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Welcome back to Three Wishes Travel! For the last installment of the Amsterdam series, I will be diving into an important subsection of this blog, Traveling Jewish. Being a part of the Jewish community is something that I am extremely proud of, and provides a distinct + vibrant culture that welcomes anyone who wants to learn more.
Traveling Jewish will start out as a guide to the best of Jewish sights to see in every city coupled with a quick history of that Jewish community, but with future trips, I will hopefully be able to meet with Jewish community members and learn more about what being Jewish looks like in that city/country.
If you ever have any questions about Judaism, our culture or anything related, please do not hesitate to reach out! If I do not know the answer I know someone that does :)
Now, let's go to Amsterdam! 🧞♀️💜✡️
Table of Contents
History of Jewish People in Amsterdam📜
Jewish people have been in the Netherlands since at least the 16th century. The first Jews to arrive in the Netherlands came from a Sephardic background, (from Spain/Portugal) expelled from their homes and looking for a safe place to live. During the 17th century, Askenazi Jews (from Eastern Europe), started to move to the Netherlands after uprisings in Poland and war in Central Europe. Amsterdam became the center of Dutch Jewish life, and was a relatively safe place for Jewish people at the time. Although not given full rights, the Dutch government did allow Jewish people more privileges than neighboring countries. Guilds, similar to a labor union, excluded Jewish people from most careers in Amsterdam. One exception to this was the diamond industry, and because of this Jewish people essentially created and ran the Amsterdam Diamond industry. At one point, most families in the Amsterdam Jewish community were involved with the diamond industry, known for its quality of diamonds.
By the early 20th century, there were 112,000 Dutch Jews; 60,000 of them living in Amsterdam, making up 10% of Amsterdam's population. The Dutch Jewish community was uniquely integrated into the Dutch community and culture. But despite this, anti-Semitism took hold and expanded. Jewish people started being excluded and removed from society. For more information about Amsterdam during the Holocaust, read this article by the Anne Frank House. By the end of WW2, 80% of Dutch Jews were killed, leaving only 22,000 of the original 112,000 beautiful Jewish souls.
Today, there is a vibrant but small Jewish community in the Netherlands. Amsterdam is home to a variety of congregations, from Sephardic Jews to Progressives, Reconstructionists, and more secular Jewish people. There are around 10 active synagogues in Amsterdam.
Jewish Sites in Amsterdam ✡️️
If that interests you, I encourage you to explore our historic and cultural sites during your trip to Amsterdam. As usual, I will tell you a little about each place and the cost to visit so my budget travelers can stay within their means :)
Anne Frank Museum 14€
The Anne Frank Museum is located within the actual house where Anne Frank lived in hiding and wrote her diary. The Anne Frank House is located in Central Amsterdam. I strongly recommend buying your ticket in advance; 80% of tickets are released online exactly 2 months before the day of visit. Tickets are bought up fast and only 20% are saved for same-day purchases. This moving tour with audio guide through the exact apartment Anne Frank lived and wrote her diary is emotional and life-changing. To be able to see first hand the apartment where Anne lived in hiding really brings her story to life. Simple things like hearing how creaky the floor is and knowing that the Franks had to be silent during the day to avoid capture, shows how difficult and scary it was for them and the thousands of families in a similar situation. I know personally, it is hard to imagine something as horrible as the Holocaust, so doing things that bring the stories to life really helps me understand the history.
Jewish Cultural Quarter 17€
For one 17 euro ticket, you can explore the Jewish Cultural Quarter and the 5 sites/museums within. These sites include the Jewish Children’s Museum, the Jewish Historical Museum, the Portuguese Synagogue, the National Holocaust Memorial and the National Holocaust Museum.
The Jewish Cultural Quarter or "Jodenbuurt" was the central neighborhood of Amsterdam's Jewish Community Pre-WW2. From a famous Jewish market to beautiful synagogues, this was the center of Dutch Judaism. During Nazi occupation, this was the site of the Jewish ghetto that was later destroyed by Amsterdam residents needing wood for their fires during the Hunger Winter of 1945. Today, little remains of this once-bustling Jewish quarter, but there are monuments to what once was, including the museums described above.
Portuguese Synagogue
Visiting this beautiful grand synagogue was one of my favorite experiences in Amsterdam. The Portuguese Synagogue is in the heart of the Jewish Quarter. Built in the 17th century, it is a wonder in itself that the synagogue has stood untouched since its original founding. The Synagogue is a grand candlelit masterpiece that amazes visitors with its beauty. It also houses the world's oldest Jewish library, the Ets Haim Livraria Montezinos.
I was in Amsterdam for Shabbat so I was in search of a synagogue to go to services. If you are traveling over Shabbat, I highly recommend seeking out a synagogue to attend services, even if you do not normally go to
Shabbat services when you are
back home. Services in another country offers a look into that country's Jewish community and their unique customs. It also provides a safe space full of people from your community. Especially in Europe, I think there is something profoundly beautiful about Jewish people safely attending synagogue and proudly singing our Hebrew prayers. It still amazes me that it does not matter which country you come from or your native language, we all know the same prayers. In Europe, it also feels like an act of protest to practice Judaism in a place that less than 100 years ago saw the systematic murder of my people for participating in the same Jewish observance.
This Shabbat, I also had the unique honor of one of my Jewish German friends, David, coming from the Hague to join me for services. Services at the Portuguese Synagogue are offered weekly as well as Saturday morning services at 9 am and Sunday morning service at 8:15 am. Although it is pretty safe to be Jewish in Amsterdam, there was still some pretty strict security to get into the Portuguese Synagogue for Shabbat service. It is extremely disappointing and sad, but most synagogues today have to have some sort of security to ensure the safety of congregation members.
Once inside, I was welcomed as if I were family. One of my favorite parts about the Jewish community is that no matter where you are, you will be welcomed into the local Jewish community as if you always lived there. Most likely, you will even be invited into a local family's home for Shabbat dinner. Amsterdam was no different, and not even 5 minutes into meeting the community inside the Portuguese Synagogue, I was asked if I needed a place to eat Shabbat dinner that night. Sadly, I already had dinner plans with my friends, but the community members did try to convince me out of those plans to go to their homes for dinner. After a wonderful service in a smaller synagogue next door, I was honored to be shown the Portuguese Synagogue after hours and see the beautiful testament to Dutch Jewish life. I love so much that even being thousands of miles from home, I felt like I had a family in the Amsterdam Jewish community.
Jewish Historical Museum €17
The Jewish Historical Museum is a great starting place for your Jewish Amsterdam journey. If you are like me, you may need an introduction to this vibrant community. I came to Amsterdam with little knowledge about the community, but this museum filled in all the gaps. It was here I learned about the long history of Amsterdam's Jewish community and the Amsterdam Diamond Industry. The museum is running a special exhibit on the rise and fall of Amsterdam's history as the City of Diamonds. This museum also treated us to a Jewish food tasting, where we got a small taste of the Dutch Jewish Community's favorite things to eat. We also explored the synagogue upstairs with explanations on Jewish religious customs. Some of my favorite pieces from the museum are included in the slides below. The first is a Torah Ark with a modern red and white parochet. The second is a painting by Hein Burgers, a Dutch artist famous for his depictions of Dutch Jewish life. This painting is called Loofhuttenfeest in den Vreemde, an oil painting on canvas showing a Jewish man with his children walking over an Amsterdam canal. Finally, the last picture shows an antique menorah. This museum is a comprehensive history of the Jewish community in the Netherlands where I learned a lot about the community, and if you are less familiar with Judaism in general, it can teach you so much about our religious customs.The Museum and the Portuguese Synagogue are included on the same ticket!
The National Holocaust Memorial Hollandsche Schouwburg
These next two sites I have not seen firsthand but I will make sure to see on my next visit. The Hollandsche Schouwburg was used as a deportation point by Nazis during WW2. It is estimated that tens of thousands of Jewish people were taken to their deaths. Today, this is the Netherlands' National Holocaust Memorial. Inside the memorial, the walls are inscribed names of everyone deported to camps from this point. Going forward, I want to make sure that I take time out of every trip to honor those of my community that perished due to Anti-Semitism in that part of the world.
Thank you for reading about my exploration of Jewish Amsterdam! Even if you are not Jewish, finding the Jewish sections of cities can provide a new and distinct part of a city for you to explore.
Check out our Instagram @3WishesTravel for more. If you are thinking about your own Amsterdam visit, contact us and we will plan your entire trip for you!
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Picture Sources:
Picture 1 Annefrank.org
Picture 2+3 jck.nl/en
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