Róbert Frölich steps down as Hungary’s chief rabbi

Róbert Frölich has stepped down as Hungary’s chief rabbi, according to the website of the Budapest Jewish Community.

In a post on his own social media page, Frölich said the reason for his decision was that in recent years the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (Mazsihisz) had “moved in a direction, not least with the knowledge and support of the lay leadership, which is far removed from everything” that he represented and would want to represent in the future, too.

Referring to the introduction of certain measures which he did not specify, Frölich said that if “this path and these methods are the future of Mazsihisz” he would neither wish to be a passive observer nor active as an obstacle to them.

He wrote that in almost thirty years he had represented neolog Judaism, not only at the level of ritual or in practice, but also in promoting and living by neolog spirituality and Jewish morality.

Frölich, the chief rabbi of Budapest’s Dohány Street synagogue, was elected by Mazsihisz rabbis as the national chief rabbi in July 2015.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/MAZSIHISZ

Source: MTI