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Brussels

VISIT BELGIUM

Though there is evidence of Jews arriving in Belgium with the Romans in the 1st century, sizable Jewish communities did not appear until the Middle Ages. Those communities were persecuted during the Crusades and nearly wiped out by the Black Death and the Brussels Massacre. Belgium received an influx of Jews when Spanish and Portuguese Jews fled the Spanish Inquisition and sought refuge in Belgium. Under Austrian, French, and later Dutch rule, Jews were given improved rights and status. Following Belgian independence in 1830, Judaism was recognized. Jews played a major role in the diamond industry that developed in Antwerp. Though Belgium was the site of several active resistance organizations, the Belgian community shrunk considerably during the Holocaust as a result of deportations to concentrations camps.

Belgium currently has a Jewish population of approximately 30,000. The Jewish community of Brussels is largely secular, though Antwerp is home to the largest Hasidic community in Europe, in addition to one of the continent’s largest ultra-Orthodox populations. Belgium’s Jewish community supports a number of synagogues, Jewish schools, and kosher restaurants.

PLACES OF INTEREST

  • Jewish Museum of Belgium
    Rue des Minimes 21, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
  • Central Israelite Consistory of Belgium
    2, rue Joseph Dupont, 1000 Bruxelles
    01132 (0) 2 512 43 34

SYNAGOGUES

  • Grande Synagogue de la Régence
    32, rue de la Régence, 1000 Bruxelles
    01132 (0) 2 512 43 34
  • The Beth Hillel Synagogue
    Rue des Primeurs 80, 1190 Forest, Belgium
    Sephardic Synagogue
    Avenue Churchill 150 – 1180 Brussels

PLACES TO EAT

  • GEL TOV
    Rue Vanderkindere 381
    1180 Bruxelles (Uccle)
    T : + 32 2 346 87 00, Email : geltov@hotmail.com
  • O Délices d’Alice
    522 avenue Brugmann 1180 Brussels
    02.217.7467

RESOURCES

  • Coordinating Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations
    Avenue Ducpétiaux 68, B- 1060 Saint-Gilles
    Téléphone : 32.2 537 16 91, Email : ccojb@scarlet.be
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