Who We Are
Taube Jewish Heritage Tours is a mission-driven, on-the-ground, Jewish heritage education and tour program based in Poland with a worldwide reach in North America, Israel, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. Our professional team of engaging and expert academics, guides, educators, and community leaders provide meaningful and memorable custom-crafted Jewish tours, infusing each and every encounter with the perspectives and insights of those active in Polish Jewish life and committed to the preservation of Polish Jewish heritage. Taube Jewish Heritage Tours is a program of the registered non-profit organization Taube Center for the Renewal of Jewish Life in Poland. Revenue from TJHT fees supports publications, educational programs, and cultural and public events, which promote civil society, enrich Jewish communal life in Poland, ensure the transmission of 1,000 years of Polish Jewish history, and strengthen connections between Poles, Polish Jews, and Jews from around the world.
Helise Lieberman
DIRECTOR
Aleksandra Makuch
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
Holds a BA in linguistics from Jagiellonian University, Kraków and an MA in International Relations from the Tischner European University in Kraków. Between 2007-2013, she worked for the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków and coordinated a team of volunteers. From 2014-2015 Ms. Makuch interned at Taube Philanthropies in California. In the summer of 2015, she joined the staff of the Taube Center for Jewish Life and Learning.
Jakub Łysiak
GENERAL TOUR MANAGER
Jakub Łysiak, General Tour Manager, joined the Taube Jewish Heritage Tour staff in December 2015. He is an experienced tour guide and researcher, having established and managed his own firm, Polin Consulting, since 2007 (now incorporated into TJHT). Jakub studied at University of Warsaw in the Department of Jewish Studies, and at Tel Aviv University as a participant in the first session of the Polish-Israel Youth Exchange (PIYE), organized by POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Jakub served as PIYE’s Assistant Coordinator in 2007. He has worked at the Embassy of Israel in Poland and interned at the Embassy of Poland in Israel, and has worked with a number of Israeli governmental delegations, companies, individual clients, and families from around the world. Jakub was the first laureate in the Polish national contest for the History and Culture of Polish Jews, organized by the Shalom Foundation in 2000.
Paweł Łukaszewicz
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Paweł Łukaszewicz, Program Coordinator, joined the Taube Center staff in June 2014. Among various other duties at the Taube Center, he is the coordinator for Taube Jewish Heritage Tours. Paweł studied at Law & Administration and Spatial Planning faculties of the University of Warsaw. His main interests are concentrated on his hometown Warsaw, and its past, present and future. Since 2007 he has been an active member of the NGO Forum Rozwoju Warszawy (Warsaw’s Development Forum), which gathers people interested in keeping the city’s history alive, sustaining its traditions, and fostering Warsaw’s current and future sustainable development. In addition to topics related to Warsaw and urban planning, Paweł is interested in Lviv (former Polish city of Lwów) and region of Eastern Galicia.
Aleksandra Sajdak
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Aleksandra (Ola) Sajdak, Taube Center Senior Program Manager was born in Warsaw. Ola interned at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Jewish Historical Institute. She served as a Taube Center intern in 2011 and joined the staff in 2012. Ola contributed to the Taube Center publications 1,000 Years of Jewish Life in Poland: A Timeline and The Field Guide to Jewish Warsaw and Kraków. Intrigued with all aspects of Jewish history and heritage in Poland, Ola is currently working on her doctoral thesis on Ringelblum Archive and documents from the Jewish Historical Institute’s archive. Additionally, Ola is a genealogist at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, at the Jewish Genealogy & Family Heritage Center. Aleksandra also works with March of the Living UK since 2018 as an educator.
Ola is an alumna of the Taube Center’s Mi Dor Le Dor program, graduated from Minyanim, a Jewish leadership program for Jews in Central and Eastern Europe. She was also a Kaplan Fellow at Yesod Cohort II. She is active in the Warsaw Jewish Community, a member of the JCC and the Ec Chaim Kehilla.
Marta Eichelberger-Jankowska
PROJECT MANAGER
Marta Eichelberger-Jankowska is a “Yerusha” Project Manager, a guide of Jewish Warsaw at the Taube Center Foundation for the Renewal of Jewish Life in Poland Foundation, and an Educator the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. She is a graduate of an MA program in Experiential Education and Jewish Cultural Arts at George Washington University and holds a BA in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from University College London. She has extensive experience in Holocaust education. In the United States, she worked as an educator at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education and served as a senior historian intern at the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Agata Pietrzak
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Agata Pietrzak, the Program Coordinator, joined the Taube Center team in July 2022. She comes from Stary Sącz- a lovely city located in the mountainous region south of Krakow. Agata studied Law at the Faculty of Law, Canon Law, and Administration of the Catholic University in Lublin. She also studied Montessori Pedagogy in Krakow-Munchen in Krakow Rehabilitation Center for Children and Adolescents. For over 4 years, she worked in various Montessori Kindergartens in Warsaw. She is active in Hillel Warsaw, Warsaw Jewish Community and Orthodox Congregation at Nożyk Synagogue.