The Zoom meeting organized by the Conference of European Rabbis on Sunday, April 5, 2020. Photo: Screenshot.

The Standing Committee of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) held a Zoom meeting on Sunday to discuss how Jews on the continent were handling the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Since the start of the crisis, CER has urged Jews to strictly abide by government instructions in their countries.

Some 50 top rabbis took part in Sunday’s call, which was described as “an opportunity to review how communities have coped over the last few weeks and to share advice and support ahead of what is set to be a Pesach unlike anybody has ever experienced.”

A new platform — available at https://torahonline.rabbiscer.org/ — has been launched to enable European Jewish communities to share their online activities.

CER President Pinchas Goldschmidt – the chief rabbi of Moscow — said after the call, “We felt that it was important for us all to take time out of our schedules and come together to share our ideas and work together to better support our congregants, many of whom are suffering. The new resources that we are launching will, I hope, help our communities get through and eventually rebuild from this pandemic.”

“There is something incredibly special about seeing friends and colleagues during this very challenging time and I was pleased to have the opportunity to do this before Pesach,” he added.