executive Director of NGO Haver Srbija whose aim is to introduce non-Jewish population to culture, history and tradition of Jewish people as a step in confronting prejudices, misconceptions and discrimination. She also works co-runs the Matara youth leadership training program of the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe at Limmud UK.

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