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17 NOVEMBER 2022 Romania passes shechita legislation

BY LEAH WAXLER

Romania’s parliament has passed a law to protect shechita.

Federation of Jewish Communities President Silviu Vexler and Chamber of Deputies President Marcel Ciolacu signed legislation in Bucharest on Tuesday.

Rabbinic leaders of the Conference of European Rabbis met Ciolacu and Romanian Minister of Justice Catalin Predoiu at the Rumanian Parliament.

Vexler offered a tribute to the Chief Rabbi of Romania, Rabbi Raphael Schaffer for his role in the process.

“This new law stands as a shining symbol to other countries throughout the world to protect Jewish communities and religious rights,” he noted.

Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, CER President welcomed the news.

“Romania has an established and important tradition of supporting Jewish life be it Jewish education, Yeshivas and communities. This law continues its noble path of support. I hope that other leaders across Europe will follow the initiative.”

He added: “CER remains at the forefront of lobbying for protection of Shechita and other Jewish religious rights at the highest political and diplomatic levels.”

Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca

Romanian Minister of Justice Catalin Predoiu

joined political, civic and religious leaders at a gala dinner hosted by the Federation of Jewish Communities in Bucharest on Monday.

Ciuca paid tribute to Jewish community leaders and pledged support. The prestigious Rabbi Moshe Rosen Prize was awarded to the Romanian Parliament for sanctioning shechita by law.

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Where is the downside?

OPINION PIECE BY ROBERT FESTENSTEIN In 1979 Egypt and Israel reached a peace agreement whereby hostilities between the two countries came to an end.

It was seen then as a major step towards an overall peace in the Middle East and hopes ran high, right up to the point when it turned out that the PLO were not encouraged by the Egypt/Israel rapprochement and continued with their murderous attacks.

Since then there have been a number of attempts to make progress with peace. One of the most significant of these was the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. Again, it was hoped that this would herald a new era of cooperation and an eventual peace agreement. There was a new era, but rather one of cooperation and peace it was one of violence, starting with Hamas taking power and then killing or driving into exile their opponents. This was followed by attacks against Israel or perhaps more accurately Jews, which continue today.

The pay-to-slay policy of the Palestinian Authority, which provides for payments to be made to terrorists responsible for the death or injury of Jews. These payments are made either to the terrorist or if they were killed following the attack, their family.

Why then, faced with this appalling background do so many groups – Jewish and non-Jewish – insist on blaming Israel for the lack of progress of the peace process. Frankly I haven’t a clue. It is helpful though to look at the history of the West when confronted by violence or a threat of violence. The standard approach since the 1930s has been one of appeasement and this seems unchanged. You might think that with this particular lesson from history as a background Jews would be less inclined to avoid the reality of the hatred aimed at them.

Perhaps though there is another reason for so many Jewish groups being keen to blame Israel for Hamas and the PA wanting to kill Jews. For the centuries that we were in the diaspora we had to depend on the good will of the local ruler for our safety. Across the Middle East and North Africa, Jews as second-class citizens (not being Muslim) were sometimes treated well by their hosts and sometimes not. In Europe, the position was much the same, though the religious animosity came as a result of the Jews being blamed for the murder of Christ.

Whether it was Islam or Christianity which was responsible for the Jews being the victims of discrimination, the result was the same – maintain a low profile. This has now translated to what amounts to some in diaspora communities being embarrassed at the refusal of Israel to adopt the attitude of the ghetto Jew. Despite the evidence to the contrary, these people blame Israel for not wanting to be destroyed or its citizens murdered, presumably in some hope that as in the ghetto, if we stay quiet and leave everyone alone, it will all be okay.

Only of course it won’t and it isn’t. So instead of trying to hide why not take a simpler more logical approach by calling for the end of the pay-to-slay policy and for the rocket attacks from Gaza to cease. That surely is a much better starting point than whingeing about Israel being to blame for the murderous attacks and instead concentrating on the real reasons why there is no peace and no desire from our enemies to even consider peace. Where is the downside?Whether it was Islam or Christianity which was responsible for the Jews being the victims of discrimination, the result was the same – maintain a low profile.

Robert Festenstein is a practising solicitor and has been the principal of his Salford based firm for over 20 years. He has fought BDS motions to the Court of Appeal and is President of the Zionist Central Council in Manchester which serves to protect and defend the democratic State of Israel.