Prime Minister Viktor Orbán expressed his sympathy to the family of József Schweitzer, former Chief Rabbi and former Director of the Hungarian Rabbinical Seminary, who died on Thursday.

According to the Prime Minister, József Schweitzer “had always been an honest man, he had always fulfilled the service foreseen for him by the Almighty with great humility and patience.”

As Mr Orbán put it, his personality was strengthened by the hardships of history, yet his calm personality, his intelligence and his readiness to help have formed him to become an iconic figure of the Hungarian-Jewish cultural and scientific life.

“My wife and I are grateful to cherish the memory of József Schweitzer showing us the beauties of a Jewish life so passionately and soulfully” – the Prime Minister wrote in his condolence letter, in which he stressed that the death of the former Chief Rabbi is a loss for Hungary that can only be compensated by the achievements of his long and fruitful life as a rabbi, scientist, teacher and public figure.

(Prime Minister's Office)