MUNICH – Rabbis from both Russia and Ukraine attended the 32nd General Convention of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) here this week and prayed for an end to the Russian war in Ukraine.
A private working session sought to alleviate the difficulties faced by Russian and Ukrainian Jewry.
Over 400 rabbis and rebbitzens, leading communities from 47 countries, were at the conference.
Tributes were offered to rabbis on the frontline, including Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich; Chief Rabbi of Odessa Shlomo Bakst, Refael Kruskal, CEO of Tikva Institutions in Odessa and Rabbi Pinchas Zaltzman, of the haredi community in Moldova.
Bakst brought his thousand-strong community into Romania, and refused to leave until every single community member moved to safety.
Conference of European Rabbis activities
From Israel, prominent speakers included chief rabbi David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, Dayan Osher Weiss, Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Farbstein, and Yisrael Chevron co-president of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin.
The CER has been active in supporting thousands of Jewish refugees from Ukraine, providing financial aid to refugees in many centers throughout the continent. The rabbis involved spoke of their work.
Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who is CER Associate President, dedicated his lecture to the convention’s second theme, dealing with the “post-pandemic world.”
Rabbis visited the Munich Olympic Village, to commemorate the 11 Israeli athletes massacred by Palestinian terrorists there in 1972, and recited kaddish during a visit to Dachau concentration camp.
Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the CER, paid tribute to the selfless dedication of the rabbis of Europe who dedicate their lives to the rebuilding of Jewish life across the continent.