|
||
|
Home Who's Who About CER Services of CER Sridim Standing Committee Newsletters Photo Gallery News Conf Paris 04 Berlin Seminar 10 Mikve Project Links Contact CER 
|
European rabbis welcome decision to end grave desecration at Kaliningrad cemetery
The Conference of European Rabbis welcomes a decision by the local authorities in Kaliningrad to terminate work on the construction of a shopping centre on the site of a Jewish cemetery in the city. Following a meeting with Minister Councellor Andrey Chupin and Councellor Evgeny Yurkov at the Embassy of the Russian Federation in London on Monday, June 6, CER Executive Director, Rabbi Aba Dunner said he had received assurances that all construction work at the site would be terminated forthwith. Rabbi Dunner was accompanied at the meeting by Rabbi E. Schlesinger and Rabbi Y. Ginsburg, respectively Chairman and Executive Director of the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe, who told the Russian officials of the sacredness of cemeteries within the Jewish tradition. “We insisted that cemeteries are treated with total respect because the Jewish people do not lose contact with the deceased and we are pleased that Mr Chupin responded by saying that the same was true in the Russian tradition which also clearly forbids the desecration of cemeteries,” Rabbi Schlesinger said. Mr Chupin also told the CER delegation that a meeting had been held in Kaliningrad last week involving Israeli, American, Swiss and Russian rabbis at which the local municipality had agreed to cease work at the site. Rabbi Dunner pointed out that with a solution now found to the troubling issue of the cemetery, the local Jewish community in Kaliningrad could now concentrate on a number of positive development projects supported by the CER, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Lauder Foundation including the building of a new community centre which will house a synagogue, kindergarten and mikva as well as a joint Chesed centre and youth facilities. The Conference of European Rabbis federates rabbis from some 40 countries across Europe and includes all the continents’ chief rabbis and senior rabbinical judges. ENDS For further information, please contact: Rabbi Aba Dunner |
|
