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NEWS
Dozens of Chief Rabbis at Annual Eurasian Rabbinical
Conference in Jerusalem
By Betzalel Kahn
The Eurasian Rabbinical Congress held its annual two-day
conference in Jerusalem at the Sheraton Plaza and the
Renaissance. At the end of the conference the rabbonim met
with Maran HaRav Eliashiv, shlita.
Congress Director HaRav Pinchos Goldschmidt, rov and av
beis din of Moscow, said that all of the rabbonim of the
Jewish communities in Eurasia, who have the merit to receive
assistance and guidance in all areas of Jewish life, chose to
hold this year's gathering in Jerusalem in order to identify
with Israel and the struggle for Jewish-chareidi identity
here. HaRav Goldschmidt said, "The Congress will continue
building botei knesses, schools and talmudei
Torah wherever they are needed and we will nurture Jewish
life in all of the communities as per our instructions from
gedolei Yisroel in accordance with the Jewish
tradition."
During the first day's meetings, heads of the Eurasian
Rabbinical Congress and the Conference of European Rabbis
(CER) said that the hundreds of rabbonim they represent
object to the concerted efforts by the Prime Minister's
Office to bring "rabbonim" from its Conversion Administration
to perform "conversions" in the former Soviet Union and
Europe. The day before the conference opened, Congress heads
HaRav Goldschmidt, Rabbi Abba Dunner, director of the CER,
and HaRav Yeshaya Cohen, the rov of Kazakhstan, met with
Knesset Chairman Reuven Rivlin and notified him that they
would oppose efforts by Rabbis Yosef Avior and Chaim Druckman
to come from Israel to perform conversions in their
respective countries.
Israel Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who delivered a shiur
to the conference participants, said afterwards during a
meeting with HaRav Goldschmidt, HaRav Yaakov Bleich, HaRav
Yeshaya Cohen and HaRav Moshe Lebel that conversions in
Europe and the former Soviet Union should only be performed
in full coordination with the CER.
The rabbonim participating in the conference arrived from
numerous different countries: HaRav Avrohom Sheibitz of
Russia, HaRav Yitzchok Haliba of Turkey, HaRav Shlomo Attias
of Manila, HaRav Berl Sissin of Moscow, HaRav Aryeh Bakar of
Riga, Latvia, HaRav Yeshaya Cohen of Kazakhstan, HaRav Moshe
Dovid Cohen of Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, HaRav Yaakov Bleich of
the Ukraine, HaRav Moshe Lebel of Moscow and Israel, HaRav
Moshe Kishon of Azerbaijan, HaRav Shlomo Mendel of Canada,
HaRav Avrohom Tzion Abramov of Kiev, Ukraine, HaRav Yitzchok
Eisman of Kiev, HaRav Shlomo Asraf of Kharkov, Ukraine, HaRav
Moshe Asman of Kiev, HaRav Mordechai Buld of Lvov, HaRav Igor
Barzner of Moscow, HaRav Ganadi Biloritzky of Kiev, HaRav
Chaim Bornstein of Vilna, HaRav Nosson Chazin of Kiev, HaRav
Gavriel Davidov of Moscow, HaRav Michoel Frumin of Saratov,
HaRav Gavriel Ginsberg of Samara (Kuibyshev), HaRav Nesanel
Lalenjy of Kiev, HaRav Yvgeny Katz of Yaroslavl, HaRav Liliah
of Perm, HaRav Leonid Cogen of Vladimir, HaRav Liliah
Krivoshai of Penza, HaRav Ariel Levin of Tbilisi, Georgia,
HaRav Bladimir Pipshitz of Moscow, HaRav Roslan Luker of
Kiel, HaRav Ariel Maselton of Tula, HaRav Henri Noach of
Japan, HaRav Yerachmiel Mamzel of Orkitsak, HaRav Yaniv
Naftali of Haifa, HaRav Rachamim Mordiashvili of Moscow,
HaRav Viktor Shapira of Kalingrad, HaRav Boris Shalin of
Mogilov, HaRav Moshe Steinberg of Yakutninberg, HaRav Nosson
Meir Shuster of Saratov, HaRav Lev Torovetzky of Warnizh,
HaRav Sender Yuritzky of Byelorussia, HaRav Dovid Yoshiviev
of Moscow, HaRav Anatoly Wirshovsky of Moscow, HaRav Yehuda
Yaakobov of Tirat Hacarmel and HaRav Yedikman Igor of Kiev.
(Our apologies to anyone whose name we did not spell
correctly. We did the best we could.)
During the course of the conference the rabbonim discussed a
variety of issues such as loyalty, kashrus supervision and
listing, halachic problems in former Soviet countries,
community building, clarifying Jewish identity in mixed
families, and more. The conference participants took part in
shiurim on these topics given by HaRav Osher Weiss,
Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and former
Chief Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau.
The members of the congress met with public figures,
government ministers and MKs, conference patron and president
of the Union of Jewish Communities in Kazakhstan Alexander
Mashkavitz, and CER Director Rabbi Abba Dunner. Leaders of
the CER helped sponsor and participated in the conference.
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