Barcelona hosts this weekend the Congress of European Young Rabbisin which the Chief Rabbi of Moscow, Pinchas Goldschmidt, participates exiled from Russia for refusing to support Putin’s military invasion in Ukraine. The meeting reviews the challenges of Jewish religious leaders in Europe. It is organized in this edition by the Israeli Community of Barcelona, and the round tables begin this Friday. Despite the fact that the Catalan capital has one of the most emblematic Jewish quarters in Europe, the current community has only 100 years of history. The Rabbi of the Israelite Community of Barcelona, Daniel Askenazireviews the challenges of the community in Barcelona and in a changing environment.
Question: Tell us about the Jewish community in Barcelona. In 2018 they turned 100 years old.
Despite the rich history of the Jews of Catalonia, for 700 years there were no Jews. The great pogrom of Barcelona expelled them in 1391, 100 years before the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. In 1918 they began to arrive Jews emigrating from Germany and the Ottoman Empire fleeing from World War I. In 2018 we turned 100 years old and now we are going for the next 100. We are some 10,000 Jews in Catalonia. The Israelite Community of Barcelona is the only Orthodox and the center of reference. She was the founder of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain. In Spain there are 40,000 Jews. The largest community is Madrid, followed by Barcelona and the southern communities.
Barcelona is a Jewishly diverse city. We are Jews of many backgrounds
Q: What is the origin of the Jews residing in Catalonia?
A: Most of them are of Sephardic origin – descendants of those expelled from Castile in 1492 – from Spanish Morocco, Turkey or the Balkans. But there was also a lot of emigration of Ashkenazi origin -residents in Central and Eastern Europe- to South America. In the 80s of the last century, many fled from the Argentine dictatorship and came here. For this reason, Barcelona is a Jewishly diverse city. I am the rabbi and I am of Mexican origin. We receive all sources and we are building our tradition from diversity. We have the synagogue, we have a social center, a sports venue and a Jewish school in Valldoreix, the only one in Catalonia.
Q: This weekend you are hosting the Congress of Young Rabbis. What is the meeting about?
A: The Conference of European Rabbis developed a program for empower young rabbis. I myself am a graduate of the program. They are two years of study in which techniques are taught to resolve personal issues that affect members of the community according to Jewish law, and more current issues, such as twork with social networks, to which we were previously alien.
The congress receives 26 rabbis from all over Europe. It is a working weekend, with conferences, dissertations and round tables. within the possibilities of jewish law because the shabbat You can’t work, but we can listen to conferences. We are going to deal with important topics like empowering leaders and communities in view of the next decade because things are going to change a lot.
Q: This year it is chaired by the former Chief Rabbi of Moscow. How do the Jewish communities in Russia experience the conflict?
A: The congress is organized by the Conference of European Rabbis. Rabbi Pinchas Goldsmidt is the president of the council and it is natural for him to preside over it. It will arrive this Friday. About the situation of the Jews in the conflict zones we receive little information. Many have gone into exile and others remain there. The same thing has happened with rabbis in the Ukraine. The rabbis we are parents and leaders spiritual. Some choose exile and others have stayed on the front lines to offer help and comfort.
Q: The Russian Orthodox Church has positioned itself in favor of the Russian invasion. Are questions of faith being mixed with the military conflict?
A: It is not our place as religious leaders to stand for or against wars. Our obligation and function is to offer comfort to people who suffer from this situation, alleviate their suffering and defend them from things that may happen. This positioning affects faith and gives a wrong message to the world.
Q: What are the challenges of the Barcelona community?
A: As in any organization, we have had to adapt to technology and shift in thinking. With the covid we ran out of face-to-face activities in the community and we saw that in parallel a virtual community was formed that we have maintained together with the meetings at the end of the confinement. On the other hand, youth have new concerns. My children ask me about topics that in my time would not have been dealt with with this tranquility and it is positive but at the same time it is a challenge how we will respondkeeping in mind that the questions are more important than the answers.
Young people must be offered formulas to develop their spirituality and not break our heads because they leave
Q: In the Catholic Church there is concern about the abandonment of young people. Does it also occur in Judaism?
A: Of course. Identity has become something very different from what we grew up with. I am 38 years old and my identity defined me: I am Mexican, Jewish, father, Pumas fan and lawyer. Now young people do not want to define themselves within the framework offered by society but they have not stopped searching for spirituality. We must offer them formulas to develop that spirituality and not rack our brains finding out why they leave.
Q: The visibility of the Jewish community in Catalonia has been limited until recently. Are initiatives being carried out to make you known?
A: Yes, the Jewish legacy in Catalonia is enormous and it is a pity that it is not known. It belongs to the Jews and all the neighbors. We appreciate the support of the Generalitat to live as Jews and give visibility to our community. We make guided tours of the synagogue, cultural events. We also have a project that prepares educators to teach about the Holocaust because it is not covered enough in schools in Europe. It is important to talk about how they can affect the hate speech and extremism. We can all live in Judaism without being Jewish. Judaism does not proselytize, there is no interest in converting people.
Young European rabbis meet in Barcelona to “empower leaders for the next decade”