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 Edited by the European Council of Jewish Communities |
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| With the support of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Comitee |
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3rd GA DRAWS 1031 DELEGATES FROM 42 COUNTRIES |
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General Assembly News |
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Please Note: : In the very near future we will put pictures, a downloadable
video of the GA, transcripts, and the important conclusions of the recent
community survey carried out by Jewish leaders during the GA. This
information will be posted on our GA website. There will also be another GA
newsletter in the next two weeks with further information.
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ECJC elects new President |
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Mazal tov to the newly elected ECJC Board and to President Jonathan Joseph. We congratulate you and wish you all the happiness and success you deserve. In recognition of his past service, Cobi Benatoff has been elected as Honorary President.
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ECJC elects new Board Member |
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The following names represent our newly elected Board Members:
President Jonathan Joseph UK, Vice Presidents: Jo Zrihen France, Lena Posner Korosi Sweden, Eduardo Shifrin/Rabbi Y Bleich (Alt) Ukraine, Eugenia Lvova Russia, Benjamin Bloch Germany.
Treasurers: Julien Klener Belgium, Andras Haisler Hungary, Nedim Karako Turkey.
Board Secretaries: Alex Zanzer Belgium, Leone Passerman Italy, Loek Kater, Netherlands.
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Board Members: Ciljia Laud Estonia, Dalia Levinsohn, Spain, David Saltiel Greece, Mark Grubarg/Rabbi A Berkowitz (alt) Russia, Maxim Benvenisti Bulgaria, Nathan Kalmanowicz Germany, Nigel Layton UK, Piotr Kadlcik Poland, Robert Ejnes France, Sabine Simkhovitch Dreyfus Switzerland, Serge Berdugo Morocco, Susan Grant UK, Petr Webr Czech.
Co opted members: Gaby Rosenstein Switzerland, Anders Carlberg Sweden, Emil Kalo Bulgaria, Ferenc Olti Hungary, Arturo Tedeschi Italy, Joel Rochard France, Juan Strauss Germany, Igor Kerez/Joseph Zissels (alt) Ukraine, Rabbi J Newman UK, Jean Jacques Wahl France, Claudio Morpurgo Italy, Evan Lazar Czech, Antoine Bebe France, Lionel Schreiber Union of European
Jewish Students.
Professional Advisors: Robert Djerassi Bulgaria, Tomas Kraus Czech, Jo Toledano France, Ronnie Naftaniel Netherlands, Marc Cohen France, Michael May Germany, Vivienne Lewis UK, Leonid Kolton Russia, Alexander Fero Slovakia, Barbara Specter Sweden, Simon Morris UK, Diane Salganik Russia, Patrick Klugman France, Anne Webber UK.
Observers: David Levy Ben Tolila Bnai Brith Europe, Alberto Senderey/Mario Izcovich (alt) JDC, Rabbi A Dunner CER, A Mashkevich/M Chlenov (alt) EAJC, J. Spitzer WCJCC, T. Comet WCJCS.
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Some facts about the 3rd GA that you might find interesting |
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Participants gathered from 42 countries (200 cities) representing large communities such as France to small communities like Malta.
During the conference there were nine hotels in use, 64 sessions taking place, visits to four local organizations, 340 speakers in English, Russian, French, and Hungarian, 15 stands, 1000 people on the Danube party cruise (four different levels with four different parties happening simultaneously), 50 young volunteers, 40% of delegates were women, 72 doctors, 15 rabbis (including three chief rabbis), 19 professors, 60 journalists and press crew, four hours sleep on average among GA organizing committee, 1000 balls gefilte fish, 300 bottles of wine on Friday night, 647 hotel rooms, 23,600+emails, 1031 delegates.
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In parallel meetings there were 120 youngsters ages 20-30 years old from Central Europe, 50 participants at the Yachad meeting (European singles network), 25 participants at the meeting of the Jewish Association of Broadcasters (JEBA), 12 participants to the Westbury Foundations group, and 15 participants to an international meeting of experts on childhood organized by JDC
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Emotional opening ceremony kicks off Third General Assembly |
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After a series of impressive sessions preceding the GA, the long awaited conference organized by the ECJC and JDC officially began Thursday night, May 20, 2004. It was a powerful opening as Jonathan Joseph introduced the event by proclaiming “a reawakening of Jewish life and culture in Europe on a scale not seen for 100 years.” Various speakers presented their thoughts on this momentous gathering of European Jewry following the accession of 10 new EU countries.
Alberto Senderey, JDC Director of Community Development, stated:
“Europe was 2000 years of Jewish history, creation, horror, and life. We are the present. We have to build like our predecessors into the future, for us and for the next generations. We must move towards a new golden age.”
Speakers Cobi Benatoff (President of ECJC and EJC) and Kalman Gulyas (Hungarian Secretary of State) spoke of a new anti-Semitism, Islamic fundamentalism, and potential challenges in an enlarged Europe.
Andras Heisler pointed to the Jewish people’s historic ability to survive on their own terms in multi-ethnic societies and how the new EU created a new set of challenges.
“Now we are faced with the challenge of living according to new rules imposed on us by the European Union.”
Judith Varnai Shorer (Israeli Ambassador to Hungary) brought greeting from the diplomatic community.
Carol Solomon, Chairman of the board of governors of the Jewish Agency for Isarel, Richard Bernstein (Board Member of the American UJC), David Levy Ben Tollila (Bnai Brith Europe) and Mikhail Chlenov, on behalf of the Euro Asian Jewish Congress, also brought greeting from their respective organizations.
JDC Celebrates 90 year anniversary
Following the opening ceremony a short film was shown documenting the incredible work of the JDC over the past century. Presentations were made in recognition of the JDC’s 90 years of activity in Europe, Israel, and the rest of the world.
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Plenary 1: Jewish Identity
The immensely complex issue of modern Jewish identity was discussed by a number of noted leaders and intellectuals such as professor Barry Kosmin, Director of JPR Institute which has catalogued results of a recent survey entitled “European Jewish Identity at the Dawn of the 21st Century.” Other contributors to the session were Shmuel Trigano, Professor of Sociology from Paris and Mikhail Chlenov, a Russian professor and Vice Chairman of the EAJC who congratulated ECJC and JDC for building bridges between European and Eurasian Jewry.
Alberto Senderey, JDC Director of Community Development, spoke of a modern day propensity for ‘cut and paste’ Judaism where at different stages of their lives, Jews are selecting various aspects in different proportions to identify themselves with the community.
"We are now witnessing a tendency in our general
culture where people are choosing to live Jewish lives and build their Jewish identity in ways they find suitable, a sort of 'Judaism a la carte'."
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PLENARY 2: Fundamentalism, Globalism, and the European response
Debate on Islamic fundamentalism proves unavoidable
While the GA was successful in its aim not to focus exclusively on Israel and anti-Semitism, the question of ‘Islamicism’ and the Western response loomed like a dark cloud over the conference in light of the violence in the Middle East and ongoing world terrorism.
In Plenary 2 this matter was taken up further with thought provoking speeches being delivered by a number of important figures.
Historian, Diana Pinto, tried to get beneath the surface and address the complexities surrounding this difficult issue:
"With respect to fundamentalism, Europe is probably addressing it in as mild a manner as possible with an attempt to maintain the human rights aspect of it, but it seems to be that it is moving ahead after having had fears and feeling
that it was not doing what was necessary. But juggling these elements of idealism on the one hand and pragmatism on the other means complex responses not always easily categorized in short sound bites; and in the current climate in the western world, what may seem like lengthy procedures are often seen as weakness.
Dialogue is potentially dangerous, diplomacy is not always ideal for the current times. And so much of what Europe is doing today, in the eyes of its critics, may seem like an appeasement on the road to a Munich 1938. Who can make the distinction? Who can say to the world that Europe is not following along the lines of 1938? Well, to be frank, I think there’s only one group who can say that and it would be the Jews of Europe.”
Legendary Israeli author, A.B. Yehoshua, delivers provocative speech
Of all the speakers who came to the podium during the course of the weekend, perhaps A.B. Yehoshua took the prize for stirring up the most con
troversy. During his speech he mocked the notion of a modern European Jewish identity, attacked America’s role in the Middle Eastern conflict as ‘useless’, and brushed aside the current obsession with Islamic extremism. He also called on European Jews to do a lot more to help Israel make peace with her neighbors by unilaterally withdrawing from the occupied territories.
“I am not European and I don’t intend to be European. Our home is in the Middle East and we are now in a conflict with the Arabs. But we don’t have the power after 2000 years of bloody conflict with the Christians now to enter into another conflict with the Muslim world. After we had been defeated totally by the Christians, we left here 6 million people, killed like microbes. I’m not going to enter into conflict with Islam on pieces of land in Eretz Yisrael, of having more land in Eretz Yisrael.
I want to be very clear to you. We are not going to get into conflict with Islam. We are living with them. The Arabs ar
e our neighbors. I’m not concerned with the Islam in Europe. This is your problem. The Arabs are our neighbors, forever.”
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Mixed marriage session heated yet productive
The discussion on Mixed Marriages proved to be a passionate and lively debate. While many questions were left unanswered, there was a sense that progress was being made in that various communities were finally talking about this sensitive issue. Helping lead the session, Tomas Kraus, Director of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, discussed the importance of making conversion less cumbersome in light of declining numbers.
“There are some genetic scientists who would tell you that halachah is right because of the mechanism during the creation of the individual etc. But is it valid for us? Can we really afford such a luxury to exclude people?”
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Presidents Meeting aims
to unify communities across Europe
The presidents meeting covered the need to effectively bring communities together as well as other critical issues such as security, diversity, media relations, and funding. It is really the best investment and the best proof the ECJC has to help the community. This pool of the leadership training can be the most effective way to bring small communities to the standards of the larger communities and make them feel part of a larger community.”
During the meeting former President Cobi Benatoff stressed the importance of leadership training and pointed to the success of LEATID as an outstanding example: “I think LEATID is the most important program that ECJC has promoted in terms of return on the investment. This is what I’ve seen in the last six years judging from the pool of people who attended the leadership training".
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Lively sessions focus on small and medium
sized communities
Practical issues around building community life were debated in these sessions. The Small Communities session had presentations from representatives of four small communities across Europe. Some of the issues discussed included: the need to welcome younger members and bridge generation gaps, the need to offer more Jewish family education, and the need for an increase in pedagogical programs and technology in order to increase contact between community members and avoid desertion by our youth.
Mario Siefisinder, Director of the JCC in Aix en Provence in France also encouraged participants to get out of a small community mentality. “We are small if we feel small”, he said.
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Education Track plans Arachim conference for 2005
Following from a great deal of stimulating discussion and networking, the main proposal reached during the ECJC Education Committee meeting (JEDES) was an Arachim Pan European educators conference be held in 2005, probably in February. This will be the third such conference with the previous ones being held in Budapest and London. Some of the main objectives identified during the sessions included:
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Early ideas for the next Arachim Pan European educators conference (February 2005) |
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Considering a core curriculum |
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Helping teachers grow in their own knowledge of Judaism and Jewish identity |
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Considering how to set goals and aims |
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Helping teachers prepare children for a diverse world |
A great deal of invaluable information was shared during the sessions relating to techniques, sources and resources for education development, adult and family education, and Israel education and 'roots' programs. Ways of educating children to cultivate a positive European and national Jewish identity, regardless of where they ultimately live, were also of central importance to the discussion.
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Improving Jewish life for adults a critical aspect of GA
Based on a revival of Jewish life in Europe and due to the fact that the level of activities being offered to adults falls well below that of children, we considered the GA a critical opportunity to discuss this issue and create a sense of urgency among the leaders of our communities to stimulate the creation of different projects for Jewish adults across the continent. It is known that 70 percent of the Jewish population in Europe is made up of adults over 20 years old. It is vital that Jewish communities reflect on adulthood and what is being done in order to promote adult participation in communal life. In light of this, two sessions on adults were organized:
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“Working with Adults and Families: new models, new approaches” was an opportunity to share successful experiences already taking place in Europe, with the main objective of setting a common framework, including updated models and strategies to increase participation and commitment among the adult population. |
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“Adults: the neglected ones of the community?” was envisaged to refine the vision of this target audience by introducing the psychological and sociological profile associated with different stages of adulthood and connecting them to Jewish community life. |
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Youth sessions look at the place of our young in a changing Europe
There were three sessions dedicated to Jewish youth in Europe. Some of the issues that were dealt with had to with the urgency of understanding what youth need today, as opposed to assumptions based on our adolescence. There was a sense of recognition that communities have grown, changed, and evolved. A number of important questions were also raised: Do we know our youth? Are we enabling them to be active Jews on their own terms?
Mette Bentow, Director of programs of the Jewish community of Copenhagen, expressed the urgent need to change with the times.
“Hundreds of years of Judaism is not what attracts youth!
You can feel the heavy, old, musty coat as soon as you walk in”.
He called on leaders to make the place “more welcoming, more alive.”
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Israel Session focuses on Anti-Semitism
While the main objective of the session was to focus on issues surrounding the Middle East conflict and its repercussions on Jewish communities, the conversation strayed somewhat into an insightful discussion on European anti-Semitism. Julian Klerner, president of the Consistoire in Brussels brought attention to an alarming increase in anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment in his country.
“The actual question is what is going to be the future of Judaism in Europe. What is happening in Belgium brings back things that I thought were hidden in my subconscious. One thing is for sure. It never has been as uneasy as now and I am trying to moderate my language. It is for instance at this very moment, almost impossible in Brussels to wear a kippa on the street.
So first you can’t move anymore as a normal human being. If you do that you will get roughed up, spat at, attacked. Jewish schools look like fortresses.” He went on to define this new anti-Semitism in precise terms as being more against Jews as a people and less against Jews as individuals.
“The most recent wave of anti-Semitism is rooted less in opposition to Jews as Jews, or believers in Judaism and manifested less in societal restrictions or popular exclusion of Jews as individuals. Rather it targets Jews for their solidarity with Israel and for their identification as a people”.
The President of the Turkish community, Bensiyon Pinto, who was present during recent attacks on his community in Istanbul, spoke about positive relations continuing between the Jewish community and political leaders in spite of recent tensions surrounding Palestinian-Israeli violence.
“We believe that in spite of what is happening around the world, the relationship between the two countries
is going in a consistently positive way. Just like the previous governments have done, the current government
is doing everything for accession into the EU. We have a government that has been elected by democratic means. And this government has basically received Islamic education. We believe that in spite of the differences, and challenges, the ongoing relationships are not suffering.”
At the same time he mentioned a gradual shift in public opinion resulting from a negative portrayal of Israel in the media. He spoke of the need for community leaders to communicate effectively with politicians and media so as to make the Jewish perspective more widely known.
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Leatid comes together at conference
Leatid Fellows and special guests from the JDC mission came together in
Budapest for workshops as well as the spectacular 3rd Leatid Coctail & Dinner.
During the GA, Leatid Europe held 2 open workshops: Fundraising and Community
Planning. Some highlights included Michael Novick’s (Executive Director for
Strategic Development, JDC New York) presentation where participants
discovered some basic concepts of fundraising discipline and Andres Spokoiny’s
(Director of Leatid Europe) interactive workshop.
Leatid would like to thank the facilitators and partcipants who attended the
Leatid workshops.
Please visit their website at www.leatid.org or contact
Valerie Davis at: valerie@leatid.org.
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ECJC Social Welfare Track holds session al GA
Lay leaders and professionals interested in Jewish social welfare issues from more than 15 countries from throughout Europe came together to share ideas and discuss common challenges through the social welfare track of ECJC's General Assembly in Budapest.
There were two sessions, the first which dealt with the question fo what made Jewish social welfare services Jewish in terms of form and content and then a panel discussion on training and professional development.
During the final session of the track, an open meeting of ECJC's Social Welfare Committee, it was agreed that the Social Welfare Committee would pursue the following agenda:
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Professional exchanges in the form of seminars, conferences and individual exchanges on subjects of common interest; |
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Lay exchanges to build a network of lay-leaders who deal with social welfare organizations and issues within Europe; |
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Leverage technology to assist in maintaining contact, sharing experiences and resources materials and building a dynamic network of volunteers, professionals and lay leaders interested in Jewish social welfare issues; |
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Expansion of the VIP Volunteer International Program, in which volunteers and professionals who deal with volunteers will engage in bilateral, reciprocal exchanges to share experiences, learn about different models for community organization and voluntarism, and raise the status of voluntarism; |
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Develop the Corp of Jewish Social Welfare Professionals - Explore ways to enhance the prestige, knowledge-base and esprit de corps of European Jewish social service professionals through exchanges, constant career enrichment, and institutionalized training for young and mid-careeer professionals; |
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Cooperative Projects - Continue to build on and initiate new projects of the Social Welfare Committee Social Welfare Track.
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OTHER GA NEWS |
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Party Cruise on the Danube rocks Budapest
After an amazing conference, 1000 people of all ages and backgrounds boarded the Dream Cruise Ship to dance the night away like family and celebrate the end of a wonderful conference. With funky sounds in the cool night air, participants showed that not only did they come to Budapest to get serious, they also came to get down.
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Connections staff
Mario Izcovich, mario@jdcparis.org
JDC Director of Pan European Programs, Barcelona
Gustavo Cracovski, gustavoc@digbang.com
JDC Web Design, Buenos Aires
Neville Kluk, ecjc@ecjc.org
Executive Director of ECJC, London
Reuven Friedman, reevanecjc@hotmail.com
Editor of Connections, Kosovo
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European Council of Jewish Communities
Jonathan Joseph, President, UK
Jo Zirhen, Vice President, France
Lena Posner Korosi, Vice President, Sweden
Eduardo Shifrin / Rabbi Y Bleich (Alt),
Vice President, Ukraine
Eugenia Lvova, Vice President, Russia
Benjamin Bloch, Vice President, Germany
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