Goldschmidt Pinchas Solomonovich

Pinchas Goldschmidt (Pinchas Solomonovich Goldschmidt) - at the beginning of 2019, chief rabbi of Moscow, head of the rabbinical court in Russia, chairman of the Council of Rabbis of Europe, head of the rabbinical court in the CIS and Baltic countries. One of the actual leaders of the Russian Jewish Congress.

Goldshmith left the Russian Federation in March 2022 after the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine and quickly received the influential position of president of the Conference of European Rabbis.

Biography

Pinchas Goldschmidt was born on July 21, 1963 in Zurich. The maternal grandfather was from the Carpathian Hasidim. Parents are religious Jews, live in Zurich, this is the fourth generation. His great-grandfather was the chief rabbi of Denmark, and then the chief rabbi of Zurich. Father Solomon was engaged in business - the development of automated systems for transferring clothes to warehouses. Mom's name is Elizabeth.

Pinchas Goldschmidt has a spiritual and secular education. He received his traditional Jewish education in two yeshivas of the world: Ponevezh (Bnei Brak, Israel), Ner Yisroel (Baltimore, USA). At the same time he graduated from Hopkins University in Baltimore. He has a master's degree. He has a rabbinical smikha (diploma).

In 1987-1989 worked in the rabbinate of Natseret-Ilit (Israel), where he took an active part in the spiritual absorption of repatriates from the USSR.

In 1989, at the direction of his spiritual mentor, Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik, as well as on behalf of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the World Jewish Congress, came to Moscow as a lecturer at the Institute for the Study of Judaism at the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by Rabbi Adin Steinzalz. In 1989, at the invitation of the Chief Rabbi of Russia Adolf Shaevich, he headed the rabbinical court of the USSR, and since 1993 he became the chief rabbi of Moscow.

Goldschmidt was deported from Russia in September 2005. He was detained by border guards on September 27 at Domodedovo Airport and sent back to Israel.

"When I arrived from Israel, I was first detained at the border while checking documents, and then the shift supervisor came and said that my visa was canceled and I would be deported," he said.

At the same time, according to the rabbi, he received "no explanations, no motivation" from the Russian border guards. P. Goldschmidt added that his Russian visa was valid until August 2006.

He was allowed to return after three months.

In the 2010s, Pinchas Goldschmidt provided substantial lobbying support to Mikhail Fridman (Alpha Group). In 2014, it was he who could help in lifting the lockdown imposed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friedman's purchase of the gas company RWE Dea. As a result, the deal took place and Friedman bought RWE Dea for €5.1 billion.

On April 20, 2015, between Pope Francis and the Chief Rabbi of Moscow and Europe Pinchas Goldschmidt, the cooling of diplomatic relations between Russia and the West was discussed

Pinchas has close ties with France. In 2016 he was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor of France.

For 2019, Pinchas Goldschmidt is the de facto leader of the "Litvaks" - adherents of the Lithuanian Hasidut, whose center in Russia is the Moscow Choral Synagogue on Kitay-Gorod. At this time, he has one of the most serious resources of influence in comparison with other Jewish leaders of Russia (Berl Lazar and Beard), with whom he is in conflict. At the same time, the latter limit his ties with the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation.

In April 2019, Pinchas Goldschmidt's wife, US citizen Dara, was detained and searched by border guards. Pinchas wrote a letter to FSB director Bortnikov. He was answered, everything within the law.

Family

Pinchas' wife, Dara Goldschmidt of the influential American Brodie family. They are relatives of the Rothschilds. Dara's brother is Tom Brodie, at the beginning of 2019, one of the top managers of Rothschild Capital Partners.

Dara Goldschmidt's father was a member of the United States Congress and was an influential Republican.

For 2005, seven children.

The younger brother is the rabbi of the Cape Town synagogue in South Africa.

Son - Benjamin Goldschmidt, temporary assistant to the chief rabbi (temporary assistant Rabbi) of Manhattan's richest synagogue in Park East (USA). Temporary, since he does not have a higher education diploma. In 2022, it was mentioned that Schmuely Glick provided him with financial support.

See also

• Judaism in Russia