Budapest’s Zsilip Community Center has unveiled a lively 2026 program calendar at its riverside hub, 1137 Budapest, Újpesti Rakpart 1, in the 13th District. The space blends a kosher café and bagel bar with music, theater, study circles, and a two-level playhouse, inviting all ages—whatever their background—to connect easily with Jewish culture and tradition. Expect a warm, walk-in vibe: browse, linger, and dive into events designed for kids, teens, and adults alike.
Sunday School Comes Back, Bigger and Busier
The beloved Sunday kids’ program returns, freshly reimagined as Zsiliputi Jewish Sunday School, set in the upgraded Zsilip Center with a two-story play area and plenty of study rooms. Running 10:00–12:30, it welcomes children and teens aged 4–14 into age-based groups where they prepare for holidays together, learn about mitzvot, explore traditions, and absorb values to carry through life. Whether you’re tiny, a tween, almost in the youth cohort, or approaching Bar/Bat Mitzvah, this school is built for you. Expect hands-on games, playful learning, and the kind of shared memories kids talk about for years. Sessions are scheduled on Sundays across May and early June: May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, and June 7.
Havruta: Learning in Community, Week by Week
Zsilip’s Havruta program—now thriving into its third year—anchors the center’s adult learning. In Judaism, learning isn’t just academic; it’s a worldview, a way of life, and a communal calling. Havruta channels that spirit with small-group study in the yeshiva style, thinking together to explore ancient wisdom. The format runs twice weekly, Monday and Wednesday, two hours each evening.
• Mondays: 18:30, Weekly Torah Portion with Rabbi Sámuel Glitzenstein; 19:30, The Role of Women in Judaism with Rebbetzin Sarah Nógrádi.
• Wednesdays: 17:30, The Messianic Era—Philosophy and Halacha with Rabbi Báruch Oberlander; 18:30, The Book of Mitzvot—The 613 Commandments with Rabbi Jonatán Megyeri.
The center emphasizes that the strength of Jewish life lies in shared study and communal responsibility—no one learns in isolation here, and everyone with a thirst for knowledge is welcome to push open Zsilip’s doors.
Spotlight: Women’s Role in Judaism with Rebbetzin Nógrádi
On Wednesday, May 20 at 19:30, Rebbetzin Sarah Nógrádi leads a focused Havruta session on the true role of women in Judaism—cutting through question marks (and exclamation points). Participation is free but requires registration. The learning track is open to halachically Jewish participants, and you can join at any time during the year.
Deep Dive: The Messianic Era with Rabbi Oberlander
On Wednesday, May 27 at 17:30, Havruta opens its doors for an in-depth session with Rabbi Báruch Oberlander on the Messianic Era, examining its philosophical underpinnings and halachic dimensions. It’s free with registration and, as with all Havruta sessions at Zsilip, designed for halachically Jewish learners. Venue: Zsilip, 1137 Budapest, Újpesti Rakpart 1.
Theater Premiere: Babylon Dossier
Also on the bill is a singular monodrama, Babilon dosszié (Babylon Dossier), which brings to life the camp memoirs of Olga Galló, a radiant, talented young writer deported to Auschwitz at 30 along with her mother. In Auschwitz and subsequent labor camps, Galló kept a diary in the most impossible conditions, scraping together paper and pencil at the cost of part of her food ration if needed. Writing was her survival: a way to step out of an unbearable present into the past, to the life she had and the life she still longed for.
She survived but lost almost everything—her mother, her dearest sibling, her home, and the creative ease that once sustained her. In the postwar years, as society demanded silence, she acted as if nothing had happened and left the diary untouched. Two decades later, after a nervous breakdown, she retrieved it on a doctor’s advice and resolved to publish it. The Kádár-era climate, built on suppressing trauma, didn’t reward that decision—yet Galló didn’t back down.
Now her extraordinary camp diary returns to the stage, paired with the correspondence documenting her fight to publish it, in a deeply personal performance by her granddaughter, actress Andrea Fullajtár. The show balances the darkest chapter of 20th-century European history with the absurd, tragicomic realities of socialism—eliciting a bittersweet laugh through tears. The text draws on Olga Galló’s manuscript of Tíz hónap Babilonban (Ten Months in Babylon) and her letters.
Performed by: Andrea Fullajtár. Writer: Olga Galló. Dramaturg: Róbert Solt. Music: Botond Lelkes. Poster photo: Péter Németh. Poster design: László Csáfordi. Director: Máté Szabó. Tickets are 5,900 HUF (about 15.90 USD). With Haver Card: 5,015 HUF (about 13.50 USD). Scheduled for Sunday, May 10, in Budapest.
Practical Details and Flow
The Zsilip Center’s 2026 slate weaves together weekly rhythms—Monday and Wednesday Havruta blocks—alongside family-friendly Sunday mornings that engage younger kids and teens through play, tradition, and shared preparation for holidays. The café-and-bagel setup keeps the experience casual and social, and the mix of theater, music, and classes gives everyone a way in, whether you’re looking for deep study or a relaxed community morning.
Key dates to pencil in: Sunday School on May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, and June 7; Havruta every Monday (18:30, 19:30) and Wednesday (17:30, 18:30); the focused women’s learning with Rebbetzin Nógrádi on May 20 at 19:30; and the Messianic Era session with Rabbi Oberlander on May 27 at 17:30. Registration is required for select Havruta events; participation is intended for halachically Jewish learners, with rolling admission throughout the year.
Zsilip’s open invitation stands: step in, look around, and find your way into a living culture—one class, one performance, or one bagel at a time.
