Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski met on Tuesday, 7 Elul 5773 with a delegation of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) headed by Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, Chief Rabbi of the Interprovincial Chief Rabbinate in Holland, Rabbi Yisrael Yaakov Lichtenstein, Rabbi of the UK’s Federation of Synagogues, and Rabbi Menachem Margolin, General Director of the European Jewish Association (EJA) and assured them that “the Polish government is determined to find a solution that would allow Jewish ritual slaughter to continue in the country. The Polish government will operate on all levels to reach this solution as quickly as possible.”

This meeting is one of a series held in the past month with Polish politicians and representatives at the European Union and with contacts that are liaising between the Polish government and the European Jewish Association and Rabbinical Centre of Europe, through a committee established for this purpose by the Polish Prime Minister and chaired by Minister Michal Boni.

Also Present at the meeting was, Mr. Roman Giertych, former Polish Deputy Prime Minister, and currently the lawyer representing the EJA at a petition to the Polish Constitutional Tribunal regarding the legality of ritual slaughter. The foreign minister, who greeted the representatives warmly, told them that at the initial stage, he intends to submit a request to the court to judge the petition lodged by the European Jewish Association and receive a ruling on the issue as soon as possible. The minister added that the government will work to preserve the complete religious freedom of the Jews in Poland.

Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, told Minister Sikorski about the RCE’s successful campaign in overturning a similar decision made by the Dutch Parliament that included a productive cooperation with the Muslim community in Holland. Rabbi Lichtenstein stated that he is very encouraged by the Polish Government’s commitment to find a solution to the problem. At the end of the meeting, Rabbi Margolin thanked the foreign minister for his own and his government’s commitment to the issue and expressed his hope that the desired solution would be found as soon as possible.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photos: Marianna Sowińska)