Hungary Police Quiz Whistle-Blowing Rabbi
A whistle-blowing Budapest rabbi was questioned by police for what has been described as misuse of sensitive private information stemming from a personal conflict within the Jewish community.
Rabbi Zoltan Radnoti this week was interrogated at a local police station, finger-printed and photographed. The investigation stems from a case last year, in which Radnoti revealed that a high-level official in the Jewish community was not Jewish according to Jewish law as his mother was Christian.
At the time, the man in question, identified publicly as E.O., was the president of a Budapest synagogue and also a senior advisor to the leadership of Mazsihisz, the main Jewish umbrella organization.
As a result of Radnoti’s revelations, E.O. lost his position.
On Tuesday, Mazsihisz and Hungary’s chief rabbi issued statements pledging to support Radnoti, saying that the case was an internal Jewish affair and should not be dealt with by the police or civil court.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
