Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt

Currently, the largest publica figure representing the Jewish community of Russia in the world political field, is Pinchas Goldschmidt. His biography and formed the basis of this article. As president of the Conference of European Rabbis, which brings together representatives of more than forty states, he is making every effort to eradicate anti-Semitism, a hideous remnant of past centuries.

The son of the venerable Solomon Goldschmidt

July 21, 1963 in Zurich, the family of religiousJews, followers of one of the widespread Jewish currents - Hasidism, the future chief rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt was born. In this Swiss city the family had deep roots. And the boy's parents were already her fourth generation. His father is Solomon Goldschmidt. He was always respected, he was known as a successful and energetic entrepreneur.

The father's ancestors settled in Switzerland in the yearsFirst World War, arriving there from France. Relatives on the maternal line lived in Austria. After her capture by Germany, they were in a concentration camp, from which they were not destined to return. The only exception was Pinhasa's grandmother, who contracted tuberculosis. In 1938, several weeks before the invasion, Hitler came to Switzerland for treatment, where she had to stay.

Today's head of the Jewish community of Moscow PinchasGoldshmidt did not accidentally choose the path of a Jewish spiritual leader in life. He is not only a descendant of a deeply religious family, but also the great-grandson of the chief rabbi of Denmark, who later headed the rabbinate of Zurich. This same path was chosen also by his younger brother, who is today a rabbi in South Africa.

Years of study of the future rabbi

Contrary to the widespread misconception, in Judaismthe rabbi is not a clergyman. The very word is translated as "teacher". And he who is awarded this title, is called to be the tutor and interpreter of the sacred books of the Torah and the Talmud. In addition, he is obliged in any situation to give wise and reasonable advice to everyone who turned to him for help. Therefore, he himself must be a person deeply educated and erudite.

Pinchas Goldschmidt, like no other, is responsiblethese high requirements. He has spent years in the two largest yeshivas (Jewish religious schools) in Israel and America. The result of the training was the rabbinic smiha - a diploma giving the right to lead the community, teach in yeshiva, and also to be a member of a religious court. In addition to the traditional Jewish, he also received a higher secular education, graduating from the University of Baltimore.

Moving to Moscow

His work Pinchas Goldschmidt began in 1987year member of the rabbinate of the Israeli city of Nazareth-Ilit. Two years later, as a representative of the World Jewish Congress and the chief rabbinate of Israel, he was sent to Moscow. At that time, the Institute for the Study of Judaism was established at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, headed by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. He needed help from a qualified employee, who could also take on the duties of a lecturer.

Arriving in the capital and starting to fulfill theirduties, still quite young in those years Pinchas Goldschmidt received from the chief rabbi of Russia Adolf Shaevich the proposal to head the rabbinical court of the country. The competence of this body includes such issues as Jewish weddings, divorces, Jewish confirmation for going to Israel, etc.

On the way to the revival of national traditions

Demonstrating in this post highorganizational abilities, and also prudence in decision-making, in 1993 Goldschmidt received the post of Chief Rabbi of Moscow. Thanks to his active work, the program developed by the Israeli Foreign Ministry began to be implemented in Russia, aimed at returning the Jews to their national roots.

These were the years when fresh perestroika trendscreated a favorable atmosphere for the revival of the national identity of many peoples, primarily Russian. From the faceless internationalism of the Soviet period, people turned to their age-old traditions. It was then that the process of returning the churches taken away from her was started, the creation of new Orthodox communities. The representatives of other nationalities who inhabited the country, including Jews, did not stay away from the general movement.

An initiative not accepted by a part of society

Since the early nineties, the MoscowRabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt launched a wide-ranging work on the creation and development of various Jewish public structures, as well as day schools, colleges, kindergartens and even yeshivas. In this he relied on the support of the Congress of Jewish Organizations and Associations of Russia. Unfortunately, his work was not fully understood in all layers of Russian society.

The result of the misunderstanding wasthe appeal of five hundred citizens of the country, which included cultural figures, editors of individual newspapers and nineteen deputies sent in 2005 to the Russian Prosecutor General V. V. Ustinov. It contained a demand to ban the activities of all Jewish national associations on the territory of the Russian Federation, recognizing them as extremist. As a justification for their demands, the persons who sent the letter provided biased quotations from the Judaic code "Kitsur shulkhan arukh", published shortly before in Russian.

Despite the fact that this appeal was sharply condemnedmany leading politicians such as Gennady Zyuganov, Dmitry Rogozin, Heydar Jemal and others, and the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement that it has nothing to do with the position of the government, Pinchas Goldshmidt was deported from the country. He continued his activities as the chief rabbi and chairman of the Jewish court of Moscow in 2011.

The wrestler with anti-Semitism

Nowadays Pinchas Goldschmidt, whose photopresented in the article, is one of the leaders in the fight against anti-Semitism, deployed in the world. This burning issue he repeatedly raised in his speeches in the American Senate, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the University of Oxford, and many other influential public organizations. In his work he finds support among many progressive politicians.