The Standing Committee of Conference of European Rabbis convened last week in Manchester to discuss various issues ranging from anti-Semitism to building Jewish community life. One of the guests of honor was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Andy Burnham.
Burnham carried with him a letter from UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in which he expressed his regret for not being able to attend the conference and his admiration of the Jewish people.
Minister Burnham assured delegates that the UK would continue to fight anti-Semitism and make certain freedom of religion was preserved. Burnham also told rabbis he admired the Jewish education system in the UK and that he has established a Shoah studies program which includes tours of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
He continued to say he was morally obligated to educate the next generations about the Holocaust so that such atrocities would not be repeated.
Burnham with rabbis in Manchester
The Conference's President and Chief Rabbi of France, Grand Rabbi Joseph Sitruk, told delegates that he spoke with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who assured him that he would work to change the French Constitution and legally differentiate between the general cemeteries in the country and the Jewish ones (according to the French constitution, authorities are allowed to exhume the dead after 30 years).
The conference also decided to establish a special committee of rabbis to liaise with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Vatican.
Ahead of the conference, Russian authorities announced the release of three Jewish prisoners as a good will gesture.
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