The Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) received messages from European leaders on behalf of the Jewish communities in Europe on the occasion o the Jewish New Year. Most of the leaders referred to the need to confront racism and xenophobia and the common values shared by Europeans.

The Rabbinical Centre of Europe is an organization dedicated to the religious and spiritual needs of European Jewry and assists the Jewish leadership with the needs of their communities.

Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel remarked that she is grateful that Jews have not turned their backs on Germany, despite the Holocaust. “(Jews) helped us work towards a new beginning,” Merkel wrote in her New Year’s greeting. “They helped us overcome the dark chapters of the past, to promote democratic development in our country and to give to it a human face again. To you we remain deeply grateful in gratitude.”

Merkel also made reference to the growing Jewish community in Germany.

“From my whole heart I thank all those who helped in the development of Jewish life in Germany. I am especially pleased to hear about the ordination of the first Orthodox rabbi in the Federal Republic of Germany’” Merkel wrote.

The President of Germany, Horst Koehler, also referred to Germany’s past and the Jewish renewal in Germany in his greeting. “I am glad that Jewish life blossoms in Germany once again more than 60 years after the break in civilization that was the Shoah,” Koehler wrote.

President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek mentioned how Judaism has made its own special contribution to shaping modern European society which is based on shared values. “The European Union is a community based on values, the most fundamental of which is the inherent dignity of every human person,” Buzek wrote while referencing the fact that 2008 was the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, also made a reference to Europe’s dark past in its relationship to the Jewish People. Rompuy quoted the medieval Spanish Jewish scholar Rabbi Solomon ben Reuben Bonafed who asked "How long before the darkness knows a new day?"

“This question, which must also be asked at Auschwitz, echoes our society and the world which are confronted with racism,” Van Rompuy wrote.

President of the Belgium Senate Armand De Decker wrote of a multicultural Europe which is an asset to the continent. “To open up to the other and to accept him with all his differences must be part of this diversity that builds Europe's future,” De Decker called for, which was a common theme amongst the European leader’s greetings.

The RCE also received New Year’s greetings from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu wrote about how a national unity in Israel was necessary to combat such issues as the Iranian nuclear threat.

“This unity is necessary both inside and outside of Israel. The bonds between Israel and Diaspora Jewish communities throughout the world are a tremendous source of strength, and I will work to strengthen those bonds in the year ahead,” Netanyahu wrote in his greetings.