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NEWS
Conference of Eurasian Rabbis Held in Jerusalem
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
"I praise each and every one of you for great success in
Torah and yiras Shomayim in all places —
lehagdil Torah ulehadiroh," Maran HaRav Eliashiv
shlita told dozens of rabbonim participating in the
Conference of Eurasian Rabbis, who paid a visit to his home
on Sunday 8 Tammuz. The rabbis, who held their third
conference in Jerusalem, were presented to Maran by
Conference of European Rabbis Director HaRav Moshe Lebel, who
serves as rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Toras Chaim in Moscow.
The meeting with HaRav Eliashiv brought the two-day
conference to a close. During the event the rabbonim
addressed a variety of issues including halachic problems in
the former Soviet Union, building community systems,
establishing which customs to follow in places where the
kehilloh stopped functioning, verifying Jewish status
in intermarried families, halachic ramifications of civil
marriage, kashrus supervision credibility and kashrus
problems. The rabbonim decided that the Moscow beis
din headed by HaRav Pinchos Goldschmidt would serve as
the beis din for the Conference of Eurasian Rabbis as
well, handling marriage and divorce, monetary matters,
kashrus and more. Conference-goers heard shiurim and
lectures on these and other issues by given by numerous
rabbonim and halochoh figures.
HaRav Y. Cohen, chairman of the Conference of Eurasian
Rabbis, and HaRav Goldschmidt, announced in the name of
hundreds of rabbonim from the Conference of Eurasian Rabbis
and the Conference of European Rabbis that they strongly
opposed the initiative to bring rabbis from Israel to the
former Soviet Union and Europe to perform conversions. On the
first day of the conference, rabbonim from the Conference met
with members of the Knesset Immigration and Absorption
Committee, saying they would work to stop the plan from going
through.
HaRav Goldschmidt said that all of the rabbonim and
kehillos of Eurasia, who receive assistance and
guidance in all areas of Jewish life and representation in
the Conference, chose to show solidarity with Israel and the
struggle over Jewish identity here. He went on to say the
Conference "would continue to build botei knesses,
schools and talmudei Torah in every location that
shows an interest and to nurture Jewish life in all of the
communities as instructed by gedolei Yisroel in
keeping with the age-old Jewish tradition."
In a speech he delivered before the main gathering of the
Eurasian Jewish Congress held at the Metzudat David Hotel,
HaRav Goldschmidt said botei knesses and botei
medrash and community centers are Jewish embassies and
extra-territorial facilities around the world, providing a
connection between the Jews and Israel. He praised conference
patron and chairman of the Eurasian Jewish Congress,
Alexander Moskowitz, for his initiative in building botei
knesses and community centers in Kazakhstan. "We promise
the Conference of European Rabbis will send to each of the
botei knesses and Jewish community centers rabbis and
spiritual leaders trained for the task in order to fill them
with pure Jewish content and pass on the Torah tradition in
its time-honored form, to run Jewish community life with an
education toward Torah and yiras Shomayim."
At the gathering Mr. Moskowitz said the Congress would
continue assisting every kehilloh seeking to expand
its activity in order to increase Torah study and
observance.
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