{"id":44559,"date":"2026-06-22T18:58:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/44559\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T18:58:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:58:34","slug":"the-blogs-an-enriched-sense-of-jewish-touring-in-europe-jared-m-feldschreiber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/44559\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blogs: An Enriched Sense of Jewish Touring in Europe | Jared M. Feldschreiber"},"content":{"rendered":"

Evgenia Kempinski,<\/a> a private and online tour guide based in Barcelona, is a ubiquitous presence while roaming Spain\u2019s capital city. Evgenia, who also goes by Jane, seems to be everywhere all at once, both as a highly-charged historian and a learned docent on the streets. Born in St Petersburg, Evgenia never misses an opportunity to hone her uniquely honed abilities in synthesizing the depths of Jewish history.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAs well as many other cities, Jews came [to Spain] a long, long time ago,\u201d Kempinski tells me. \u201cThey came to Europe together with the Romans. We see it in the Jewish neighborhoods, the Jewish quarters<\/a>, and we see Jews occupy top positions. Jews had villas and fancy lands. They were royal bailiffs, ambassadors, [and] doctors. They operated not only in business \u2013 as we tend to think [of them as doing] \u2013 but also occupied an important place in the intellectual life,\u201d she adds.\n<\/p>\n

Kempinski says she is \u201cshaped by Israel,\u201d yet calls Barcelona her \u201chome and inspiration. I\u2019ve guided Jewish heritage and general tours throughout Eastern Europe, and for the past six years, I\u2019ve been giving online lectures on Jewish history in the diaspora,\u201d she writes on her website, www.jewish-barcelona.com.<\/a> \u201cMy interests range from medieval Jewish manuscripts to classical and modern art, from Sephardic journeys to Ashkenazi traditions.\u201d She has made a concerted effort to, \u201cuncover the links between history, culture, and the personal stories we carry.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Unlike most guides who view their job as merely a vocation, Kempinski heavily invests her time in research, which, in turn, translates into an enriched sense of imparting meaningful stories. \u201cI don\u2019t just give facts, but I show the meaning behind them. You\u2019ll see how each place fits into the Jewish story of Barcelona<\/a> and why it still matters today,\u201d she says.\n<\/p>\n

When speaking to Evgenia on the phone, one hears her profound sense of passion and knowledge.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cCatalonia<\/a> contributed a lot to the success of the Jews in the state,\u201c Kempinski reminds me. \u201cWe then come to the decline that began in 1391. In the mid-14th century, the Black Death in Europe killed, some say, fifty percent of the European population. Yes, it was awful for the Jews as it was then that the pogroms started in the south of Spain. It began in Seville and [continued] all around the Peninsula.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIn August 1391, the King was not in Barcelona, and the choice was very simple: [the Jews were forced to] either die or convert. Very few Jews managed to run, and they either converted or were murdered. Even for those Jews who were forced to convert, they were not allowed to stay in their homes. They had to sell their houses for a very small price,\u201d she adds.\n<\/p>\n

By the start of the 20th century, \u201cthe Jews from North Africa and from some Eastern European countries\u201d returned to Spain.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning of the 20th century, Barcelona went through an incredible commercial success,\u201d adds Kempinski. \u201cIt was very successful. There were many grand enterprises commercially and on the cultural scene. This coincided with the return of the Jews. Yes, first we see poor Jews from North Africa<\/a> and Eastern Europe, and then we also see Jews actively participating in cultural life. We see Jewish conductors, musicians, singers, and [those involved in] theater. We see Jews involved with sponsoring the \u2018New Barcelona.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the \u2018New Barcelona\u2019 of recent years has not been so pleasant for Zionist Spaniards. Leftist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is at the helm, and he has made a concerted effort to denigrate the State of Israel. Javier Bardem, the Oscar-winning actor, for instance, has also led a shameful campaign against Israel, often wearing a keffiyeh at movie award shows.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain\u2019s current government under Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez has pursued policies that not only damage its international standing but also contribute to a rising wave of postmodern antisemitism in Europe,\u201d wrote Angel Manuel Garcia Carmona<\/a>, an Associate Professor at Universidad CEU San Pablo (Madrid), in March.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSpanish public universities have severed ties with Israeli academic institutions\u2014cutting research in high-tech fields\u2014while remaining silent on China. Professors push pro-Hamas biases, leading to intimidation, harassment, and assaults against Jewish students, including spitting and calls for expulsion. This echoes historical Judenfrei zones in Nazi Germany (Berlin, Vienna), where Jewish businesses were marked and boycotted,\u201d added Prof. Carmona.\n<\/p>\n

Kempinski had previously spent six years living in Israel, telling me that her favorite places include, \u201cof course, Jerusalem, Caesarea, Haifa, and Mount Carmel.\u201d She credits \u201cseveral amazing teachers at school, including my teacher of the Jewish History program back in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Levin,\u201d as a main impetus with catapulting her career. Today a professor at Hebrew University, Levin taught her to, \u201clove history and to tell it in a way it becomes alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tPhoto of Evgenia Kempinski provided by the Kempinski family.<\/p>\n

Disillusioned with the confines of working as a lawyer after finishing law school, Kempinski took a year-long tour guide class in St. Petersburg.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the first day I worked as a guide, I realized it was my calling,\u201d underscores Kempinski.\n<\/p>\n

The isolation during the COVID-era months also proved to be a boon for Kempinski.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cGiving online lectures<\/a> allowed for a new world to open for me [as] I wasn\u2019t bound to a specific place. I could choose any subject I wanted to speak about,\u201d she says.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the last six years, I\u2019ve learned more than in all my life before that. The more I\u2019ve learned, the more I want to [impart my wisdom to the world]. I consider myself a Zionist and part of my job is to speak about Jewish history with pride. I like to be independent.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

This autonomy remains key to her business success.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely love learning things and putting them into a bigger picture,\u201d she concludes. \u201cTo me, Jewish history is everywhere, and I would like to help people understand how much impact Jews had in each European country<\/a>, and how they developed relations with their neighbors.\u201d\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tMy experience is writing, reporting, and documenting personal narrative pieces through articles and the creative arts. I continue to interview dissidents, filmmakers, ambassadors, poets, and self-censored journalists, oft-times in regimented societies.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Evgenia Kempinski, a private and online tour guide based in Barcelona, is a ubiquitous presence while roaming Spain\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,859,20227,20228],"class_list":["post-44559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-education","tag-jewish-history","tag-spanish-jews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}