Shlomo Köves
Hungarian Chabad-trained Orthodox rabbi, executive rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation (EMIH) since 2004
| Shlomo Köves
| |
|---|---|
| Image |  Köves in Budapest, June 2023 |
| Born | 1979 Budapest, Hungary |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Residence | Budapest |
| Occupation | Rabbi; executive rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation (EMIH) |
| Known for | Leading EMIH; founding the Action and Protection Foundation (TEV) |
| Spouse(s) | Dvora Lea (married 2001) |
| Children | Five (as of 2017) |
| Education | Yeshivas in Israel, the United States and France; PhD in history, University of Debrecen |
Shlomo Köves (Hungarian: Köves Slomó; registered name Köves Máté Slomó; born 1979) is a Hungarian Orthodox rabbi trained in the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He has been executive rabbi (vezető rabbi) of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation (EMIH) since 2004.[1][2] From 2012 he was also chief field rabbi of the Hungarian armed forces.[3]
Köves has been EMIH's main public figure in its dealings with the government of Viktor Orbán, including state funding for EMIH and the House of Fates Holocaust museum project.[4][5] The Action and Protection Foundation (TEV), which was set up on his initiative in 2012, was the subject of a 2026 State Audit Office report that referred suspected budget fraud to the authorities.[6][7]
Early life and education
In a first-person profile published by 24.hu in 2014, Köves said he was born in Budapest in 1979 into a secular Jewish family. He met Rabbi Baruch Oberlander, the head of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Hungary, in 1991. Under Oberlander's influence he left the Radnóti Miklós secondary school of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and studied abroad for ten years, in Israel, Pittsburgh, France and New York, and passed the examination to qualify as a Torah scribe.[1] Szombat reported in 2003 that he had left Hungary at 13, studied at the Chabad centre in Crown Heights, New York, and then in Israel and France, and had returned to Hungary two years earlier. At that time he was still called Máté.[8]
After returning, he took a PhD in Hungarian Jewish history at the University of Debrecen.[1] His dissertation was published as a book in 2009 under the title Zsidó szakadás Hamburgtól Nagymihályig ("Jewish schism from Hamburg to Nagymihály").[6] He says he has taught at ELTE and the Rabbinical Seminary in Budapest since 2001.[1]
Ordination (2003)
Köves received rabbinic ordination (semikhah) on 7 January 2003 at the Sasz Chevra synagogue on Vasvári Pál utca in Budapest. The ceremony was led by Mordechai Eliyahu, a former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, who signed the ordination certificate. President Ferenc Mádl attended, and guests included the Budapest mayor, Gábor Demszky, and Berel Lazar, the Chabad leader in Russia.[8][9] According to Szombat, a Chabad press release described him as "the first Orthodox rabbi trained in Hungary since the Holocaust".[8] Köves made the same claim about himself in 2014.[1] Evangélikus Élet, however, described him in 2003 as Hungary's third Orthodox rabbi, after Baruch Oberlander and Áron Hoffmann, and Szombat noted that at least two other young men raised in post-war Hungary also held Orthodox ordination.[9][8]
In 2003 he took part in founding the Free University of Jewish Studies (Zsidó Tudományok Szabadegyeteme), which provides informal adult education.[6]
Executive rabbi of EMIH
EMIH was founded on 24 May 2004 at a meeting in Budapest. An account on EMIH's own news site says Köves was then 25.[10] Köves says he was elected EMIH's executive rabbi in 2004.[1] The government register of established churches names "Köves Máté Slomó, executive rabbi" as EMIH's representative.[2]
Köves lists among EMIH's achievements under his leadership the opening of the mikveh on Kazinczy utca, the Keren Or centre, the reopening of the Óbuda Synagogue, and the first Hebrew–Hungarian bilingual nursery and school.[1] A 2017 profile says the Óbuda Synagogue, Budapest's oldest synagogue, reopened in 2010 on his initiative and that he has been its rabbi since. It also credits his work for the opening of the Bét Menáchem bilingual nursery and school in 2011 and the Maimonides English–Hungarian bilingual Jewish secondary school in 2017.[6]
Military chaplaincy
On 26 January 2012 the Ministry of Defence, EMIH and Mazsihisz signed an agreement on the Field Rabbinate of the military chaplaincy.[11] The defence minister, Csaba Hende, appointed Köves chief field rabbi (tábori főrabbi) of the Field Rabbinate with effect from 1 May 2012.[3][12] A ministry report of 7 May 2012 instead calls Köves "leading field rabbi" (vezető tábori rabbi) and Péter Joel Totha "chief field rabbi".[11] The defence minister István Simicskó reappointed him for a further five years from 1 May 2017.[13]
Relations with the state
On 7 September 2018 Köves appeared with the minister Gergely Gulyás when the government announced that EMIH would own and help set up the House of Fates Holocaust museum in Budapest. He said the gesture of the state entrusting a Holocaust museum to the Jewish community was "an invitation to work jointly".[4] The museum never opened. In September 2025, after the government decided to give the complex to the MTK Budapest sports club, Köves called the idea "bizarre" at first hearing, and said EMIH had never owned or held the building.[14] The project is described in more detail on the EMIH page.
When EMIH received "special status" from the government in November 2019, Köves said it was "pleased that the government has chosen to strengthen its relationship with EMIH".[5]
Action and Protection Foundation
Köves says the Action and Protection Foundation (Tett és Védelem Alapítvány, TEV) was set up in 2012 on his initiative, to counter antisemitism and exclusion in public discourse.[1][6] The State Audit Office records that EMIH founded it on 15 November 2012.[7]
In April 2026 the State Audit Office published a report finding that TEV had misused central government grants. It referred suspected offences, including budget fraud, to the competent authority, and recorded that the grant-giver had filed a criminal complaint on 3 September 2025.[7] The press reported the case as concerning "Köves Slomó's foundation".[15][16] TEV denied wrongdoing and said the problems were administrative and accounting shortcomings.[17] The findings are set out on the EMIH page.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Géza Rába, "Köves Slomó", 24.hu (Hungarian), 16 December 2014, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hungarian Government, register of established churches (bevett egyházak nyilvántartása), extract dated 5 October 2022, entry 00005/2012 (Hungarian), kormany.hu, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ádám Draveczki-Ury, "Az országot, a Magyar Honvédséget szolgálva", honvedelem.hu (Hungarian), 2 May 2012, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Prime Minister's Office, "House of Fates to open next year", Hungarian Government, 7 September 2018, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 JTA, "Chabad of Hungary gets status upgrade from government", The Times of Israel, 18 November 2019.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Köves Slomó", Isten tudja, 24.hu (Hungarian), 28 December 2017, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 State Audit Office of Hungary, Jelentés: Az államháztartásból nyújtott támogatást felhasználó egyesületek és alapítványok ellenőrzése – Tett és Védelem Alapítvány, report no. 25137 (Hungarian), 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Ortodox rabbiavatás – tévékamerák előtt", Szombat (Hungarian), February 2003, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Ortodox rabbit avattak Budapesten", Evangélikus Élet (Hungarian), 2003, no. 3, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ Vali Juhász, "Lerántjuk a leplet az EMIH alapításának kulisszatitkairól", zsido.com (Hungarian), 23 April 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Köszöntő a minisztériumban", honvedelem.hu (Hungarian), 7 May 2012, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ "A honvédség tábori főrabbija lett Köves Slomó", Mandiner (Hungarian), 3 May 2012, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ Béla Révész, "Egységbe olvadó sokszínűség", honvedelem.hu (Hungarian), 9 June 2017, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ Ferenc Szlazsánszky, "Köves Slomó: Első hallásra bizarrnak hangozhat, hogy az MTK-hoz kerül a Sorsok Háza", ATV (Hungarian), 18 September 2025, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ "Költségvetési csalásra gyanakszik Köves Slomóék alapítványánál az ÁSZ", HVG (Hungarian), 5 May 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ "Törvénysértések és bűncselekmények gyanúja merül fel az ÁSZ szerint Köves Slomóék alapítványánál", 24.hu (Hungarian), 5 May 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ Action and Protection Foundation, "A Tett és Védelem Alapítvány működésével kapcsolatos ÁSZ megállapításokról" (Hungarian), 5 May 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.