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| Russia hosts rabbinical congress
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Rabbis attenting the Rabbinical congress in Moscow
Photo: RCE
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Some 200 rabbis from across Europe have for the first time gathered in Russia to attend a rabbinical congress.
"It is the first time such a congress is held in Russia," said Timur Kireyev, a spokesman for Russia's Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar, who organised the event in cooperation with the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE), a Brussels-based organisation gathering rabbis around the continent.
Menashe Burkis, one of the RCE organisers, said the event, the third Halachik (traditional Jewish legislation) European Congress, was called to deal with contemporary Jewish issues, such as marriage and divorce.
The two-day congress took place in Yadromino, 70 km from Moscow, where rabbis from 27 European and Central Asian countries gathered.
Jewish revival
"The fact that the congress is taking place here is very symbolic. A few years ago it would have been unthinkable in Russia," Kireyev stated. The spokesman said the fact that so many European rabbis attended the congress was a sign of the renewal of Russia's Jewish community.
Besides their theological agenda, the rabbis discussed Iran and its president's recent call for Israel to be “wiped off the map”. Kireyev said anti-Semitism in Russia was not on the agenda in a bid to maintain calm.
Last January, an anti-Semitic pamphlet signed by 20 Russian lawmakers and 5,000 others had slammed the Shulhan Arukh, an ancient legal code, as "anti-Russian" and called for "the banning of all religious organisations and Jewish communities" accused of "extremism".
In the opening address, Rabbi Mordechai Cohen from Paris stressed the great importance of the event and expressed his excitement at the outstanding revival of Jewish life in Russia.
"Why is this seminar so important? Today, Jews in Russia are no longer thinking of emigrating to Israel or other countries where they could pursue a Jewish lifestyle. They can lead a Jewish life right here in Russia," Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, pointed out at the opening of the congress.
"But we have plenty of questions to discuss – spiritual life, attitudes to family life, ethical issues. Through this seminar, we have the opportunity to really broaden our activity,” said Lazar.
Reburial of war victims
Burkis told EJP that the RCE met with Rabbi Wormisir, Stuttgart’s Chief Rabbi to organise the burial of the bodies found in a mass grave near Stuttgart last September. Dating back to WWII, the grave contained the remains of forced labourers from the Nazi regime.
Burkis said that the religious burial should take place in the next two weeks at the place where the bodies where found. Marim Stern, a death camp survivor who lives in Antwerp, will be present at the ceremony to say kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead).
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