On October 21 and 22, 2003, an international seminar entitled "Minorities, cultural heritage, contemporary Romanian civilization" - dedicated to promoting the cultural values of the ethnic minority groups against the background of contemporary Romania - will take place in Bucharest.

The event intends to provide the opportunity for an exchange of ideas concerning ways to preserve, share and perceive one's own culture, in relation with the culture of the others. It will thus facilitate intercultural dialogue and the discussion of the dynamics of minority-majority relationships.

The seminar is organized by the Federation of the Jewish Communities in Romania (FJCR) and by B'nai B'rith International, in cooperation with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the "Civic Education Project" organization in Romania and the "Goldstein-Goren" Center for Hebrew Studies of the University of Bucharest. There will be three sections:

1. Promoting multiculturalism through the initiation of interethnic dialogues.
2. Case studies: successful projects in preserving the cultural heritage.
3. The Jewish heritage: lessons lived, lessons learned.

These are some of the conferences that were scheduled:
- "From the goy-Jew to the Jew-goy"; Michael Shafir, Senior Area Specialist, Radio "Free Europe"
- "The Holocaust in Romania and its consequences through photographic images"; Radu Ioanid, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- "The Germans of Romania between Nazism and Stalinism"; William Totok, researcher, Germany
- "The digital photo of a burning candle"; Stefan Maier, project manager, "Romanian Jewish Heritage" Project
- "Jews, their Diaspora and the minority experience"; Jeremy Cohen, manager of the "Goldstein-Goren" Diaspora Research Center, professor of Jewish history, University of Tel Aviv
- "Gala Galaction and the Jewish Heritage"; George Voicu, Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of Bucharest
- "Together - a cultural project"; Georgeta Rusu, Romanian Peasant's Museum
- "Governmental structures involved in the issues of national minorities. Past and present"; Peter Eckstein Kovacs, representative of the Hungarian minority
- "The Armenians' presence in Romania for a thousand years - a model of ethnic co-existence"; Varujan Vosganian, representative of the Armenian minority
- "Rroma people of Romania: the emergence of a stigmatized identity"; Vasile Ionescu, representative of the Rroma minority
- "Regenerative and mimetic actions in preserving the Identity of National Minorities"; Andrei Ioan Stefanko, representative of the Slovak minority
- "The Jewish cultural heritage, essence and form"; Harry Culler, researcher, FJCR
- "Significance of the Coral Temple in the Jewish cultural heritage"; Lya Benjamin, researcher, FJCR
- "Romanian Jews, Romanian anti-Semitism, Romanian Holocaust"; Paul Shapiro, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- "The Jewish Cultural Heritage between preservation, re-evaluation and re-launching"; Dorel Dorian, MP, editor-in-chief of "The Jewish Reality" magazine
- "The road to the Jewish heritage in the south of France"; Carol Iancu, professor, "Paul Valéry" University, Montpellier
- "Managing historical memory. Contemporary highlights"; Liviu Rotman, researcher, "Goldstein-Goren" Diaspora Research Center, University of Tel Aviv
- "Romanian Jewish Heritage, a cross-field project"; Alexandru Florian, manager for Romania, "Romanian Jewish Heritage" Project Moderators: Liviu Rotman, Felicia Waldman, Andrei Oisteanu, Alexandru Florian, Liliana Popescu.

Greetings will be received from the representative of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the representative of USAID/World learning/US Embassy in Romania, Academy member Nicolae Cajal, president of the FJCR, and Daniel Mariaschin, executive vice-president of B'nai B'rith International.

According to the "Evenimentul zilei" newspaper from Bucharest, the Philharmonic Society in Timisoara was granted $ 40,000 to finance the project of converting the synagogue in the center of the city into a concert hall. The money comes from the US Monuments' Fund, which also financed the renovation of Brancusi's sculptural ensemble in Targu Jiu.

The synagogue was built between 1863 and 1865, after the project of the Viennese architect Ignatz Schumann. It is owned by the Jewish community of Timisoara and was leased for free to the Philharmonic Society in Timisoara for 50 years. The representatives of the community sent a memo to the city hall, expressing their agreement to the conversion of the synagogue into a concert hall. Also, the Ministry for Culture and Cults issued its own agreement. No religious service has been officiated in the synagogue for several years.