A Macher in Yiddish is “an important guy”, the one who not only “does” things, but also bristles with energy to act. It is a dynamic person – not only has great ideas, but also actively pursues them. In Yiddish, “a macher” refers to an important person who has an influence on their surroundings – a real influencer.

A Macher is also a volunteer of the Jewish Culture Festival, who helps us to create the Festival in summer and – during the rest of the year – supports us in Cheder. All the Machers are also invited to develop their own projects, in order to learn, gain experience and make new friends.

As it was appropriate for the jubilee, 30th edition of the JCF, the last year’s volunteer program was exceptional.

Although we have had volunteers from abroad for many years, never before had they represented as many as 15 world countries! This year, the Machers came from Germany, Italy, Israel, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, India, Belarus, Kongo, Peru, Spain, France or Portugal.

Never before also, was the volunteer program so long – in 2021, this international team spent in Kazimierz, as many as 30 days and this was thanks to the financial support received with the European Solidarity Corp.

For the whole month, Krakow was their second home, whilst other volunteers and co-coordinators – their closest persons. It was the time for experiencing multiculturalism and for seeing how beautifully we can differ from each other, still making up a coherent and well-functioning community.

In this section of our website you can read how the Machers remember that time spent at the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow.

• You will be part of one of the most important cultural events in Poland and one of the largest Jewish culture festivals worldwide.
• You will also participate in the pre-festival events, prepared especially for volunteers.
• Also you will work in a dynamic, friendly and international team.

• You can rely on the support of the coordinators, who will help you with their advice, sharing their experience with you.
• Outside your working time, you will have an opportunity to take part in all the Festival events free of charge.
• You will get 2 free tickets and 2 tickets at a special promotion price, available solely for the volunteers, for the concerts in the Tempel Synagogue for your friends or family members.

• They support the events organized in the Cheder Cafe – an official Club of the Jewish Culture Festival (concerts, lectures, workshops)
• They create the cultural and educational program of the Cheder: with the local community in mind, they create their own proposals of the events in the Cheder and they conduct them with the assistance of the JCF office;
• They work in the Cheder library, cataloguing the collections and searching for the new books in collaboration with publishing houses;
• They co-organize the events connected with the Workshops for Seniors;
• They assist the preparation of the next editions of the JCF;