Union of Jewish Communities of Poland

The Union operates on the basis of the "Law on the attitude of the state towards Jewish communities in the Polish Republic" ( Polish Ustawa z dnia 20 lutego 1997 r. O stosunku Państwa do gmin wyznaniowych żydowskich w Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej ), adopted by the Sejm on February 20, 1997 ^[2] . It was registered in 1993 as the heiress of the organization “Religious Union of the Religion of Moses” ( Związek Religijny Wyznania Mojżeszowego ), which has been operating since 1949 (then dissolved). Formally, it is a continuation of the case of the “Jewish community” operating in pre-war Poland ^[3] .

He organizes Jewish religious and social activities in Poland, as well as custody of Jewish communities, the maintenance of synagogues and houses of worship, as well as Jewish cemeteries. Annually publishes the Jewish Almanac. For members who are not Jewish in Halachah , conducts training courses for the giyur .

On June 18, 2008, the Union and Polish Television entered into an agreement to include programs on the life and activities of the Jewish community in the public television network. Programs on religious-moral, religious-social, cultural themes and holiday prayers and ceremonies are included.

Based on the Act of February 20, 1997, additional days off are set for members of Jewish communities ^[4] :

• 1) Persons belonging to Jewish communities have the right to exemption from work or study for a period corresponding to religious holidays that do not fall on a common weekend:

• - Rosh Hashanah - 2 days;
• - Yom Kippur - 1 day;
• - Sukkot - 2 days;
• - Shmini Atzeret - 1 day;
• - Simchat Torah - 1 day;
• - Passover - 4 days;
• - Shavuot - 2 days

• 2) The dates of the holidays are set in accordance with the Jewish calendar .
• 3) Persons belonging to Jewish communities are given the right to be released from work or study during the Sabbath , which lasts from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday, and similarly on the above holidays.

The Union consists of eight communities:

• Jewish religious community in Warsaw

• branch in Lublin

• Jewish religious community in Wroclaw

• branch office in Walbrzych
• branch in Zhary

• Jewish religious community in Krakow
• Jewish Religious Community in Lodz
• Jewish Religious Community in Szczecin
• Jewish religious community in Katowice

• branch in Bytom
• Gliwice branch

• Jewish Religious Community in Bielsko-Biała
• Jewish religious community in Legnica

and two branches of the Union itself:

• branch in Gdansk
• branch in Poznan

as well as the ZGWŻ Public Assistance Commission

administrative division is based on the borders of the voivodships in 1975-1998 .

ZGWŻ is a member of several international organizations, including the European Jewish Congress , the European Council of the Jewish Public, and the Jewish Heritage Preservation Fund in Poland ^[5] . The activities of the Union are funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland , as well as private sponsors.

Union Presidents

• 1993-1997 - Pavel Waldstein
• 1997-2003 - Jerzy Kiechler
• since 2003 - Pyotr Kadlchik

Rabbis

• 1988-1999 - Pinchas Menachem Joskovich - chief rabbi of Poland, chief rabbi of Warsaw
• 1999-2000 - Baruch Rabinovich - Rabbi of Warsaw
• since 2000 - Michael Joseph Schudrich - chief rabbi of Poland, chief rabbi of Warsaw and Lodz
• 2002-2003 - Ivan Kaine - Chief Rabbi of Wroclaw
• 2004-2006 - Shlomo Zelig Avrasin - Assistant Chief Rabbi of Warsaw
• 2005-2006 - Abraham Flax - Chief Rabbi of Krakow
• since 2005 - Edgar Gluck - Chief Rabbi of Galicia
• 2006—2008 - Mordechai Goldberg - Assistant to the Chief Rabbi of Warsaw
• since 2006 - Boaz Pash - Chief Rabbi of Krakow
• 2006—2011 - Yitzhak Rapoport - Chief Rabbi of Wroclaw and Silesia
• 2007-2009 - Efraim Meisles - Head of the Warsaw Kabbalah
• 2008—2010 - Pinchas Jarchinsky - Assistant to the Chief Rabbi of Warsaw
• 2009—2010 - Shlomo Kuchera - Chief Rabbi of Upper Silesia
• ☎ - Daniel Simons - head of the Warsaw Kagal
• since 2010 - Jeoshua Alice - Chief Rabbi of Upper Silesia
• since 2010 - Stas Wojciechovich - head of the Warsaw community of progressive Judaism
• since 2011 - Tyson Herberger - Assistant Chief Rabbi of Warsaw
• since 2012 - Samuel Rosenberg - chief rabbi of Wroclaw

• New Synagogue in Gdansk ul. Partizan number 7
• REMU synagogue in Krakow ul. Sheroka number 40
• Temple Synagogue in Krakow ul. Honey 24
• Synagogue of Yeshiva of the Lublin Wise Men st. Lyubartovsk number 85
• Reicher Synagogue in Lodz St. 1905 Revolution No. 28
• Nozhik Synagogue in Warsaw ul. Tward number 6
• Synagogue under the white stork in Wroclaw st. Wlodkowitz number 9
• Synagogue in Bielsko-Biala ul. May 3, No. 7
• Synagogue in Bytom sq. Grunwald number 6
• Synagogue in Gliwice St. Dolne Shafts No. 2
• Synagogue in Katowice st. Mlynska number 13
• Synagogue in Legnica St. Khoynovsk number 12
• Synagogue in Lodz St. Pomeranian number 18
• Synagogue in Poznan st. Shutter number 10
• Synagogue in Szczecin St. Nemtsevich number 2
• Synagogue in Walbrzych St. Mickiewicz number 18
• Small synagogue of Wroclaw st. Wlodkowitz number 9
• Synagogue in Zhary Zaulok Klashtorny No. 3

• August Grabski: Współczesne życie religijne Żydów w Polsce . W: Studia z dziejów i kultury Żydów w Polsce po 1945 roku. Warszawa: Trio, 1997. ISBN 83-85660-74-7 .
• Andrzej Czohara, Tadeusz J. Zieliński: Ustawa o stosunku Państwa do gmin wyznaniowych żydowskich w Polsce. Komentarz , Warszawa: WoltersKluwer, 2012, ISBN 9788326416668