Slomó Köves

Curriculum Vitae

Shlomó Köves is the executive rabbi of EMIH Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation since its founding in 2004.

As a 13-year-old child he made a decision to leave Hungary on his own to study overseas in religious Jewish schools, yeshivot. The following close to ten years he spent studying Judaic Studies in Israel, France and the United States. He also became a certified sofer and mohel. Upon his return to his homeland he became the first orthodox rabbi ordained in Hungary since the Holocaust.

Upon his return he also continued his secular studies in history at the University of Debrecen, where he received his PhD in Hungarian Jewish history in 2007. His thesis was also published in a book by Noran Publisher in 2008. He took a very active part in reorganizing the Statusquo Jewish community, which in 2004, elected him as the first executive rabbi of the Congregation.

In 2003 he founded – with help from many local civil activists – the Open University of Jewish Studies (Zsidó Tudományok Szabadegyeteme), an institution created to give Jewish education to adults wanting to learn traditional Jewish Studies. The Open University has been very active ever since its founding, and has attracted close to 3000 participants, over the course of 30 semesters all together.

Between 2003 and 2009 he took part in publishing Haggada for Pesach, Siddur for Shabbat and many other classical Jewish books as an editor and translator.

In 2010 he and his congregation garnered much local and international support to reopen the neglected 200 years old Grand Synagouge in Obuda.  In 2012 he was ordained the chief Jewish chaplain of the Hungarian Defense Forces. In 2012 he initiated the foundation of the Action Protection civil rights movement. In 2015 he founded the CEDEK social welfare organization. In 2017 he founded the bi-­lingual Maimonides Jewish High School in Budapest.