On July 21, a general meeting of the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia took place. The leaders of the Jewish communities and organizations of Riga, Daugavpils, Jurmala, Liepaja, Ventspils, Rezekne, Jekabpils and Ludza discussed the activities of the Jewish community of Latvia in recent times and plans for the future.
The priority areas were and remain social assistance to elderly and low-income community members, support for Jewish education, preservation of the cultural heritage of Latvian Jews and the memory of the Holocaust, development of cultural and educational programs for people of different ages and interests, as well as restitution of Jewish property.
The participants of the meeting discussed the importance of effective cooperation of all Jewish communities and organizations in Latvia, as well as the need to develop regional communities so that Jewish life would be full, including in cities with a small Jewish population.
The General meeting supported the decision to create a Fund for Future Generations to ensure financial stability and independence of the Jewish community. The founders of the fund will be the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia, JDC and Arkady Suharenko, legal entities and individuals who share the goals of the fund and support its activities will be able to join them.
The meeting elected the board of the Council of nine people:
Chairman – Arkady Suharenko,
Deputy chairmen – Benjamin Kajem, Dmitry Krupnikov (Riga Jewish Community), David Kagan (Riga Jewish Religious Community), Raya Legkodymova (Jekabpils Jewish Community),
Board members – Vitaly Gotlib (Chairman of the Board of Trustees), Anna Petrova (Liepaja Jewish Religious Community), Riva Uryutova (Daugavpils Jewish Community), Rabbi Shimon Kutnovsky (Jurmala Jewish Community).
Currently, the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia includes 13 communities and organizations from 9 cities:
Riga Jewish community
Riga Jewish religious community
Religious community “Chabad-Lubavich”
Daugavpils Jewish community
Daugavpils Jewish religious community
Liepaja Jewish religious community
Jurmala Jewish community
Jekabpils Jewish community
Rezekne Jewish religious community
Jelgava Jewish community
Ventspils Jewish community “Hevre Hachomim”
Ludza Jewish religious community
Society “Goral”
Together with more than 20 Jewish organizations with which close cooperation has been established, the Council represents about 8000 Jews in Latvia.