History

     The Conference of European Rabbis (CER) is the primary rabbinical alliance in Europe. It unites more than 700 religious leaders of the mainstream synagogue communities in Europe. It was founded in 1956 on the initiative of British Chief Rabbi Sir Israel Brodie, in order to revive the destroyed Jewish communities on the European mainland. Brodie was supported by the chief rabbi of France, Jacob Kaplan, the chief rabbi of Amsterdam, Aharon Schuster and the British Sephardic spiritual leader, Hacham Gaon. The first conference took place in 1957 in Amsterdam.

The organization is run by a standing committee of 35 members which meets twice a year, in one of the European capitals and includes internal deliberations, a visit with the local Jewish community and political meetings with the country’s government. The Standing Committee members are in general, the chief rabbis of European countries and its most important cities along with the senior rabbinical judges. The general convention of the Rabbinate convenes once every two years to discuss matters of great importance to the global Jewish community. 

     The conference is designed to defend the religious rights of Jews in Europe, and has become the voice of Judaism for the European continent. It has been involved in defending the rights of Jews to slaughter animals according to Jewish law and for Jews to circumcise their children. The CER also functions as a collegial rabbinical authority, which certifies the validity of conversions, kashruth certifications and other rabbinical legal decisions, affecting the broader Jewish community. Throughout its existence, it has helped facilitate communities with problems concerning Kashrut, conversion, divorce, recruitment of Rabbis and other issues.

 
      The current president of the CER is the Chief Rabbi of Moscow, Pinchas Goldschmidt, who served as chairman of the Standing Committee for over ten years. The chairman of the Presidium is the immediate past president of the CER and past Chief Rabbi of France, Joseph Sitruk, and the associate president is British Chief Rabbi Lord Dr. Jonathan Sacks. Before Rabbi Sitruck, the organization was headed by Rabbi Lord Dr Immanuel Jacobovits, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain.

     ​The first Executive Director of the CER was Rabbi Maurice (Moshe) Rose, who was succeeded in the year 2001 by Rabbi Aba Dunner, who died in 2011. In 2012 the CER appointed Rabbi Elimelech Vanzetta as its new Executive Director.