Yonathan Arfi has been President of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF).
Mr. Arfi was elected at the CRIF general assembly held on 26 June 2022 with 149 votes against 74 for candidate Ariel Amar
He will replace Francis Kalifat, who has led the representative organisation of French Jewry since 2016.
At the General Assembly, all members present gave a standing ovation to the work and commitment of Mr. Kalifat during his two mandates.
Yonathan Arfi is 42 years old, and has three children. A graduate of HEC, he is the director of a group of companies active in business consulting and real estate.
Raised in a traditional Sephardic family from Algeria and Morocco, Yonathan Arfi has always combined Jewish values with French universalist values. Born in Toulouse, he spent his childhood and adolescence in the Yvelines region, attending public school in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and then in Versailles, and joined the scout movement through the Eclaireurs Israélites de France.
He is a descendant of Alfred Nakache, an Olympic swimmer and survivor of the Shoah, nicknamed the “swimmer of Auschwitz”, a tutelary family figure, had a lasting influence on his personal development.
A member of the CRIF General Assembly since 2001, he joined the Executive Board in 2007 and then became President of the International Relations Commission, and Vice-president of CRIF in 2014.
Upon his election as President, Yonathan Arfi expressed his wish to lead a CRIF that is “united, combative, and committed to society.”
CRIF is France’s EJC affiliate.
Mazal Tov à @Yonathan_Arfi pour son élection à la présidence du @Le_CRIF, notre affilié en France.
Nous continuerons de travailler ensemble afin de relever tous les défis auxquels la communauté juive de ???????? est confrontée. https://t.co/SQGaaSh7L6
— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) June 26, 2022
