{"id":303396,"date":"2026-02-21T20:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T20:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/303396\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T20:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T20:42:08","slug":"israels-chief-rabbi-visits-monaco-jewish-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/303396\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Chief Rabbi visits Monaco Jewish community"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rabbi Kalman Ber, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel, traveled to the Jewish communities of Monaco and southern France this month in a historic visit to reinforce the community\u2019s connection with Israel and Judaism. The visit was arranged and sponsored by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/kabbalah\/article-884209\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Eduard Shyfrin<\/a>, the well-known businessman, mathematician, and Kabbalah scholar, who is Vice President of the Jewish community of Monaco. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Arriving in Monaco on January 28, Rabbi Ber remained in the principality until his departure on February 1, meeting with members of the Jewish community as well as with the Chief of Staff of His Serene Highness, Prince Albert II, Prince of Monaco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">During his visit, Rabbi Ber met with Chabad communities in nearby Nice and Cannes, visited Jewish sites in Monaco, and participated in a cornerstone-laying ceremony dedicating the site where the new Jewish Center will be built. He was the guest of honor at a ceremonial dinner with prominent members of the Monaco Jewish community and visited students at Monaco\u2019s Sunday Jewish school.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/culture\/article-848820\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Shyfrin<\/a> noted the importance of Rabbi Ber\u2019s visit and said, \u201cChief Rabbi Ber\u2019s visit was marked with unprecedented spiritual elevation and enthusiasm. People were queuing to shake hands with Rabbi Ber, and children asked him to sign their kipot. As a result of rising antisemitism in Europe, Jewish communities are in a somber mood. Jewish people in Europe feel as if they are in a besieged fortress because of the strong antisemitism. The visit of the Chief Rabbi was an influx of spirit and a sign of connection with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The President of the community, Aaron Frenkel, and the entire community expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Shyfrin, whose vision and dedication made this meaningful visit a reality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Rabbi Tanhum Matusof, Chabad Rabbi of Monaco, who planned and organized the Chief Rabbi\u2019s visit, said, \u201cAs the Chief Rabbi emphasized, \u2018The purpose of the human being\u2019s creation is to share with others, to give of oneself, and to be there for one another.\u2019 His words highlighted the essential role of responsibility and mutual care in strengthening unity within the Jewish people and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">He noted that Ber\u2019s message reflects the essence of Chabad-Lubavitch \u2014 Lubavitch, which means \u201ccity of love\u201d in Russian. \u201cIt represents a philosophy of warmth and light, inspiring acts of kindness, unity, and a shared commitment to bringing peace and harmony into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Though the number of Jews living in Monaco is relatively small \u2013 estimates place the number of Jewish residents between 1,000 and 2,000 \u2013 it has one of the highest per capita concentrations of Jewish residents in the world outside of Israel, representing approximately 2.86% to 5% of the total population. The growing community is primarily composed of retirees from France and the United Kingdom, alongside a mix of North African and Turkish Jews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabbi Kalman Ber, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel, traveled to the Jewish communities of Monaco and southern France&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[110450,133471,1902,85,46,61833,42614,43],"class_list":["post-303396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-chabad","tag-chief-rabbi","tag-diaspora-jews","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jews","tag-monaco","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}