In response to the news that armed guards prevented worshipers from entering one of Krakow’s synagogues amid a property dispute, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President, Conference of European Rabbis, said: "The synagogue is the heartbeat of any Jewish community, for it to be used as weapon in an internal dispute, as it is in Krakow, is simply soul destroying.
"The images of masked guards standing outside a synagogue belong in a different era. We urge all parties to follow the call of Chief Rabbi Schudrich and fulfill the most basic responsibility of every Jewish community —open the doors of the synagogue and allow Jews to pray."