Marcell Kenesei
Wow! I’m speechless.
At the beginning of the New Year, I was traveling with our Deputy Director, Jutka, in the United States. From Atlanta to Palm Beach to New York City, we have been thrilled to meet with our partners and supporters.
I started my trip in Atlanta at the JCCs of North America Mifgash. Over 140 amazing JCC leaders from all over the world came together to collaborate, inspire, and learn from one another—I certainly left feeling extra motivated to continue our work in Hungary!
Jutka joined me in beautiful Florida to meet with the Mandel JCC of Palm Beach, the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach, and many of our partners in the area, which is always a pleasure. I cannot begin to express how much we appreciate the hospitality, openness, kindness, and warmth we received from our friends in Florida.
The Palm Beach team has been a partner for quite some time now and being able to rejoice in person felt like a family reunion—we are incredibly grateful.
In Brooklyn, we met with the UJA Federation and Marks JCH team to learn about their work and to be inspired. They are an incredible institution and an example of how Jewish communities should stand up for all human values. It was moving to learn from them and are we are thankful for their collaboration.
Click the photo to watch a video of our trip!
23 February, 2023
My name is Andriy Slyusarev and I was born and raised in the district town of Boyarka, which is 10 kilometers from the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv.
I graduated with a degree in accounting and auditing, and worked for a pension fund, reaching the position of head of the audit department. After two years working there, I left the fund and created an organization providing engineering services to construction companies with my brother, Serhiy.
In my free time, I loved riding my mountain bike and traveling, often going to Ukraine’s mountains (Carpathians and Crimea) and seas. On February 19th, 2022, my friend and I left Kyiv to go skiing in the Alps. Around 4 a.m. on February 24, war in Ukraine broke out.
In the beginning, I did not fully understand what was happening, so I called home and received a clear answer from my family: do not return home. I then called my cousin, who lives in Budapest, asking if I could stay with them.
On February 25, I attended a Shabbat at JCC Budapest where we were told of a volunteer opportunity to help Jewish refugees in a nearby hotel. Since then, I have been working with JCC Budapest and have been a part of the team to support other refugees.
Some of the most joyful, yet saddest, moments are our charity drives. I often see the sadness in the eyes of those coming, yet also a spark of hope knowing that the Jewish community is here to support us as refugees. Through sports, programming, and dance, there have been different opportunities for our refugee community to create a community of friends here in Budapest.
While the future is still unclear, I now have more hope as I look to maybe go to the U.S. or Canada. In the meantime, I know that I’ll continue to support my fellow refugees here in Budapest and my relatives back home in Ukraine any way I can.
29 June, 2022
Since I was a child, it’s been my life’s mission to cultivate Jewish life in Hungary.
And in a sense, the story of Jewish Hungary is also my story — over the last three decades, we’ve grown up together, becoming more open, more authentic, and more proud.
It wasn’t always easy to be openly Jewish here. I was born in Budapest in the 1980s, right before the fall of communism and, like many people my age, I had no knowledge of my Jewish roots. For my parents, and my parents’ parents, their Jewishness was kept quiet.
All of that changed when I was admitted to the Lauder Javne Community School in Budapest. While there, I got connected to a larger Jewish community, history, and set of traditions. I discovered that I was Jewish, and not only accepted this part of my identity, but openly embraced it.
9 June, 2022
Holocaust memory is critical to Jewish identity, but Marcell Kenesei wants the Hungarian-Jewish people to transcend the traumas of the Shoah.
The 38-year-old spoke to the Journal about the future of Hungarian Jewry during a three-day visit to Los Angeles, where he attempted to raise support and awareness for the community-building work of the JCC Budapest — Bálint Ház.
During a wide-ranging conversation at a café in Beverly Hills, the JCC Budapest director highlighted how the JCC in Hungary is fostering a diverse, pluralistic and vibrant Judaism.
24 March, 2022
The JCC has initiated cooperation between Jewish organizations that are active in Hungary. The goal is to organize and coordinate the efforts of the Jewish community, to make it more efficient, which has resulted in the cooperation of more than 50 organizations to help its Ukrainian Chaverim. This coalition is led by the JCC and includes JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee), MAZSIHISZ (The Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities), the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the WJC (World Jewish Congress).
December 4, 2020
For some Jews, “from generation to generation” is the most exhausted expression in Jewish life. Pointing to some endless chain of faceless ancestors passing on traditions like lighting the Menorah is stale routine and taken for granted.
December 17, 2019
After decimation during the Holocaust and the curtailment of Jewish practice under Communist rule, today Jewish culture is flourishing in Budapest. Twenty-six-year-old Hungarian teacher Dávid Hollós explores his city’s vibrant Jewish community, while delving deeper into his own Jewish heritage and identity.
November 16, 2018
Jews in Hungary are discovering their roots for the first time since the end of Communist rule in 1989, and the only Jewish Community Center in the country is helping them get closer to their heritage.
October 30, 2018
With Halloween upon us, everyone loves a good ghost story. A native of Hungary, I’ve learned this about the U.S.
I also learned that for many Jewish visitors to Europe — including some I’ve met in New York City during a visit the last week — ghosts are what they think they’ll find in the communities where their ancestors once lived.
11 June, 2018
With Halloween upon us, everyone loves a good ghost story. A native of Hungary, I’ve learned this about the U.S.
I also learned that for many Jewish visitors to Europe — including some I’ve met in New York City during a visit the last week — ghosts are what they think they’ll find in the communities where their ancestors once lived.
18 May, 2018
As past trauma and current census policy make calculating the number of Hungarian Jews impossible, young leaders engage uncounted Jews like themselves, and welcome them home
18 May, 2018
My name is Susanna Green. I was born and grew up in Hungary, but I have been living in the United States for decades.
Through JDC and my friends Carol and Ted Levy, I met Zsuzsa Fritz on my last visit to Budapest. She is the director of the Balint Haz JCC in Budapest and educational director of Szarvas, JDC and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation’s flagship international Jewish summer camp. But mostly, for me, she is the heart and soul of Jewish life in Hungary.
