Arutz Sheva spoke with President of the Conference of European Rabbis, Rabbi Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, about the impressions of the delegation comprised of European and Israeli rabbis that visited Tunisia last weekend.
The rabbis were invited by the Tunisian government to strengthen the Jewish community, the Rabbi of Tunisia Rabbi Haim Bitan, and cooperation between Jews and Muslims in the war against Islamic terror.
“We were surprised to see a vibrant Jewish community that still has its old customs. I don’t think there is a [similar] community anywhere else in the world,” Rabbi Goldschmidt said.
“It is a small community - only about a thousand members - but it expresses its Jewishness very freely and very authentically.”
“We are in the process of building bridges to other faith communities,” the rabbi explained. “We are dealing with the Jewish-Muslim dialogue [...] We found interest in normalizing relations between the Jewish community and Tunis. We hope that our trip here with further the relationship between the Tunisian people and the Jewish people.”
“Many changes are happening in the Middle East, so we believe we are at an important junction at which the Council of European Rabbis can play an important role in building new relationships and new bridges.”