Two Historic Meetings in Budapest

Two major international Jewish organizations will hold their executive committee meetings in Budapest within a month of each other, spokespersons for the World Jewish Congress and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture reported here. They noted that this was unprecedented, marking the first such gatherings in a Communist country in Eastern Europe. The WJCongress meeting is May 6 to May 9. The Memorial Foundation meeting is June 30 to July 2.

Israel Singer, WJCongress secretary-general, who with executive director Elan Steinberg just returned from Budapest, said the Hungarian government had agreed to the meeting and to participation of all members of the WJCongress executive, including those from Israel.

“Senior members of the Word Zionist Organization, as members of the WJC executive, will participate in the meetings, as will representatives of Jewish communities from around the word,” Singer said. “This agreement represents a significant breakthrough which we expect can have an impact not only on Jewish relations with the Eastern bloc, but on the general state of East-West relations as well.”

Jerry Hochbaum, executive director of the Memorial Foundation, said the Hungarian government agreed to the meeting of his organization following correspondence by Philip Klutznick, Foundation president, with Imre Miklos, Rumanian Minister of Cults.

Hochbaum noted that the Foundation has been active in Budapest since 1965. It has supported the Rabbinical Seminary in Budapest — the only one of its kind in Eastern Europe — and has helped train more than 30 rabbis and five cantors. These rabbis and cantors now serve Jewish communities throughout Hungary, as well as Riga, Moscow, East Berlin, Leningrad and Prague. The Foundation also supports the Gymnasium, a Jewish high school in Budapest, and the Yeshiva Ketana there.

Klutznick pointed out that the Foundation “has a deep, historic connection with Jewish communities in Eastern Europe in the countries where we are permitted to work.” The Foundation has supported educational, cultural and religious programs in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Rumania and Yugoslavia, he said. The largest and most varied of these programs is currently in Hungary.

At its meeting, the Foundation will join with the Hungarian Jewish community in an examination of the impact of the Foundation’s help and will discuss new initiatives in the area of Jewish education in the country, Hochbaum said.

The WJCongress, at its meeting, will consider Jewish concerns ranging from the issues of anti-Semitism to interfaith relations, according to Edgar Bronfman, WJC president. The organization’s leadership is scheduled to hold discussions with government officials on matters of mutual concern, he added.

The Central Board of Hungarian Jews, which will receive the WJC leaders for the three-day meeting, has been a member of the WJC since 1980 when it was granted permission by the government to affiliate.