OpenLobby.EU
Explore

European Union for Progressive Judaism

EUPJ

The EUPJ works to foster and stimulate the growth of Progressive Judaism throughout Europe because we believe that Progressive Judaism, with its combination of respect for Jewish tradition and openness to modernity, provides the blueprint for Jewish continuity in the 21st century.

Lobbying Activity

Response to EU strategy on combating antisemitism

4 Jul 2021

SUPPORT JEWISH PLURALISM The European Union for Progressive Judaism represents 170 liberal and reform congregations in 17 European countries. It is part of the World Union for Progressive Judaism which connects 1.8 million Progressive Liberal and Reform Jews across six continents, seven regions, 50 countries and 1,200 communities. This represents the largest body of Jews in the world who seek a traditional yet contemporary expression of their Jewish spiritual, cultural and religious identity. Progressive Judaism, known as Progressive, Liberal, or Reform Judaism depending on the country, is a European development, a response to the Enlightenment and 19th-century Emancipation. Progressive Jews believe in adapting Jewish teachings to the modern world. Music is welcome at services. Gender equality prevails. LGBTQI+ Jews are welcome. Jews of color are embraced. Women and homosexuals serve as rabbis in Progressive Jewish communities. Our communities practice Tikkun Olam which means, in Hebrew, ‘repair the world.’ For Progressive Jews, this requires us to help the less fortunate and to reach out to the less fortunate and to other faith groups. In Europe, we partner with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to help welcome and integrate largely Muslim refugees and migrants. Europe’s Progressive Jews confront significant challenges that the European Commission can help us meet. We recently joined with nine other major Jewish groups to present a series of recommendations. Click here to read them. In particular, we would like to emphasize a few recommendations that are of particular importance to us: • Security: Many of our European synagogues spend up to 30 percent of their annual revenues on protecting themselves. Jewish security should be a government obligation. After the Shoah, it is a moral disgrace that Jewish communities shoulder the burden of protecting themselves. European governments should be responsible for assuming this responsibility and costs. • Discrimination: Many governments in the European Union do not recognize and treat Progressive Jews equally with other Jewish denominations. They channel funding to one narrow branch of Judaism even though Progressive Judaism was a recognized, established branch of European Judaism before the Shoah. In their recommendations for “Combatting Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life,” Europe’s other Jewish organizations agree with us that this discrimination should not stand. They endorsed a demand that the Commission “ensures that Jewish Europeans who adhere to representative denominations, which enjoy a historic past and legitimacy, do not suffer discriminatory effects in terms of recognition, security or funding.” This principle of non-discrimination is important not just for Progressive Jews, but for the future of all European Jewry. Governments should not be allowed to pick and choose the Jews they like and dislike. In Hungary, a single group – Chabad – receives the vast majority of state funding because it supports the government’s right-wing politics. This is not in the interest of the vast majority of Hungarian Jews and it should be unacceptable to the European Union. Governments that discriminate against Progressive Judaism – or other legitimate forms of Judaism – are breaking European law. Over the past two decades, German courts ruled three times in our favor of equitable distribution of funding to the country’s Progressive Jews and we now receive state funding. In a case against Hungary, The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in our favor – but the Hungarian authorities ignored the ruling and fails to treat our Hungarian members on an equal basis with other Hungarian Jews. Progressive Judaism needs to be treated equally to ensure the future of a pluralistic European Jewry. Progressive Jews offer a legitimate spiritual alternative, one rooted in European traditions and history. Thank you in advance for your consideration. Bill Echikson Director EUPJ
Read full response

Meeting with Aleksandra Tomczak (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans) and Secretariat of COMECE (Commission of the Episcopates of the European Union) and

10 Jun 2021 · European Green Deal presentation and discussion