WJC Regional Reports 2011 - World Jewish Congress

Joel, President of Yeshiva University; Rabbi Peter Rubinstein of Central Synagogue; Congressman
Robert Turner (R-NY); Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop Emeritus of New York; Archbishop
Francis Chullikatt, Ambassador of the Holy See to the UN; Bishop William Murphy of the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY; Father Dennis McManus, Professor of Theology at
Georgetown University; Father Norbert Hoffman, Secretary , Commission for Religious Relations
with the Jews; Father James Massa, Executive Director of USCCB Secretariat for Ecumenical and
Interreligious Affairs; Robert Sugarman, President, ADL; Prof. Lawrence Schiffman, Vice Provost of
Yeshiva University and Chair of IJCIC; Betty Ehrenberg, Executive Director, WJC- United States
and North America and Vice Chair of IJCIC;, and Martin Budd, Treasurer of IJCIC. It was an
important event that introduced the Cardinal to New York leaders.
Pope Benedict XVI held a special interfaith gathering at Assisi, following up on the gathering held
by Pope John Paul II in 1986. More than 300 religious leaders, of all faiths and from all over the
world, met in Assisi to exchange messages of hope for peace and co-existence. Maram Stern was
the main representative of WJC to the gathering and Betty Ehrenberg attended as Vice Chair of
IJCIC. The gathering was impressive as was the wide array of participants.
At Assisi, Ehrenberg met with Metropolitan Emanuel of the Greek Orthodox leadership to follow up
the discussions of possible meetings with them in New York with WJC and at another venue with
IJCIC. This is in parallel to the WJC outreach efforts to the Christian Orthodox on the part of Rabbi
Pinchas Goldschmidt of Moscow, and following up a meeting with Archbishop Heironymous of the
Greek Orthodox Church of Athens which was co-chaired by WJC-US Acting Chair Rabbi Joel Meyers
in Athens in February during a mission of American Jewish leaders to Greece, attended by Betty
Ehrenberg and representatives of WJC-US member organizations.
World Jewish Congress-United States has increased its outreach to important American Christian
leaders, including leaders of the New York Archdiocese, the national leadership of the Evangelical
community, and Catholic leaders of the Latino American community. Rabbi Joel Meyers regularly
attends national and international interfaith gatherings. An area that continues to be of concern
and marked for increased involvement is the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its US affiliate
the National Council of Churches. We are working with representatives of the Presbyterian
community in order to help to stave off a repeat of the call to boycott Israel that was a feature of
the last conference of the Presbyterian Church-USA.
We continue to be in close contact with Israel’s representative for interfaith relations in the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs Bahij Mansour who we recently hosted a luncheon briefing at WJC-US and with
the Ambassador of Israel to the Vatican, Mordechai Lewy.
Rabbi Marc Schneier, Vice President of WJC and Honorary Chair of WJC-US, continues to work to
enhance Muslim-Jewish relations via the projects and programs of the Foundation for Ethnic
Understanding. A recent success was a joint statement of Muslim and Jewish leaders in support of
the release of Gilad Shalit.
A meeting was held at WJC-US with Muslim leaders of Serbia, including the Grand Mufti and
seceral deputies. The meeting was attended by Ehrenberg, Michael Schneider, and Rabbi Marc
Shneier and US State Department representatives.
Ehrenberg, as Vice Chair of IJCIC, continued to host meetings of the IJCIC Governing Board at New
York WJC Headquarters and plans were begun an Emerging Leaders Conference that will be
WJC NORTH AMERICA REPORT: PAGE 6 OF 12