European Rabbis to convene in Baku: Historic gathering amid rising Israel-Azerbaijan ties Article by Jewish News Syndicate

The Israel-based Jewish News Syndicate has featured an article by journalist Etgar Lefkovits, focusing on the forthcoming Conference of European Rabbis set to convene in Baku this autumn. Caliber.Az offers its readers an adapted version of the piece.

The biennial convention of the Conference of European Rabbis will discuss the expansion of the Abraham Accords to include Azerbaijan.

Hundreds of European rabbis from across the continent will be gathering in Azerbaijan this fall to discuss the expansion of the Abraham Accords in the first such convention in a Muslim nation.

The extraordinary assembly comes amid burgeoning relations between Israel and Azerbaijan that developed from a centuries-long affinity between the two nations into an unprecedented strategic partnership in the face of ongoing regional turmoil.

The biennial convention of the Conference of European Rabbis is scheduled to take place in the capital, Baku, between November 4-6 at the invitation of the Azerbaijani government, which will serve as the honorary host, with more than 500 rabbis expected to attend the event.

The organization’s 70th anniversary convention will address key contemporary challenges and opportunities, including the expansion of the landmark Abraham Accords—which saw Israel reach peace agreements with four Arab countries under the first Trump administration five years ago—to include Azerbaijan as well as the promotion of freedom of religion and the fight against rising antisemitism in Europe.

The primary Orthodox rabbinical alliance in Europe, the organization unites more than 700 religious leaders from communities across Europe. Founded in 1956, it works to defend the rights of Jews in Europe, with freedom of religion and matters related to the Jewish communities expected to be front and center at the conference.

“Jewish life in Azerbaijan is historic, visible, and vibrant and dates back to the Babylonian exile and the Persian Empire,” Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis, told JNS.  “Our visit will be a unique opportunity to meet with the Azeri community and hold talks with the government there, which is widely recognized for its secular, tolerant and inclusive nature.”

Ties that bind

The selection of secular Azerbaijan as the venue for the conference is highly symbolic, since it is believed that indigenous Jews arrived on the territory of Azerbaijan following the Babylonian destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE.

Indeed, at a time of heightened antisemitism across the globe, Azerbaijan is considered free of such animus with the country’s 25,000 to 30,000 Jews living in harmony with their predominantly Muslim neighbors.

“Azerbaijan is a secular Muslim country where there has never been antisemitism,” said Baku-born Roman Gurevich, who serves as the honorary envoy of the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency for Israel in Azerbaijan.  “It stands as a shining example to the world of how peoples can live together in harmony, good neighborliness and mutual respect.”

He noted that centuries of nurtured traditions of brotherhood, friendship and respect toward their Jewish community and then the State of Israel make it “the most fitting and honorable place” to host the international conference of rabbis.

The conference will include a visit to the historic ancient Jewish community of Quba in Azerbaijan, which was home to Mountain Jews for centuries.