Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar has been invited to address the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, probably in 2011.

On a visit to Moscow this week in order to to promote dialogue between European nations and religious communities, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, the assembly’s president, met with Rabbi Lazar and other Russia’s religious leaders.

During the meeting, he expressed concerns about a rising tide of xenophobia in Europe.

“Intensifying inter-religious and intercultural dialogue is one of the best ways of combating xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, which seem to be on the rise in many European societies,” Çavusoglu said.

Lazar , director of Chabad in Russia, accompanied the European official during a  tour of Moscow’s Marina Roscha Jewish community center and its Beis Menachem Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue. He noted that the center’s programs were emblematic of a resurgence of Jewish life in the former Soviet Union.

“This center brings light and hope to all the Jews of Russia,” he said, drawing  comparisons with similar centers run by Rabbi Mendel Samama of Chabad-Lubavitch of Strasbourg, France and Rabbi Levi Matusof in Brussels, Belgium.

Çavusoglu stressed that centers like those in Moscow and across Europe served to educate all citizens about Jewish culture.

“It is essential to increase mutual understanding and respect between different cultures and religions by emphasizing the profound values that we have in common, mainly our respect for human beings and human dignity,” he said.

He hold meetings with several other religious dignitaries of Russia, ioncluding Patriarch Cyril of Moscow and All-Russia, the Grand Mufti of Russia and the Chairman of Russia’s Council of Muftis Sheik Ravil Gainutdin.

As part of the promotion of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, Çavusoglu  announced that the PACE was preparing a debate on this topic in April 2011 with the participation of the Prime Ministers of Turkey and Spain, as co-chairs of the ‘Alliance of Civilizations,’ together with religious leaders from across Europe.

 “It is essential to increase mutual understanding and respect between different cultures and religions by emphasising the profound values that we have in common, mainly our respect for human beings and human dignity,” he stressed.

Based in Strasbourg, France, the Council of Europe covers virtually the entire European continent, with its 47 member countries.

Founded in 1949, the body seeks to develop throughout Europe common and democratic principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals.

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(Source: EJP)