ICCJ Welcomes a new President and Executive Board
Rabbi Dr. David Fox Sandmel was elected ICCJ president by 26 out of 26 votes at the organization’s Annual General Meeting, which followed the conclusion of the ICCJ 2024 Conference, held at the conference center St. Virgil in Salzburg, Austria.
Rabbi Sandmel is a past chair of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC). From 2014-2022 he was Director of Interreligious Engagement at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). He held the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago (2002-2014) and was Jewish Scholar at the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies in Baltimore (1998-2001) where he directed the publication of “Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity."
For almost eighty years, the ICCJ and its member organizations world-wide have been successfully engaged in the historic renewal of Jewish-Christian relations after the Holocaust, the Shoah. More recently, the ICCJ and its members increasingly engaged in the Abrahamic dialogue: the encounter between Jews, Christians and Muslims. Through its annual conferences and other consultations, the ICCJ offers a platform where people of different religious backgrounds examine current issues across national and religious boundaries, enabling face-to-face exchanges of experience and expertise.
According to Anette Adelmann, ICCJ Secretary General, “Rabbi Sandmel brings a combination of scholarship and organizational acumen to help the ICCJ address the changing world of interreligious relations in which we find ourselves.”
“This is an exciting and a challenging moment in interfaith dialogue,” said Rabbi Sandmel. “In these days of increasing division and polarization, the lessons learned from post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian relations are especially relevant. I look forward to helping the ICCJ continue its impactful work.
The AGM assembly thanked the outgoing President Liliane Apotheker (France), the Immediate Past President Rev. Dr Bo Sandahl (Sweden) and the Board members Dr Margaretha Hackermeier (Germany) and Rev. Dr Michael Trainor (Australia) for their tireless commitment, and welcomed the newly elected Board members Dr Katarzyna Kowalska NDS (Poland) and Benjamin Kamine (USA) who will serve the ICCJ together with the re-elected Treasurer Dr Abi Pitum (Germany) and the re-elected Board members Dr Pavol Bargár (Czech Republic), Rabbi Samuel J. Szteinhendler (Chile) and Ophir Yarden (Israel).
The ICCJ Executive Board is completed by the ICCJ General Secretary Anette Adelmann and the Immediate Past President Liliane Apotheker.