World Jewish News

Jerzy Buzek, a former Polish Prime Minister and President of the European Parliament.

Former EU Parliament head from Poland to be awarded first ‘Prize of European Jewry’ in Brussels

Former Polish European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek will be awarded the first “Lord Jakobovits Prize of European Jewry" by the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), during a ceremony to be held at Brussels’s main synagogue.
The award ceremony on Tuesday will be addressed by the current president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, in the presence of a number of European and Belgian political leaders, diplomats, as well as chief rabbis and other representatives of European Jewish communities, the CER said in a statement.
"For many years, Jerzy Buzek has been a great friend of the Jewish people. Both as Polish Prime Minister and European Parliament president, he built bridges, vigorously fought anti-Semitism, helped to keep up the memory of the Shoah and was a supporter of the State of Israel," said Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, CER President.
“Coming just one week before Pesach, the ultimate Jewish festival of liberation and freedom, when we transfer the message to our children of the continued victory of the forces of light over those of darkness, it is particularly poignant that we gather here to reassert our commitment to those values,” he added.
The ceremony at Brussels’ main synagogue, which was consecrated by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso as Great Synagogue of Europe in 2008, will also include a special prayer for the victims of the Toulouse shootings. The French city’s chief rabbi Avrahaml Weill will be present.
Children from local Jewish schools will read out a psalm in memory of the victims at the Ozar Hatorah high school in Toulouse, a professor and three children. To emphasize the message of education for tolerance and mutual respect, classes from the European School in Brussels will also be present.
The “Prize of European Jewry” is named after the CER’s second president, former British Commonwealth Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits.
A refugee from Nazi Germany who arrived in the UK just before the outbreak of World War II, Lord Jakobovits embodied the spirit of "Torah Im Derech Eretz, a philosophy linking full participation of Jews in European culture and society with adherence to Jewish tradition.

EJP