Press release

Hungarian Supreme Court Accepts Review Application and Schedules Hearing for January 23, 2025 in Orthodox Jewish Community Battle with Chabad

Friday, 17 January 2025, Budapest, Hungary – In a significant legal development, the Hungarian Supreme Court (Kúria), the highest judicial forum in the country, has accepted Former President Róbert Deutsch’s review application in the ongoing litigation initiated against the Prime Minister’s Deputy General regarding Chabad’s alleged hostile takeover of Budapest’s Orthodox Jewish community (MAOIH). This decision by the country’s highest judicial forum represents a crucial step in what has become a defining battle for the future of Orthodox Jewish life in Hungary.

The controversy began in 2021 when Chabad-affiliated individuals initiated surreptitious efforts to hijack control over MAOIH, a historic 150-year-old Orthodox Jewish community with an illustrious history and reputation. By 2023, the Chabad-aligned faction declared themselves as the new leadership, prompting MAOIH’s original leaders to challenge their legitimacy in both religious and secular courts.

The takeover involves significant assets, including synagogues and properties central to the community’s life and worth millions. In July 2023, the Chabad-backed leadership forcefully closed MAOIH’s main Kazinczy Street synagogue complex, part of the community since its construction in 1913, disrupting services, including those for Ukrainian Jewish refugees, further harming community life.

The Hungarian Supreme Court’s decision on the acceptance of the review application, rendered on Thursday 7 November 2024, is extraordinary, as such review applications are accepted only in exceptional circumstances. It is even more exceptional, since the Hungarian Supreme Court accepted the review application on the basis of not just one, but several grounds. By agreeing to hear the case on the merits, the court has acknowledged the issue’s profound societal importance and its potential implications for procedural justice. In its initial review, the Hungarian Supreme Court identified the likelihood, or at least the possibility, of violations of fundamental procedural rights and significant errors made by the court of first instance in its preceding procedure and judgement in which it dismissed the claim of Former President Deutsch. Legal experts note that the court’s willingness to accept the review application under such circumstances reflects the gravity of the allegations and the potential for far-reaching consequences.

The central issue at the heart of the litigation, which remains now to be clarified by the Supreme Court, is the question, whether the State can ignore binding decisions of the rabbinical courts exercising jurisdiction in autonomous religious matters, as the defendants (Prime Minister’s Office and the Deputy Prime Minister) did when they approved and registered the Chabad-related persons as new leaders of the Hungarian Orthodox Jewish Community, notwithstanding a clear prohibition issued by the rabbinical courts (Beth Dins).

Such decision is now expected during or shortly after the hearing scheduled by the Supreme Court for 23 January 2025, marking the next phase in this high-profile legal confrontation.

While the case continues, this partial victory shows MAOIH’s resilience in its fight to safeguard the community’s future. The upcoming hearing will be pivotal in determining whether the allegations of procedural breaches and unjust rulings by the lower court are upheld.

Subject: Supreme Court Hearing (Orthodox Jewish Community Battle with Chabad)
Time: Thursday, 23 January 2025 at 9:00 AM
Location: 1055 Budapest, Markó utca 16., ground floor, meeting room #4

The press release can be downloaded below: