Are KEROOR and FEOR uniting?

Several sites, citing the International Jewish Newspaper, reported on the merger of two Jewish structures - the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR) and the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Communities of Russia (KEROOR). A proposal to create a common structure coordinating the activities of both organizations was made by the Department of Public Relations of KEROOR.

The KEROOR-FEOR Congress must approve the "Coordinating Council", where both parties have equal representation. The competence of the council will include: discussion and determination of priority areas for the revival and development of the infrastructure of the Jewish community; monitoring and combating anti-Semitism and xenophobia; exchange of experience in organizing community life; coordination and determination of a common position on issues of public resonance. At the same time, KEROOR and FEOR remain independent autonomous organizations. Funding for the council will be centralized.

It is supposed to preserve the status quo of Reform Judaism communities.

However, on March 27, the head of KEROOR, Adolf Shayevich, speaking at a conference in Moscow, said that FEOR was seeking to absorb the organization he heads. As Portal-Credo.ru reports, "responding to the question of how the correspondence between the leadership of the two organizations about a possible merger, which began in early March, ended, Adolf Solomonovich made it clear that there were no further steps from the leadership of the FJC to the proposals of KEROOR.

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, who was also present at the press conference, noted that what is needed today is not so much hard unification as coordination of efforts on such issues as anti-Semitism, social activity, etc."

In turn, FEOR Executive Director Valery Engel on April 6 in an interview with Blagovest-info denied these allegations . "We believe that Judaism, as one of the traditional religions of Russia, should be organizationally united, there should be no religious wars," he said. According to him, all FEOR proposals for unification were rejected by KEROOR: "Repeatedly we applied with proposals to consider the issue of various forms of unification - and each time KEROOR was refused under the pretext that this was an attempt to capture." However, he stressed, FEOR has no such intentions: “We don’t need to capture anyone. We are completely self-sufficient, independent both financially and politically. We are the most powerful, strongest structure: 193 communities are united within the FEOR, we We are progressively developing, we are building a lot, we have many community centers, a huge number of different programs."

In December, commenting on the relationship between FEOR and KEROOR for Moscow News, Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar said: “I don’t see any disagreements, or anything that can divide us. If we are talking about laws and canons, then there are no cardinal differences. It’s just we are against monopoly in any field, be it science, art or even religion.We believe that within the Jewish community there should be various organizations that will be useful to people.This is democracy, we want every Jew to find his way back to his roots through the organization that he chooses. There is no scandal here. Everything is quiet with us, thank God, everyone is doing their own thing. When it is necessary to discuss matters and problems, we meet with Adolf Shayevich. "

Sources

• Two large Jewish religious organizations in Russia - FEOR and KEROOR - have begun to unite // Blagovest-info. 2006. March 3.
• Two leading Jewish associations in Russia - KEROOR and FEOR - are ready to coordinate their activities // Portal-Credo.ru. 2006. March 3.
• Chief Rabbi of Russia (KEROOR) Adolf Shayevich said that FEOR wants to absorb his organization // There. March 27th.
• FEOR denies allegations of attempts to "absorb" KEROOR // Blagovest-info. 2006. April 10.
• Rozhaeva E. If it’s good for your neighbor, then you will be rewarded // Moscow news. 2006. December 22.