Archives of Chief Rabbi Robert Dreyfus

Collection description

Holding institution (official language):: Consistoire central israélite de Belgique

Postal address:: Joseph Dupontstraat 2 / Rue Joseph Dupont 2, 1000 Bruxelles

Scope and content:: This fonds mainly contains correspondence. We note files concerning shehitah (1972-1977), religious inspection (1963-1970), the Red Cross, Judeo-Christian relations, civic education, the global conference of Ashkenazi and Sephardic synagogues in Jerusalem (1968), the consistorial association for the promotion of education (1964), the Miller affair. We also note minutes of meetings, personal documents (for example his wedding book), the manuscript of Entre deux âges and private correspondence of the rabbi.

Administrative/biographical history:: Robert Dreyfus was born in Alsace in 1913. He entered rabbinical school in Paris in 1932. Taken prisoner by the Germans in June 1940, he spent the war in a labour camp. He succeeded rabbi David Berman as rabbi of the Jewish Community of Brussels (CIB) in 1948. He was active in the AIVG, de Maison de Retraite, the Société israélite d’Assistance Antituberculeuse, the Centrale d’Œuvres sociales juives in Brussels and within the Belgian section of ORT. He resigned from his function as great rabbi of the CIB in 1955 and moved to Metz. Robert Dreyfus returned to Belgium as Chief Rabbi in 1963 and also became inspector of the classes of Jewish religion. He was heavily involved in the fight for the rights of Soviet Jewry and in inter-religious reconciliation and dialogue. He retired in 1978 and died in Jerusalem in 2002. (J. Deom, "Le grand rabbin Robert Dreyfus. Notes pour une biographie", in Les Cahiers de la Mémoire contemporaine-Bijdragen tot de eigentijdse Herinnering, no. 4, 2002, pp. 225-243.)

Subject terms:: Ashkenazi Jews; Education; Education--Schools and universities; Jewish-Christian relations; Marriage and divorce; Personal records; Rabbis; Ritual slaughter; Sephardi Jews; Synagogues

Access, restrictions:: Access requires the authorisation of the president of the Central Jewish Consistory of Belgian.