Azerbaijan To Host First-ever Convention Of European Rabbis In Groundbreaking Move

IN FILE - Portrait of a Rabbi praying during Mincha service in the Six-domed Synagogue in Qrmz Qsb, or Red Town, Quba district of Azerbaijan on 28 September 2016. This fall, in Azerbaijan, hundreds of European rabbis from all over the continent will meet to debate Jewish matters at the first conference of its kind to take place in a Muslim country. OLEKSANDR RUPETA/NUR PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

Hundreds of European rabbis from across the continent will be gathering in Azerbaijan this fall to discuss Jewish affairs in the first such convention in a Muslim nation.

The planned event comes amid burgeoning relations between Israel and Azerbaijan that developed from a centuries-long affinity between the two nations into an unprecedented strategic partnership.