History of The Jews in Slovenia - After 1990

After 1990

The Jewish community today is estimated at 400-600 members, although only 130 are members of the Jewish Community of Slovenia organization. The community consists of people of Ashkenazi and Sephardi descent. In 1999, the first Chief Rabbi for Slovenia was appointed since 1941. Before that, religious services were provided with help from the Jewish community of Zagreb. The present chief rabbi for Slovenia, Ariel Haddad, resides in Trieste and is a member of the Lubavitcher Hassidic school. The current president of the Jewish Community of Slovenia is Andrej Kožar Beck.

Since the year 2000, there has been a noticeable revival of Jewish culture in Slovenia. In 2003, a synagogue was opened in Ljubljana. In 2008, the Association Isserlein was founded to promote the legacy of Jewish culture in Slovenia. It has organized several public events that have received positive responses from the media, such as the public lighting of the hanukiah in Ljubljana in 2009. There has also been a growing public interest in the Jewish historical legacy in Slovenia. In 2008, the complex of the Jewish Cemetery in Rožna Dolina near Nova Gorica was restored due to the efforts of the local Democratic Party politicians, pressure from the neighboring Jewish Community of Gorizia, and the American Embassy in Slovenia. In January 2010, the first monument to the victims of the Shoah in Slovenia was unveiled in Murska Sobota.