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| Mergui elected chairman of the Paris Consistoire
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Joel Mergui
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The council of one of the most significant Jewish religious organizations in France finally has elected its new leader, following a lengthy legal battle over campaigning methods.
Joel Mergui was named chairman of the Paris Consistoire council on Thursday after his electoral roll won the consistorial election on November 27. Twenty one council members out of 24 voted for Mergui, three abstained.
Joel Mergui is a known in the Jewish community for his initiatives to warm relations between France and Israel. He created the French-Israeli Forum, an annual summit that gathers Israeli and French mayors.
The council’s meeting was held after the Paris Court of Justice validated the November Consistoire election on Wednesday. The court rebuffed complaints by opponent Andre Benayoun who claimed Joel Mergui’s allies were guilty of fraud.
Benayoun had said he could prove that Mergui’s allies from the AJC list (Avenir du judaisme communautaire) used unauthorised methods to attract voters, mainly by sending flyers to their home addresses and sms messages to their cellular phones. But the complaints were rejected by the both the court and the Consistoire. The court considered Benayoun didn't gather enough elements.
Mergui, a 47-year-old skin doctor, succeeds Moise Cohen who chaired the Paris Consistoire for 12 years. He is the son of a rabbi and has served as previously vice-president of the national Consistoire.
Unity call
Mergui was the sole candidate to the Paris Consistoire although, according to well informed sources, a woman, Francoise Atlan also intended to be a candidate but renounced after Paris chief rabbi David Messas opposed it.
"My ambition is that the work that we are going to do will be done in a spirit of unit," Mergui, the son of rabbi, told the press.
Before the November elections, the leaders of the Paris Consistoire opposed a project of a national kashrut under the national Consistoire.
Mergui expressed the wish to pursue with close relations "with the national Consistoire and the other Jewish institutions in France, as well as with the French authorities and the other religions."
"The Paris Consistoire and the national Consistoire will celebrate in two years their 200 years of existence. It's important that this happens in a spirit of uniting all energies," Mergui declared.
He also cited among his priorities the development of education and of kashrut, the Jewish laws of what is permissible to eat
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