Jonathan Wittenberg (born 17 September 1957 in

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

) is a Masorti

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 ...

, the Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism UK. He is a leading writer and thinker on

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. He is Rabbi of the New North London Synagogue, with approximately 3700 members. He is also a member of the

Elijah Interfaith Institute Elijah Interfaith Institute is a nonprofit, international, UNESCO-sponsored interfaith organization founded by Alon Goshen-Gottstein in 1997. The organization is headquartered in Jerusalem, with offices and representatives in different cou ...

Board of World Religious Leaders. He sometimes contributes ''

Thought for the Day ''Thought for the Day'' is a daily scripted slot on the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 offering "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news", broadcast at around 7:45 each Monday to Saturday morning. Lasting 2 minu ...

'' on the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

''Today'' programme.

Personal life

He attended

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

, went to

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

and

Leo Baeck College Leo Baeck College is a privately funded rabbinical seminary and centre for the training of teachers in Jewish education. Based now at the Sternberg Centre, East End Road, Finchley, in the London Borough of Barnet, it was founded by Werner va ...

. He was taught by

Louis Jacobs Louis Jacobs (17 July 1920 – 1 July 2006) was a leading writer, Jewish theologian, and rabbi of the New London Synagogue in the United Kingdom. He was also the focus in the early 1960s of what became known as the "Jacobs Affair" in the Bri ...

. He currently resides in North London. Rabbi Wittenberg is married to Nicola Solomon and they share three children. Wittenberg was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

2024 New Year Honours The 2024 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

for services to the Jewish community and interfaith relations.

Works

* ''Torah'' (1995) * ''The Three Pillars of Judaism: A Search for Faith and Values'' (1997) * ''The Laws of Life: A Guide to Traditional Jewish Practice at Times of Bereavement'' (1997) * ''The Eternal Journey: Meditations of the Jewish Year'' (2003) * ''The Silence of Dark Water: An Inner Journey'' (2008) * ''Walking with the Light: From Frankfurt to Finchley'' (2013) * ''My Dear Ones'' (2016) * ''Things My Dog has Taught Me: About being a better human'' (2017) * ''How Hassidim are at the forefront of Gender equality in Judaism''

References

External links

*
Jonathan Wittenberg
at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' 1957 births Living people 20th-century British rabbis 20th-century Scottish Jews 21st-century British rabbis 21st-century Scottish Jews 20th-century Scottish rabbis 21st-century Scottish rabbis Alumni of Leo Baeck College British Masorti rabbis British Jewish theologians People educated at University College School People from Glasgow Officers of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-rabbi-stub