More then 200 rabbis on Monday commemorated the 70th anniversary of the exterminaytion of Hungarian Jewry by the Nazis, during a memorial in Budapest.
The commemoration was organized in the framework of the two-day annual conference of the Rabbinical Center of Europe, (RCE), an organization dedicated to assist rabbis across the continent.
The conference brought more then 200 rabbis from across Europe and Israel in the Hungarian capital in order to discuss issues relating to assimilation and communal attrition.
Among those who attended, were Israel Chief Rabbis Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau, as well as Deputy Minister for Religious Affairs Eli Ben Dahan.
Singing “Ani Maamin,” a Hebrew song affirming belief in the coming of the Messiah, the Chief Rabbis, heading a long train of black clad ultra-orthodox Jews marched several blocks along the banks of the Danube River to the Shoes on the Danube Promenade, a Holocaust memorial site.
The memorial is the site of a massacre by Hungarian fascists who lined Jews up along the river, made them remove their shoes and shot them, allowing their bodies to land in the Danube.
According to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, some 568,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.
The event was opened by Shlomo Koves, head of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Community, a Chabad organization.
Present at the event were “representatives from the Hungarian government” including Hungarian Defense Minister Csaba Hende.
Israeli Ambassador Ilan Mor and Holocaust survivor Chief Rabbi Menachem Mendel Taub, the ‘’Kaliver Rebbe’’ were also in attendance.
Later, Hungarian President Janos Ader welcomed the participants of the RCE conference at the presidential Alexander Palace.
A Hungarian official said his government is committed to safeguarding religious freedoms, including circumcision and kosher slaughter.
Ferenc Kumin, a government spokesman, delivered the assurances at a press conference by Nir Natan, a representative of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association (EJA).
“In the past couple of years there has been a surge of legislation in Europe, mainly bans on circumcision and ritual kosher slaughter,” Natan said before asking if it could also happen in Hungary.
The Hungarian official responded: “You can quote me when I say that no, for sure not. It’s not on the agenda and if it’s put there, we will stop it.”
The rabbinical gatherin in the Hungarian capital came as the country is preparing for general elections on April 6. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who heads the conservative Fidesz party, is expected to win the elections.
“What we are interested in is to make the Jewish renaissance grow bigger and to show to the world that the Jewish community here enjoys nothing but freedom,” said Ferenc Kumin. who represents the government of Viktor Orban, head of the conservative Fidesz party, which is expected to win with at least 36 percent of the vote.
The Hungarian government rejects allegations by critics that it is trying to whitewash Hungary’s Holocaust-era culpability and is too lenient on expressions of anti-Semitism.
“The government has a zero tolerance policy on anti-Semitism,” Kumin said.
Rabbinical Center of Europe’s Director General, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, said the government was ‘’doing a lot for the Jewish community, and not only ahead of elections.”
He also lauded the government for its resolve to allow Jewish rituals “that help sustain the incredible vibrancy” of Hungary’s Jewish community.
Russia’s Chief Rabbi, Berel Lazar, told the conference that those who are trying to ban circumcision ‘’are anti-Semites.’’ ‘’Resisting them, he said, should be the event’s main message.’’
“I would even call them, sadly, anti-Semites. I think they dress it up in nice clothing, but sadly what they are trying to do is again take away Judaism from the Jews,” he said.
‘’In the Holocaust it was done by force, by killings. Today they are trying to do it with our souls,’’ Rabbi Lazar said.
Among the main topics discussed during the conference was the issue of preventing assimilation.
A survey among 90 European rabbis from 60 communities suggested that 80 percent of European Jews do not visit synagogue on Yom Kippur.