The delegation of the EAJC headed by Julius Meinl, the EAJC President visited Kazan in order to participate in the events dedicated to the 100 years anniversary of the Kazan synagogue and in the opening of the Limmud Volga Urals International Educational Jewish conference. Mikhail Chlenov, the Secretary General of the EAJC and Chaim Ben Yakov, the General Director of the EAJC were, also, members of the delegation.
Rustam Minnikhanov, the Acting President of the Republic of Tatarstan took part in the ceremony dedicated to the 100 years anniversary of the Kazan synagogue, that was recently renovated. Julius Meinl, the EAJC President, Mikhail Chlenov, the EAJC Secretary General, Berl Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Yitzhak Gorelik, the Chief Rabbi of Kazan, Mikhail Skoblionok, the President of the Jewish National Cultural Autonomy of the Republic of Tatarstan as well as other representatives of national and religious associations of Tatarstan attended the opening ceremony.
During the ceremony Rustam Minnikhanov had a meeting with the honorable guests. During the conversation Julius Meinl and Mikhail Chlenov informed Mr. Minnikhanov about the activities of the EAJC, especially the efforts in the interreligious cooperation.
The Acting President of Tatarstan noted the importance of the development and the strengthening of the interreligious ties in Tatarstan, a multinational and a multireligious republic. He said that the Kazan synagogue recently opened after renovations represented not just the face of the Jewish community of Kazan but of the whole Tatarstan.
Julius Meinl and Mikhail Chlenov took part in the interfaith dialogue Religion and The Challenges of Modernity organized by the Limmud CIS international humanitarian fund and the Jewish National Cultural Autonomy of Tatarstan. The President of Tatarstan and the Assembly of the Nations of Tatarstan, also, provided support in the organization of the event.  It took place in the grand hall of the House of the Friendship Among Nations of Tatarstan.
Berl Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Yitzhak Gorelik, the Chief Rabbi of Kazan, Vladimir (Samoilenko), the secretary of the Kazan diocese, Kamil hazrat Samigullin, the head of the Muslim administration of Tatarstan, Chaim Chesler, the head of the Executive Committee of Limud and others. Alexander Terentiev, the head of the department of the internal politics and the deputy head of the secretariat of the administration of the President of Tatarstan moderated the discussion.
 The participants discussed the possibilities of conservation of the ethnic identity outside the historical homeland and the influence of globalization on the traditional values.  The participants of the interfaith dialogue drew special attention to the fight with the radical extremism.
Julius Meinl said in his speech at the interfaith dialogue the following: the militant Islamism is one of the most serious challenges that the humanity faces today.  We clearly see the difference between Islam and Islamism; between a wise religion that unites millions of people and dogmatic extremism that brings bloodshed and the destruction of the civilization.
ISIS became the most disgusting outcome of the militant Islamism. All people of good faith regardless of their religion or nationality must unite in the fight against it.  Representatives of the Jewish minority often become the victims of the terrorists. Synagogues and Jewish schools became targets of the Islamic terrorists.
The EAJC includes the communities of several Muslim countries including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.  Jewish communities coexist with the Muslim Ummah in some countries and in some regions of the Russian Federation.  That is why the Judeo-Islamic dialogue is very important for the EAJC.
The cooperation between the representatives of various faiths has to make the religions and their communities an instrument of kindness that unites all people before the challenges to humanity.