The Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth is the senior
rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
of the
United Synagogue
The United Synagogue (US) is the largest umbrella body for Orthodox Judaism in Britain. It is structured as a charity which serves the United Kingdom, British Jewish community in the broadest possible way. One of the largest charities in the B ...
, a union of British Orthodox Jewish synagogues.
The Chief Rabbi is considered to be one of the more, if not the most prominent Jewish spiritual leader in the UK. They often represent the larger Jewish community of the UK to the government and the Crown.
Two Chief Rabbis have been knighted and entered the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
:
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, and his predecessor,
Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits.
The current chief rabbi is
Ephraim Mirvis
Sir Ephraim Yitzchak Mirvis (born 7 September 1956) is a British Orthodox rabbi who serves as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He served as the Chief Rabbi of Ireland between 1985 and 1992.
Early life ...
.
See also
*
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...
*
British Jews
British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British citizens who are Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 and 2021.
History
The fir ...
*
List of Chief Rabbis of the United Hebrew Congregations
References
External links
Office of the Chief Rabbi (OCR)
Jewish British history
Chief rabbis of the United Kingdom
1704 establishments in the British Empire
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