NEWS Rivlin to Diaspora Jewish leaders: “Today more than even, we are a family”

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

Jewish leaders from all over the world participated in a videoconference with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and the president of the Jewish Agency Isaac Herzog. The initiative offered an opportunity to exchange greetings for the upcoming Pesach but also to discuss how the Jewish world, in the Diaspora, faces the tough time and test of resilience brought by the coronavirus emergency and is mobilizing to offer tangible signs of closeness and solidarity.

“No plague of our days can break the chain that dates back to the exodus from Egypt and unites our people. Today more than ever I feel that we are a family, with a shared history, values and destiny “said Rivlin, addressing the President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities Noemi Di Segni and the other participants in the meeting.

Among them the chief rabbi of England rav Ephraim Mirvis, the director of the French Crif Robert Eines, the president of the South African Jews Mary Kluk, the head of the Jewish Metropolitan Council on Poverty David Greenfield and the reformed rabbi Angela Buchdahal of the Central Synagogue in New York, as well as representatives of the Jewish world from Brazil and India.

Many issues were discussed in the meeting: the health emergency itself, of course, but also its economic impact in the short and long term future; the fear of a possible strengthening of anti-Semitism in times of crisis; the challenge of strengthening dialogue both within the Jewish world and with other identities and religions.

The commitment in this sense from the Italian Jewish world is important, President Di Segni highlighted during the videoconference.

“This Pesach – emphasized Herzog – the Jewish heart will beat in Israel and in communities around the world. There is no better time to demonstrate the mutual commitment that has always characterized our people.”