[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

New York – A hi-level delegation of the Central Rabbinical Congress of the USA and Canada (CRC) visited with the French Consul General in New York Mr. Bertrand Lortholary to thank the French government for their strong support to Jewish community after the brutal terror attacks in January.

The Jewish community in France – the third largest Jewish community in the world – was the target of a vicious terror attack on January 9, two days after the Charlie Hebdo shooting. As the CRC notes in their letter, the terrorists attacked two of the most basic and cherished freedoms – of expression and religion – in a country that was first to enact these freedoms. During time of tragedy, the French Government and President Hollande made it clear that France stands with the Jewish community, and will do everything possible to protect them and to enable them to continue flourishing and thriving in France. France is also leading the way to outlaw and combat cyber-hate, which incites hatred and violence.

The delegation – consisting of three Rabbis of the CRC presidium, Rabbi Issac Eichenstein, Rabbi Hillel Weinberger, Rabbi Dov Ber Katz, together with Rabbi David Niederman, the CRC Intergovernmental Representative – presented a letter, addressed to the President of France, his Excellency Francois Hollande, expressing “heartfelt condolences to the beloved nation of France” for the victims in the Charlie Hebdo, the Hypercacher Kosher supermarket shootings. The Rabbis discussed with the Consul General his country’s rich Jewish history. It was pointed out that the most-famous commentator on the Torah and Talmud, Rashi, and much of the Tosfos authors, lived and published their work in France. These texts are studied until today on a daily basis by all religious Jews.

France is the home to the third largest Jewish community in the world, and the Jewish community is thankful to the government for making clear that they are a part of parcel of the French society. “Jews are at home in France,” said President Hollande last week. “France, without the Jews of France, is no longer France,” declared the Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

Through these strong words and actions, the CRC state in the letter, there is every expectation that “France will continue to be a land where Jews not only live in peace and harmony but continue to flourish and make great contributions to the social, intellectual, cultural and religious life of the grand French nation.”

The Consul General discussed the terror attack and other anti-Semitic incidents, and the strong measures that the government takes to protect the community and to educate the young generations to tolerance and against hate. He thanked the delegation for their visit and letter, and expressed his government’s admiration to the Jewish community.

Rabbi Niederman extended an invitation to the Consul General to visit the thriving Jewish community in Brooklyn, built on the ashes of the holocaust. A number of these families are formerly from France, and many others were offered temporary residence in the country on their way to resettle after the destruction of their former home place.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)