European Jewish Fund (EJF)

Origin

The European Jewish Fund (EJF) is an organization that promotes Jewish life and community development in Europe. It was established in 2006 by Moshe Kantor as a non-profit organization to strengthen Jewish identity, foster Jewish culture, and support Jewish communities across Europe. The EJF operates in partnership with various organizations, foundations, and individuals to implement its programs and initiatives.

The primary focus of the European Jewish Fund is to address the unique challenges and opportunities faced by Jewish communities in Europe. It aims to promote Jewish heritage, combat antisemitism, and enhance interfaith dialogue and understanding.

Aims

The Association is established to pursue the following objectives:

Assisting Jewish communities and organisations throughout Europe in fostering Jewish identity, leadership and education.
Supporting and contributing to programs and events created by institutions and organizations throughout Europe, including at the national, regional, sub-regional and communal levels, that pursue one or several goals of the EJF.
Promoting initiatives fostering European Jewish culture, tradition and heritage and raising awareness about Jewish contributions to Europe among the wider society.
Fighting antisemitism and other forms of religious, cultural and/or racial discrimination. Promoting respect, tolerance and cooperation between people of different national, cultural, ethnic, racial and/or religious backgrounds or affiliations.
Defending human rights throughout Europe as stipulated by the International Bill of Human Rights of the United Nations, and the European Convention on Human Rights and helping implement human rights programs, including those in cooperation with UNESCO.
Supporting organizations and institutions involved with Holocaust remembrance and education.
Promoting closer ties between European Jews and their communal institutions as well as with the State of Israel.
Supporting educational, cultural and welfare-related programs and activities for the benefit of Jews across the world, including the State of Israel.
Supporting international and national conferences, programs or written materials that openly discuss and address the challenges faced by European Jewish communities.

Actions

The EJF is a unique platform for donors and community leaders to come together to discuss and analyse the needs of European Jews. Annual EJF Advisory Council meetings foster dialogue between Jewish communities, with open exchanges of experience that produce cooperative solutions to shared challenges. The EJF supports and welcomes proposals and action plans for communal projects and regional and pan-European programmes. It also initiates programmes of its own to address issues concerning specific communities, or European Jewry as a whole. These EJF activities help strengthen the relationship between Europe’s Jewish communities.

The European Jewish Fund is committed to strengthening Jewish identity. Its supported activities develop a sense of communal belonging and reinforce Jewish identity within Europe’s Jewish communities. The EJF also highlights and celebrates Jewish individuals and their remarkable contributions to European and global society and culture.

EJF is committed to promoting educational programmes that ensure the lessons and memory of the Shoah live on. The EJF helps organise high-level international gatherings to preserve historical memory and evidence and encourage the international community to unite in the fight against hatred and xenophobia.