Date : 05-06 Feb ’07
The First Hindu-Jewish leadership summit
Hindu-Jewish Leadership Summit an initiative of the World Council of Religious Leaders was arranged in cooperation with ‘All India Movement for Seva’ at New Delhi , February 5-6, 2007. In this dialogue the delegation of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel convened with major religious leader of Hindu Dharma.
The World Council of Religious Leaders (WCORL) recognises the significance of the shared values and views of the two oldest religious traditions in the world. It was arranged to initiate dialogues between these two great traditions, in order to bring their collective wisdom for actively promoting harmony in this critical time.
It is the matter of honour for Gurukul family and Shree Swaminarayan Sampraday that Sadguru Shastri Shree Madhavpriyadasji Swami was cordially invited to take active part in this summit. During discussions, Pujya Swamiji indicated the characteristics of forbearing & generosity of Hinduism towards other religions.
In this summit, learned Hindu religious leaders entered into open dialogue with learned Jewish Rabbis from Israel and other countries. Here they learnt from each other, sharing knowledge of their respective religious and spiritual heritages and planned to work together to find effective ways to promote religious harmony.
There many similarities between both the traditions. Both of them believe in one supreme God, unity in diversity, pious & moral life, family values etc. Both of them have noble intentions behind religious rituals and never ever encourage others to change their religion.
This is the first in a series launched from WCORL to engage the World’s Religious Leaders from every major religion and an effort to build greater understanding and cooperation amongst our religious tradition. The entire programme was strictly non-political and this series will extend to other such initiatives amongst the major religions to promote religious harmony.
Jewish Delegation
Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger (Chief Rabbi, Israel)
Mr. Oded Wiener (Israel Director General, Chief Rabbinate, Israel), Chief Rabbi David Rosen, Israel , President,
International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consutation (IJCIC); International Director of Interreligious Affairs, American Jewish Committee (AJC)
Rabbi Professor Daniel Sperber, Israel, Professor of Talmud and Jewish Studies at Bar Ilan University
Rabbi Dr. Israel Singer, USA, Chairman, International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultation (IJCIC); Chairman, Policy Council of the World Jewish Congress
Rabbi Moshe Garelik, USA, Director of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe
Chief Rabbi Albert Guigui, Belgium, Chief Rabbi of Belgium
Chief Rabbi Isak Haleve, Turkey, Chief Rabbi of Turkey
Hindu Delegation
HH Shree Swami Balagangadharanath, Sri Adi Chunchungiri Math
HH Murali Manohar sharan, Minbarka Mevad Mahamandaleswar
HH Shastri Madhavpriyadasji Swami, Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul, Rajkot
HH Swami Satchitananda Sarasvati, Sharada Lakshmi Narsimha Pitham
HH Shree Vidyaranya Bharati, Sri Hampi Virupaksha Vidyaranya Mahasamstahanam
HH Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Acharya,Arsha Vidya Pitham
HH Swami Paramatmananda Saraswati, Arsha Vidya Pitham, Rajkot
HH Swami Viditatmanand Saraswati, Arsha Vidya Pitham, Ahmedabad
HH Swami Chidanandaji, Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh
