The first written mention about the Jewish population present in present-day Slovakia comes from the 11th century and the founding of the first Jewish community in Bratislava (Pressburg, Pozsony) in the late 13th century, however,  the migrations and settlements of the 17th and 18th centuries had the most significant impact on the subsequent development of the Jewish community.
The significant growth and improvement of the social and economic position of the Jewish population during the 19th century was to a great extent the result of the reforms of religious toleration enacted by Emperor Joseph II in 1783.

Bratislava became the seat of Hungarian Jewish Orthodoxy under the leadership of the renowned Rabbi Moshe Schreiber, known as the Chatam Sofer (1762-1839), who served as rabbi in Bratislava from 1806 until his death. He founded the influential yeshiva of Bratislava, and led the traditionalist struggle against rapidly spreading religious reform. In 1868, one year after the constitutional compromise (Ausgleich), Hungarian Jewry split into Neolog (Hungarian reform), Orthodox, and Status Quo factions following unresolved conflict stemming from the kingdom-wide Jewish congress in Budapest organized by the government. The majority of Jewish communities in northern Hungary were Orthodox, though there were important Neolog Jewish communities in Bratislava and Košice (Kaschau, Kassa).

We’ll visit all significant synagogues and provide you with in-depth knowledge about the Jewish Heritage in Slovakia.