ESJF held its semi-annual board meeting in Tel Aviv this week, bringing together board members, partners, and diplomats to discuss the organisation’s ongoing work and future plans for protecting Jewish cemeteries across Europe.
Among the guests were senior diplomats from the German, Serbian and US embassies in Tel Aviv, Aleksandar Nikolić, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Serbia to the State of Israel, former Israeli Justice Minister and Religious Affairs Minister of the State of Israel, Dr. Yossi Beilin and Ambassador Colette Avital, Chairperson of the Center Organization of Holocaust survivors in Israel, Vice President of the Conference of Material Claims Against Germany and Secretary General of the World Jewish Restitution Organization.
Also attending were Rabbi Moshe Hershaft and Rabbi Ram Moshe Ra’avad, whose work in conducting ESJF rabbinical surveys and in the monitoring of our completed projects is invaluable.
During the meeting, opened by ESJF Founder and President Rabbi Isaac Schapira, ESJF CEO Philip Carmel presented one of the organisation’s most significant milestones, achieved after more than 11 years of work: the completion of 400 Jewish cemetery protection projects across 12 European countries, mostly achieved through the generous funding of the (Auswärtiges Amt) Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.
He also expounded upon the ESJF’s vast survey of Jewish cemeteries, now extended across the Balkans as well as in Latvia and Estonia through the support of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, as well as detailing the scope of ESJF’s education projects across central and eastern Europe.
ESJF Office Director Alexander Bessarab also gave a presentation on the future protection project at the Jewish cemetery in Berdychiv.
To mark the milestone of the completion of 400 Jewish cemetery protection projects, Rabbi Schapira presented Mr. Carmel with a commemorative plaque detailing ESJF’s achievements over the years.
Accepting the award, the ESJF CEO said: “I would like to thank Rabbi Schapira for this incredible honour. It is a privilege to be part of this important and sacred mission to protect and preserve Jewish cemeteries across Europe. I accept this award on behalf of our dedicated team and all of our partners, whose hard work makes these achievements possible.”