New crisis fund for European communities
AN EMERGENCY funding project is being created to help European Jewish communities that are suffering in the current economic crisis.
The European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC) last weekend resolved “to organise an entity to deal with emergency funding” for communities in need, said its president, Evan Lazar.
The body should be up and running this year.
Meanwhile, the European Jewish Congress will convene in Brussels on Monday to discuss the same issue, said Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary general of the European Jewish Congress.
The ECJC resolution came at the conclusion of the recent “meeting of presidents” in Barcelona. Some 100 European Jewish leaders attended the event, which focused on sharing best practices toward building a strong European Jewry, Mr Lazar said.
Many participants spoke of economic crises in their communities: from Greek and Portuguese Jews without incomes to French Jews who are having to pinch pennies.
One participant, Robert Ejnes, head of the large Jewish community in the Boulogne suburb of Paris, even suggested that European Jews should turn to Israel for financial aid. After decades of raising funds for the Jewish state, the French Jews deserved as much, he said.
“When the parent is getting older and the needs are not so enormous, then Israel could really play a role in helping these communities out,” Mr Ejnes said.
“They could give economic support, they could train people for jobs in Israel.” He admitted that “there are other countries that are more desperate than we are at the moment”. Israel could help “get people out of the hole”, he suggested.
Others were sceptical about the suggestion, however. Mr Cwajgenbaum said he was confident that European Jewish communities have what it takes to help each other. “Jews are challenged proportionally, in the same way as the rest of the population. There is a need to show solidarity. … and I think there are enough resources here,” he said.
Mr Lazar agreed: “Of course, when a Jewish community anywhere in the world is in a crisis situation, Jews from all over the world should help out,” based on the example of the American Jewish community. “But as the ECJC, our focus is on trying to put in place a system and foster co-operation between European brother and sister organisations.”
Meanwhile, the European Jewish Congress next week will hold the first in a planned series of meetings in Brussels focusing on the economic crisis, said Mr Cwajgenbaum. “If Israel could help, it could be in terms of security, which is a separate issue,” he said.