Goldschmidt, who was born in Zurich, Switzerland, has been the Chief Rabbi of Moscow since 1993. He is the
spiritual
leader of the central synagogue of Moscow, and heads the rabbinical court of the CIS. In 1990 he created the
guidelines
in conjunction with the Israeli Ministry of Interior to reconfirm Jews who have hidden their Jewish identity
during
Soviet times.
Goldschmidt played a major role in founding and developing communal structures from colleges, day schools
and
kindergartens, soup kitchens and rabbinical schools, to political umbrella structures, such as the Russian
Jewish
Congress and the Congress of the Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations in Russia (CJROAR).
Goldschmidt represents the Russian Jewish community politically. He published opeds in the international
press
pertaining to the issues of the day. He has also addressed the US Senate, the EU Parliament, The Council of
Europe, and
The Israeli Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “Neem an Commission“, Oxford University,
Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe Berlin Conference on anti-Semitism, and Harvard University, discussing
the state of
the Jewish Community, and the threats of anti-Semitism.
In January 2005, five hundred people, including newspaper editors, public intellectuals and 19 Duma deputies
published
an appeal to the Prosecutor General of Russia. The petitioners called for the closure of Jewish organized
life in
Russia. A subsequent television call-in show, during which 100,000 people phoned in, revealed that 54% of
the
participants supported the idea of banning all Jewish organizations in Russia. Goldschmidt wrote a detailed
response to
all the accusations and addressed the letter to Dmitriy Rogozin, leader of the nationalist Rodina
(Motherland) party,
who, after receiving Goldschmidt’s letter, apologized and distanced himself from the petition. Goldschmidt
was deported
from Russia during September 2005, and was allowed to return to his community after three months, only after
an
international campaign.
In 2010 by special order of Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, he was made a citizen of Russia. He takes
an active
part in interfaith dialogue gatherings with Chris-tians and Muslims in New York, Paris, Astana, Seville,
Vienna and
Moscow.
He also leads the Conference of European Rabbis, the rabbinical umbrella group of Europe (uniting four
hundred rabbis
from Dublin to Khabarovsk) as the chairman of the Standing Committee. Goldschmidt besides his rabbinical
ordination
possesses an MA from Ner Israel Rabbinical College, as well as a MS from Johns Hopkins University.
He also studied at Ponevezh Yeshiva, (1979-1981), Telshe Yeshiva, Chicago, Il(1981- 1982), Shevet Umechokek
Institute
for Rabbinical Judges headed by Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, (1985-1986) and Harry Fischel Institute for
Talmudic
Research, Jerusalem, Israel (1986-1987). He authored articles on issues of Jewish law regarding post-Soviet
Jewry and
has published a collection of respons as with a compilation of Russian Jewish names “Zikaron Basefer”,
(Moscow 1996).
Rabbi Goldschmidt has been awarded Certification as candidate for the Position of Chief Rabbi in Israel or
in one of the
cities in Israel by the Council of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel in the year 2002. Rabbi Goldschmidt is
married and has
seven children.
In the spring of 2009, Goldschmidt was visiting Scholar at the Davis Center in
Harvard. Since July 2011, Goldschmidt is the new president of the Conference of European Rabbis. He was
elected by the
CER’s Standing Committee meeting in London and succeeds the former Chief Rabbi of France (1987-2009), Joseph
Sitruk, who
had held the post since 1999. Only the fourth president of the CER in its 54-year history, Rabbi Goldschmidt
is the
first to hold the post from outside Western Europe.
On July 27, 2016 the Government of the French Republic awarded to Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt the title of
Chevalier of
the National Order of the Legion of Honor for his paramount contribution to the strengthening of relations
between
Russia and France.
