Europe's senior Orthodox rabbis deeply regret recent moves in
Israel to legalize new forms of speeded-up conversions, under
that country's Law of Return, which do not confirm to
accepted halachic guidelines.
At a meeting of the standing committee of the Conference of
European Rabbis held in Budapest on May 16, the Conference
unanimously agreed to send a top-level delegation to Israel
to formally protest these moves which strike at the heart of
the integrity of the Jewish People.
"Entry into the covenant of the Jewish People must represent
a serious commitment on the part of those who choose to
convert and any dilution of the conversion process is a real
danger to Jewish unity, both in Israel and in the Diaspora,"
said the Conference's president, Chief Rabbi of France Joseph
Sitruk.
During a three-day meeting in the Hungarian capital, the
Conference of European Rabbis also heard a detailed
presentation from Rome's Chief Rabbi, Riccardo Shmuel di
Segni, on the potential for continued dialogue with the
Catholic Church, in the wake of the election of Pope Benedict
XVI.
Set up in 1957, the Conference of European Rabbis federates
rabbinical leaders from over 40 European countries and
includes all the chief rabbis and senior dayanim from
across the continent.
A delegation of rabbis led by CER Executive Director Rabbi
Aba Dunner also met with the Mayor of Budapest, Mr. Gabor
Demszky, and with the Secretary of State for Culture, Mr.
Gulyas. During the meeting at the ministry, Rabbi Dunner
asked the Secretary of State to thank the President of
Hungary for the contents of his recent speech at Auschwitz,
in which he stated his regret that, 60 years earlier, more
had not been done by the Hungarian people to prevent the
deportation of 600,000 Hungarian Jews in 1944.
Rabbi Dunner also requested that the Hungarian government
consider initiating legislation that prevents the desecration
of 1,200 Jewish cemeteries situated throughout Hungary, often
in towns and villages where the cemetery is situated in the
center of town and is a valuable plot, and a prime target for
redevelopment.
As part of its continuing commitment to the promotion of
Jewish ethical and moral values at the heart of Europe and to
the protection of the fundamental rights of freedom of
religious expression in every corner of the Continent, the
Conference is also pleased to announce the opening of its new
Brussels office.
