European rabbinic groups at loggerheads over representing Jews in EU

Brussels, Belgium — Two Jewish umbrella organizations in Belgium are waging an intense political struggle over which will serve as the main Jewish representative to the European Union.

The two groups involved are the Conference of European Rabbis, a veteran organization that has been representing the continent’s chief rabbis for 50 years, and the Center of European Rabbis, a fairly new organization that is associated with the Chabad Lubavitch movement. Two weeks ago the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, sided with the latter group, which raised a few eyebrows at the EU and generated a storm in Brussels.

The Center of European Rabbis is located only five minutes away from the office of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. The center considers itself an umbrella organization for rabbis in Europe and was established by Italian Chabad officials in 2000. The center’s director, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, said his goal is to use his contacts with the EU to assist rabbis asking for help from all over Europe.

But leaders of the Conference of European Rabbis don’t think their rival will stop at its stated objective. Sources close to the conference said the center was trying to get its foot permanently in the door of EU institutions in an effort to erode the conference’s standing as the representative of European rabbis – a step that could lead to a rift among European Jewish communities.

The latest flap took place in the wake of a May 30 interfaith conference to which rabbis from the European rabbinic conference, but not rabbis from the rabbinic center, were invited – an omission that led to Metzger’s involvement in the dispute.

The interfaith conference, which took place in Brussels, was organized by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and attended by the Dalai Lama. Four days before the conference, Metzger’s office sent a letter making a “special request that a representative of the Center of European Rabbis, an organization that cooperates closely with the chief rabbinate in Israel, be present at the conference.” Metzger’s office said the chief rabbi was involved in a European issue because “Rabbi Metzger is the chief rabbi of Israel, and as such is the representative of Jews around the world.”

The Conference of European Rabbis considers Metzger’s involvement inappropriate, although the EU did not accede to his request in any case. Executive director Rabbi Aba Dunner said that external intervention that endangers the interests of European Jews does not help Jewish communities.

Those familiar with the clash of rabbis say that the dispute centers around the question of who will represent the Jews in the EU, since the position grants its holder power and influence throughout Europe. The organization with better connections to top EU officials will presumably be in a better position to win support and funding, and to influence EU policy and Jewish affairs.

Margolin said he did ask Metzger to help his group score an invite to the interfaith conference, but contends that at the time he did not know that other Jewish representatives had already been invited.

Metzger’s office said it intervened on behalf of Margolin’s group because that was the only Jewish organization that asked for its help. “If another organization had turned to us, we would have been happy to help,” Metzger’s office said in a statement.

In any case, the Center of European Rabbis is not the only one left out in the cold: An associate of Metzger’s reportedly said the chief rabbi was insulted that the EU had ignored his request.