Conference of European Rabbis Annual Review 2017-2018 (5777-5778) 39 www.rabbiscer.org President | Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt Associate President | Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis Senior Vice President | Grand Rabbin Haim Korsia Executive Council Rabbi Bruno Fiszon Chief Rabbi Dr. Riccardo DiSegni Rabbi Refoel Kruskal Rabbi Moshe Lebel Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich Executive Management Gady Gronich Shorena Mikava Rabbi Aharon Baskin Standing Committee Dayan Menachem Gelley (Chairman) Board of Patrons Boris Mints (Chairman) Bart Van de Kamp (Vice Chairman) Presidium Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis Dayan Menachem Gelley Grand Rabbin Haim Korsia Grand Rabbin René S. Sirat Chief Rabbi Riccardo DiSegni Chief Rabbi Moshe Lewin Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu Chief Rabbi Albert Guigui Former Chief Rabbi Alain Goldmann Emeritus Chief Rabbi Lord Dr. Jonathan Sacks C H I E F R A B B I P I N C H A S G O L D S C H M I D T P R E S I D E N T Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt (born 21 July 1963, Zurich) since 1993 the Chief Rabbi of Moscow, Russia, was elected as CER President in 2011. He is the spiritual leader of the Moscow Choral Synagogue, the head of the rabbinical court of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and is an officer of the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC). He played a major role in founding and developing communal structures and he represents the Russian Jewish community politically. On July 27, 2016 the President of the French Republic awarded to Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt the title of Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honor for his paramount contribution to the development of Russian Jewry, European Jewry, and to the strengthening of relations between Russia and France. He has addressed inter alia the US Senate, the EU Parliament, The Council of Europe, The Israeli Knesset, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “Neeman Commission”, Oxford University, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Berlin Conference on antisemitism, and Harvard University, discussing the state of the Jewish Community, and the threats of antisemitism. Rabbi Goldschmidt was deported from Russia during September 2005, and was allowed to return to his community after three months, only after an international campaign. He takes an active part in interfaith dialogue gatherings with Christians and Muslims in New York, Paris, Astana, Seville, Vienna and Moscow. In addition to his rabbinical ordination, Rabbi Goldschmidt possesses an M.A. from Ner Israel Rabbinical College, as well as an M.S. from Johns Hopkins University. He also studied at Ponevezh Yeshiva (1979–1981), Telshe Yeshiva, Chicago, Illinois (1981–1982), Shevet Umechokek Institute for Rabbinical Judges headed by Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg (1985–1986) and Harry Fischel Institute for Rabbinical Judges, Jerusalem, Israel (1986–1987). He authored articles on issues of Jewish law regarding post-Soviet Jewry and has published a collection of responsa with a compilation of Russian Jewish names “Zikaron Basefer” (Moscow 1996). Rabbi Goldschmidt was awarded certification as a candidate for the position of Chief Rabbi in Israel at one of the cities in Israel by the Council of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel in the year 2002. Rabbi Goldschmidt is married and has seven children. In the spring of 2009, he was the Visiting Scholar at the Davis Center in Harvard. In July 2011, Rabbi Goldschmidt, Chief Rabbi and Av Beit Din of Moscow, became the new president of the CER. He was elected by the CER’s Standing Committee meeting in London and succeeded Joseph Sitruk (Chief Rabbi of France 1987–2009), who had held the post since 1999. Only the fourth president of the CER in its 54-year history, Rabbi Goldschmidt is the first from outside Western Europe to hold the post.