Over 100 leading European Rabbis will get together next week in Vienna for a unique three-day convention organized by the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE). Though it is being held in the shadow of increasing anti-Semitism in Europe, Rabbi Moshe Garelik, Director of RCE and the organizer of the convention, says that the anti-Jewish sentiment has brought about a religious/national reawakening among Jewish youth.
During the course of the seminar, the first Jewish Teachers Academy in Vienna since World War II will be inaugurated. The famous pre-war Jewish academy was burned down during Kristallnacht in 1939. In addition, Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, will receive a Humanitarian Achievement Award from the Brussels-based RCE. Rabbi Garelik praised Prodi for his "outstanding leadership and outreach in engaging with the diversity of cultures in Europe and of the Jewish community in particular."
Lectures will be given on contemporary topics of interest to the European rabbis, including security in the face of growing anti-Semitism, determining individuals' Halakhic [Jewish legal] status, mikvaot, modern medicine and Jewish Law, and more. Rabbi Yaakov Biderman, a leading figure in Austria's Jewish community, said that Jewry in Eastern Europe has "undergone three stages in the past decade: Iron Curtain suffocation, revival and rebuilding, and now stabilization and re-organization." For this reason, he explained, determining those who are Jews and the building of mikvaot [for proper Jewish family life] are important issues.
During the course of the seminar, the first Jewish Teachers Academy in Vienna since World War II will be inaugurated. The famous pre-war Jewish academy was burned down during Kristallnacht in 1939. In addition, Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, will receive a Humanitarian Achievement Award from the Brussels-based RCE. Rabbi Garelik praised Prodi for his "outstanding leadership and outreach in engaging with the diversity of cultures in Europe and of the Jewish community in particular."
Lectures will be given on contemporary topics of interest to the European rabbis, including security in the face of growing anti-Semitism, determining individuals' Halakhic [Jewish legal] status, mikvaot, modern medicine and Jewish Law, and more. Rabbi Yaakov Biderman, a leading figure in Austria's Jewish community, said that Jewry in Eastern Europe has "undergone three stages in the past decade: Iron Curtain suffocation, revival and rebuilding, and now stabilization and re-organization." For this reason, he explained, determining those who are Jews and the building of mikvaot [for proper Jewish family life] are important issues.