The World Jewish Congress executive committee gathered in Prague this week for its bi-annual meeting, to discuss the pressing issues facing their communities around the world. A central event was the speech of  EAJC President, Mikhail Mirilashvili, in which he told the audience about the achievements of the organization for the year since his election to the position, and shared his plans for the future.

The Euro-Asian region is distinguished by the diversity of countries and Jewish it represents, but the EAJC seeks to unite them as part of the broader Jewish World while preserving the unique identity of each community.

 “We see ourselves as part of a global Jewish community and, at the same time, we understand the uniqueness of the Jewish organizations, members of the EAJC, differing in their mentality and culture.The structure of our organization includes both large Jewish communities with significant resources like Russia and Ukraine, where coordination of efforts and positions between numerous Jewish organizations are required. In addition, we work with small communities like Jewish community of Armenia, Tajikistan and the Balkan region, where we have to support essential programs and projects,”  Mirilashvili said.

Israel plays an important role in the EAJC’s activities. The Congress cooperates with the Jewish state and pays special attention to the communication of its member communities with Israel.

 “We believe that the State of Israel is the center of the Jewish world and a source of pride for all Jews.Our efforts are aimed at clarifying the importance of its war against terror. We established strong contacts within the Institute of international Relations in Moscow, the center for the training of diplomats for many countries of the former Soviet bloc.  Together, we hold forums to explain the position of the State of Israel. We thank the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassadors of Israel in the country members of the EAJC for this cooperation, ” said the president of EAJC.

Additionally, together with the World Jewish Congress, the EAJC has expanded the activities of the Youth Diplomatic Corps and various community security programs in its region. We’ve managed to restore activities at the Union of Jewish Students, to support special projects of the Hillel organization, and to expand the work of the Limmud project. Another important achievement is an increase in the participants in the Taglit program coming from EAJC communities. A new large program of Sunday schools will soon start functioning in all countries of the region.

Meetings of the WJC Board are held annually, and the WJC Plenary Assembly, attended by delegates from all affiliated Jewish communities and organizations, meets once every four years. The Assembly selects the governing structures of the WJC and determines the further policy of the Congress. EAJC President, Mikhail Mirilashvili, is a member of the WJC board, and the head of the EAJC board, Aaron Frenkel, is vice-president of the WJC.

Dear Friends,

Torah is the basis of Jewish life, the foundation of our spirituality and culture, our art and ethics.

On the Shavuot holiday, we celebrate the day God gave the Torah to the entire Jewish nation assembled at Mount Sinai.

It is the most pivotal event in the history of the Jewish people, who after long and hard years of slavery, became a unified nation with a powerful mission given by God.

Happy Shavuot!

“The leadership of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress is deeply concerned about the anti-Semitic incidents in Poltava, Odessa and Ostrog. The desecration of the monument to the victims of Nazism and the tomb of Rabbi Magarsho are cowardly and cynical acts of xenophobia. The history of mankind proves that if perpetrators of such crimes go unpunished, this can lead to escalation and even, to cases of physical violence.

We appeal to the authorities of Ukraine with a request to find and punish those responsible. The fight against anti-Semitism and xenophobia requires decisive action, as well as a consistent moral position. The Ukrainian Jewish community is an integral part of its country. The duty of state authorities and law enforcement agencies is to ensure the safety of the Jewish population”, the EAJC statement said.

With the increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents, JTA announced that the EAJC is going to exclude from its ranks the VAAD of Ukraine and its leader Joseph Zissels. The reason for this was, among other things, Zissels’ statements in support of the UPA, the justification of the Volyn massacre, and harsh statements against the Russian and US authorities in response to the recent condemnation of anti-Semitic attacks on Ukraine.

Yesterday (Monday), a delegation of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress headed by Mikhail Mirilashvili met with the Chief Rabbi of Israel, David Lau. The EAJC President presented the goals of the Congress and spoke about the reforms that took place in the organization over the past year. “Our goal is to help the Jewish communities in the Diaspora and to ensure that the communities become strong, independent and influential. In addition, it is very important for us that every Jew can live a full Jewish life,” Mr. Mirilashvili said.

The Chief Rabbi of Israel greeted his guests and noted that the goals set by the EAJC President are very important. “Many Jews in the Diaspora are separated from spiritual life and Jewish education, therefore the goals and activities of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress are of a fateful character for the Jewish people,” Lau said.

Before the meeting with Rabbi Lau, the delegation met with representatives of the Jerusalem municipality, who conducted an excursion to Armon HaNaziv, where, with the support of the EAJC, a monument to the victims of the siege of Leningrad and participants in the Second World War will be erected. The monument is planned to be installed in late 2018.

In addition to the EAJC President, the delegation included first EAJC Vice President Temur Ben-Yehuda (Khikhinashvili), Vice-Presidents Alexander Bilinkis and Maxim Pasik, EAJC General Director Dr. Haim Ben-Yakov and others.

Yesterday (Monday) at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Moscow, a solemn reception was held in honor of Israel’s Independence Day. In addition, immediately after the official reception of the embassy, ​​a unique event took place in honor of the centenary of the legendary Israeli theater “Habima”: a meeting of leaders of Jewish communities of Russia, the diplomatic corps and representatives of the Russian government with theater actors, leading directors and actors of the Moscow theaters. Deputy Prime Minister of Moscow Dvorkovich and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdanov represented the Russian government.

The special guest of the Moscow Jewish community was the historian and writer Michael Bar-Zohar, the first biographer of David Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres who told the audience about the preparations for declaring the independence of the state and the struggle for it, which continues until this day, as well as political and diplomatic collisions.

The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress supported the events.

The World Jewish Congress has hand-delivered to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin its official “Declaration of the Jewish Diaspora’s Commitment to the State of Israel on the Occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the Establishment of the State of Israel”.

The declaration was signed by the leaders of 83 Jewish communities around the world, including EAJC President Mikhail Mirilashvili, EAJC CEO Dr.Haim Ben-Yakov and leaders of EAJC communities.

The World Jewish Congress initiated and adopted this unprecedented declaration on behalf of its affiliated communities on six continents, as a manifesto of Diaspora Jewry’s immense pride and admiration for Israel’s remarkable and inspiring achievements over the course of the past seven decades and as a pledge of its steadfast and unwavering support for Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and its centrality to the Jewish people.

The declaration, designed in the format of Israel’s original Declaration of Independence, was delivered to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin by a World Jewish Congress delegation led by WJC CEO Robert Singer and representatives of the WJC’s flagship program, the WJC-Jewish Diplomatic Corps – the future leaders of Jewish communities worldwide.

His Excellence, President of the Republic of Montenegro Mr. Milo Đukanović

 

On behalf of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) and the Jewish community of Montenegro, we have the honor to congratulate you on the victory in the presidential elections.

You are known not only as a staunch supporter of the Jewish Community of Montenegro, but also as a great friend of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and as such we appreciate your role in developing and strengthening warm friendly relations between Montenegro and Israel.

This is very good news for the Jewish people in the region, and we believe that the Jewish community will continue to flourish and to make a significant contribution in favor of the benefit of its country with you as its head.

 

President of the Jewish Community of Montenegro, Jasha Alfandari,

Director General of the EAJC, Dr. Haim Ben-Yaakov

EAJC Board Chairman, Aaron Frenkel

EAJC President, Mikhail Mirilashvili

A headquarters’ summit of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) was held in Tel-Aviv, headed by the WJC Chief Program officer Sonia Gomes de Mesquita and the EAJC CEO, Dr. Haim Ben-Yakov. During the summit WJC representatives presented the structure and framework, security department and flagship projects of WJC Global.

Dr. Ben-Yakov presented the new structure of the EAJC and the reforms that have taken place over the last year in the organization. In particular, the EAJC General Director emphasized that starting from September 1, the EAJC head office is located in the state of Israel, and the EAJC office in the Republic of Kazakhstan will be reorganized into a branch. A new branch in the Balkans will also be opened. In addition, as a result of reorganization – EAJC official representatives in Russia from March 2018, are the Chairman of the EAJC Board Aaron Frenkel and the first EAJC Vice-President Timur Khikhinashvili (Ben-Yehuda), and the EAJC Vice-President Alexander Levin is the EAJC official representative in Ukraine.

In addition, during the summit the EAJC and WJC joint projects were discussed and agreed to expand cooperation.

On Monday, March 19, a festive dinner was held in Jerusalem, organized by the president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC), Mikhail Mirilashvili, as part of the visit of the delegation of the World Jewish Congress led by Ronald Lauder to Israel.

Mikhail Mirilashvili appealed to the audience and outlined the prospects of the EAJC activity: “We can definitely say that after long years of stagnation, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress has come to life and actively develops and growths. At the end of 2017, a record annual budget was approved. Since early 2018, the Congress has supported or initiated more than 30 projects. Recently, we have been repeatedly asked to join the Congress from communities from all over the world: Thailand, Vietnam, China, Laos, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, South Korea, Turkey and others. We started supporting such large-scale projects as Taglit and Limmud. We are acquiring new partners – the Israel-Russia Business Council, the Friendship Fund, the All-Russian Union of Jewish Students, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia and others. ”

The event was also attended by the Minister Zeev Elkin, EAJC Chairman and WJC Vice President Aaron Frenkel, EAJC First Vice President Teimuraz Khikhinashvili (Ben Yehuda), WJC Director Robert Zinger, EAJC Vice President Alexander Levin, EAJC Vice President Alexander Bilinkis, EAJC Vice President Maxim Pasik, EAJC first Vice President Rami Levi, heads of communities and other members of the WJC delegation.