Hungary’s Rabbi Shlomo Koves built a full-service kehillah from skeletons of the past

By Yisrael Yoskovitz, Budapest

Rabbi Shlomo Koves didn’t know what a Jew was, growing up in the Hungary of the 1980s. But once he was on the trajectory of yeshivah, semichah, and a mission to rebuild, there was no stopping the maverick rabbi who purchased corporations in order to fund communal projects that would ignite hearts. And being friends with the prime minister, who locked the borders against Islamic immigration, hasn’t hurt either

Say what you will about Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, but one achievement will undoubtedly go down in history in his favor: sealing his country’s borders against the wave of migration that swept Europe during the first round of Syria’s civil war.

Europe has been going through a self-inflicted and painful death in recent years. Masses of fundamentalists are flooding its cities, changing its character and way of life. The political crisis currently gripping the EU countries is an inevitable byproduct of progressive self-righteousness that photographed well but is now exacting the price. In hindsight, it turned out the picture was far too costly.

But one country that’s an exception is Hungary. In an admittedly unphotogenic move, Prime Minister Orbán decided to stand firm and prevent the entry of refugees (Poland did as well). Hungary, for its part, offers Israelis three benefits in one ticket: It’s essentially free of anti-Semitism, it’s home to many Jews, and it’s devoid of Islamists.

And a few weeks ago, when the International Criminal Court in the Hague issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, the first leader to declare that he didn’t recognize the court’s jurisdiction was Viktor Orbán.

The friendship between Netanyahu and Orbán began back in the early 2000s, when both leaders had already been prime ministers and were waiting to make their comeback.  Orbán, like Netanyahu, is an intellectual, a man of letters, and a phenomenon in political maneuvering. And like Bibi, Hungary’s charismatic leader and his nationalist government enjoy sweeping admiration from the hardworking middle class and deep loathing from the elites and academia.

Orbán, endlessly shrewd, manages to govern his country with a firm hand. Hungary’s political system grants him a stable government, a friendly parliament, and freedom from significant coalition pressures. His detractors claim that since he resumed office in 2010, his policies have undermined democracy, weakened judicial independence, increased corruption, and curtailed press freedom in Hungary.

But he proclaims to be a defender of national and moral values in the face of the European Union; in that vein, he’s one of Israel’s biggest supporters as well, in the face of a postmodern political landscape that prefers to embrace terrorists over victims. At the outset of the war, Hungary’s government even imposed a sweeping ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which Orbán referred to as “pro-terrorist protests.”

And it’s Rabbi Shlomo Koves, chief rabbi of the Association of Hungarian Jewish Communities, who is a key player in the strong alliance.