Concern over rising assimilation has led to an initiative to establish a European-wide Jewish youth movement.
The idea was proposed at the latest twice-yearly European Rabbis Conference, which took place in June in Odessa, Ukraine. Conference President Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sitruk, the Chief Rabbi of France, told his colleagues that a youth movement of this nature "would unite the youth under one leadership, with the goal of strengthening their Torah study and observance... with more Torah classes throughout the continent."
A query left for the Chairman of Bnei Akiva in Israel regarding the proposal was not immediately returned.
The Rabbis Conference takes place every six months, each time in a different European city. The city of Odessa, in southern Ukraine, was chosen this time as an expression of the rabbis' admiration for the unique Jewish community there - and specifically, the Tikva Project.
Tikva was formed in 2001 as the integration of two projects started by Odessa's Rabbi Shlomo Baksht: the Ohr Dessa Project, involving the revival of the city's Jewish community via outreach and religious/cultural identity programs, and the Children's Homes Program, dedicated to the plight of hundreds of Jewish children in Odessa eith suffering abuse and neglect at home, living in unsanitary and inhumane state orphanages, or with no home at all and living on the streets.
Some 20 European rabbis visited the sites of the growing Jewish community, including religious schools, synagogues, orphanages, homes for the elderly, kollelim, and a Jewish university.
Among the participating rabbis were Moscow's Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldshmidt, Rabbi Chanoch Ehrentroi, Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Yaakov Bleich, Geneva's Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Dayan, rabbis from London, Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Antwerp, and more.
Other issues discussed at the conference include the Jewish Legal Court of Europe that was established a half-year ago at the Gibraltar Conference; the activities of the Halakhic [Jewish Legal] Council for Rabbis; relations with Israel's Chief Rabbinate; and relations with other religious institutions, especially the Vatican.
A delegation from Israel to the Conference included Cabinet Minister Meshulam Nahari (Shas), MK Rabbi Avraham Ravitz (United Torah Judaism), and former MK Rabbi Yisrael Eichler. Nahari informed the participants that following his meeting with Prime Minister Olmert, the Israeli government allocation for Heftziba [Formal Jewish Zionist Education in the former Soviet Union] would not be cut - contrary to the plans of Education Minister Yuli Tamir of Labor.