Slomó Köves

Still, Köves openly criticized the Hungarian Prime Minister for stating in the summer of 2018 that Miklós Horthy was a statesman. However, he encountered further controversy regarding this issue upon saying that KDNP MP István Hollik had been helpful in renewing Jewish life in Hungary. The comment drew backlash as Hollik had spoken highly of Horthy and Köves had even appeared on Hollik's campaign flyer. Köves responded by saying that he looks to work with anyone open to a stronger Jewish community in Hungary and that he “maintains good relationships with many opposition MPs as well”. He also commented that he “regretted” if Hollik had called Horthy a statesman and repeated his previous condemnation of Orbán's similar words that summer: “In no way do I consider it acceptable for Horthy to be presented as a role model.”

Also in 2017, Köves and Rabbi Baruch Oberlander published two books each with 19 segments of the Talmud that had been previously translated into Hungarian, the first-ever extensive translation of the Jewish sacred text. It was at this time that EMIH under Köves’ leadership also opened Hungary's first kosher slaughterhouse, one of Europe's largest. Csengele is “the only kosher slaughterhouse for geese in Europe” and provides kosher foie gras to countries around the world.

Some believe TEV is not critical enough of some politically sensitive issues. For example, during the anti-Soros campaign of the Fidesz-run Hungarian government in 2017, due to the billionaire's support for immigration, Rabbi Köves called on Hungarian Jews to not get involved in the Soros debate. While Mazsihisz called out the posters that read “Don’t let Soros have the last laugh” as blatant antisemitism, EMIH emphasized that Soros’ politics and his Jewish identity should not be intertwined. The Israeli Foreign Ministry itself issued a statement admitting that “the Israeli government is often at odds with Soros” who “continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments”.

Köves maintains that Jobbik's past has made it a symbol of racism and antisemitism and they would have to do much more than simply say they had changed. There was further controversy when Köves essentially rejected Jobbik leader Gábor Vona's Hanukkah greeting in 2016. But as Hungarian Free Press aptly noted: “Mr. Vona is naive or perhaps overly optimistic to think that one Hanukkah greeting sent to Rabbi Köves would somehow erase years of antisemitism.” The situation was not aided by one Jobbik chapter posting on Facebook that they support no one who would have such  “a crazy idea”, that is, to send Hanukkah greetings.

In 2015, the rabbi house in Mád was completed. The village of Mád is the starting point for the 150-kilometer “Trail of the Wonder-Working Rabbis” pilgrimage, which takes visitors through 10 towns, rich in Jewish history, in Hungary's Tokaj-Hegyalja region. Köves has been active in reigniting Jewish life in this area, where Jewish communities were left decimated after the Holocaust.

Although the building of the museum (approximately 100,000 square feet) was finished in 2015, the project came to a halt because of a controversy around the leading curator, Maria Schmidt, who according to some, was too politically involved and may have intended to whitewash Hungary's role in the holocaust and deportation of Hungarian Jews.

In 2014, Rabbi Köves helped find some 103 lost Hungarian Torah scrolls in Russia; the scrolls are presumed to have been stolen from Hungarian Jews, most of whom had been deported to Auschwitz 70 years earlier.

The House of Fates project initiated originally by the Hungarian government in 2013 was meant to create a high-tech, memorable and thought-provoking experience for people looking to learn more about the Holocaust.

On May 2, 2012 he was appointed by the Hungarian Minister of Defense at the time, Csaba Hende, as Chief Rabbi of the Hungarian Forces. Csaba Hende said he has high hopes for cooperation. "During my work over the past two years, I have met a very committed, noble-minded patriot in the person of Shlomo Koves," said the minister.

2012 - present: Chief Jewish Chaplain of the Hungarian Defense Forces

Köves has been a leading figure in the fight against antisemitism and remembering the Holocaust. In 2009, Köves invited Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel to visit Budapest on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Hungary. Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, had not been back to the country on an official visit since being deported in 1944. The visit was historic, as Wiesel had said he would never make the trip.

Shlomo Köves was born in Budapest into a secular Jewish family. On his mother's side were several famous Orthodox rabbis, including Rabbi Shlomo Silberstein of Bonyhád and Rabbi Yeshaya Silberstein of Vác. Köves’ paternal grandmother, Rózsa Köves, was a well-known journalist at Magyar Nemzet. While growing up in communist Hungary, Köves did not receive a Jewish education until the age of 13, when he decided to study abroad. He spent nearly 10 years pursuing rabbinical studies at various yeshivot. Köves graduated from the Yeshiva High School (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), the Institut Superieur D’études Rabbiniques et Talmudiques and the Central Lubavitch Yeshivot (New York). He received a Ph.D. from the University of Debrecen, in history, in 2007.

The preservation of Jewish Heritage has been an important goal for both Köves and EMIH.  Their work has been seen via the opening/reopening of synagogues and historic Jewish sites throughout Hungary. These include the opening of Keren Or synagogue in 2005; the nearly 200-year-old Grand Synagogue in Óbuda in 2010, unused since the Holocaust; and the Budavár Synagogue in Budapest's Castle District in 2018, built in the 14th century and unused since an 1686 pogrom. New synagogues/community centers were also opened in 2019 in Szentendre and Újlipótváros (ZSILIP). This last, situated on the bank of the Danube River in Budapest, is a symbolic location given that thousands of Jews were shot into the Danube in 1944 and 1945. The year of the opening marked the 30th anniversary of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Hungary, and two Torah scrolls were ceremoniously completed. After 80 years, Újbuda's synagogue will also officially reopen sometime in 2021.

2004 - present: Chief Rabbi of the Association of Hungarian Jewish Communities (EMIH)

On January 7, 2003, Köves became the first Orthodox rabbi to be ordained in Hungary since the Holocaust. Mordechai Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel; Yitzchak Yehuda Yaroslavsky, leader of the Israeli Chabad Rabbi Council; and Boruch Oberlander, head rabbi of the Chabad-Lubavich movement in Hungary, oversaw the ceremony. The event was widely covered in the media because of its historical significance; Ferenc Madl, President of Hungary at the time, also attended the event.

After his return to Hungary in 2002, he attended the University of Debrecen, receiving his Ph.D. in the History of 19th Century Hungarian Jewry. His thesis, Zsidó szakadás (“Jewish Schism”), was published as a book by the Noran publishing house in 2009. His original thesis dealt with the rabbinical disputes of Hamburg (1818-1821) and Nagymihály (1865) and how these impacted Jews living in Hungary and Europe.

In 2001, Köves began teaching at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, at the Faculty of Hebrew Law; he also taught the Talmud at the Neolog Rabbinical Institute.

Köves married his wife Devora Lea in 2001. They have lived in Budapest since 2002 and have five children together.

Given the continued controversy and distraction from the important work at stake, Köves removed Schmidt from the project and appointed Yitzhak Mais, a well-known holocaust historian and museum specialist, who headed up the Yad Vashem museum between 1983 and 1995. Köves also hired the Washington-based Gallagher & Associates for the project; top Holocaust museologists were consulted and nearly 150 survivors and rescuers were interviewed.

Slomó Köves (born Máté Köves; 18 May 1979) is a leading Orthodox rabbi and chief rabbi of EMIH (Egységes Magyarországi Izraelita Hitközség [hu]) an affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch in Hungary which is led by rabbi Baruch Oberlander.