Rabbi Yaakov Mergui, Israel’s Minister of Religious Affairs, visited the offices of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe in Jerusalem at the beginning of this week.

The minister’s visit was organized as part of a drive to reinforce the existing connection between the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and the minister himself. At the meeting, all of those in charge of the Centre’s various departments were in attendance and they presented the minister with a description of their activities, as well as new and future projects.

Minister Mergui spoke to the Centre’s representatives about the various problems that figures elected by the haredi community to the Israeli Knesset have to deal with. During the meeting, Centre members emphasized the effects that everything related to religious matters in Israel has upon Europe. “You need to understand that if something is interpreted in a certain way in Israel, the European authorities ask why something that is okay in Israel is not also good enough for them,” explained Rabbi Arye Goldberg, director deputy of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe during the visit.

A considerable part of the meeting focused upon the Centre’s mikva’os project, under which 25 beautiful, luxury mikva’os are being constructed with the financial and halachic support of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe. The Centre’s project manager Rabbi Yehudah Minzberg presented the minister with a summary of the project including various problems that have arisen in a number of European countries, while the minister described the activities of his ministry in building mikva’os around Israel. “We have learned that there is much in common between what Israel and Europe have to cope with on a daily basis,” Minister Mergui said at the end of the meeting. Rabbi Goldberg concurred with him, saying, “Like the Religious Affairs Ministry in Israel, the Rabbinical Centre of Europe is the Ministry of Religion that handles the religious needs of European Jewry.”