Sylvia Rothschild (born 21 November 1957) is a British Reform rabbi. Together with Rabbi Sybil Sheridan, she was Rabbi of Wimbledon and District Synagogue in south west London, from 2003 to 2014, in the first ever rabbinic job share in England. She was Rabbi of Bromley Reform Synagogue from 1987 to 2002, and is currently the Rabbi at Lev Chadash in Milan.

Early life

Sylvia was born in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

to Edgar and Esther Rothschild. Her father had come from

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, Germany via

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

to England in 1938 as a teenager.

Professional career

After completing a psychology degree at

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

she worked for a

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

charity in a

therapeutic community Therapeutic community is a participative, group-based approach to long-term mental illness, personality disorders and drug addiction. The approach was usually residential, with the clients and therapists living together, but increasingly resident ...

, and for a London borough in adult psychiatric care. She was ordained as a rabbi in 1987 by the

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 ...

and has worked as a community rabbi ever since. She was Chair of the Assembly of Rabbis at the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (now the

Movement for Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, formally the Movement for Reform Judaism (MRJ) and known as Reform Synagogues of Great Britain until 2005, is one of the two World Union for Progressive Judaism–affiliated denominations in the United Kingdom. Reform is relat ...

) from 1998 to 2003. Rothschild was a lay member of the Bromley Research Ethics Committee for many years, and is an Appointed Member of the Standards Committee for the

London Borough of Bromley The London Borough of Bromley () is a London Borough, borough in London, England. It is the largest and southeasternmost borough in London, and borders the county of Kent, of which it formed part until 1965. The borough's population in the 2021 ...

as well as an Appointed Member of the National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care. She is also a trained counsellor and has trained as an executive coach. She has spoken out against the suppression of women's voices on religious matters in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and restrictions on the right of women to pray at the

Western Wall The Western Wall (; ; Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: ''HaKosel HaMa'arovi'') is an ancient retaining wall of the built-up hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Its most famous section, known by the same name ...

. She is a member of the Steering Team of

Tzelem Tzelem was founded in 2014 to organise Jews, Jewish Clergy, clerical voices on Social justice, social and Economic inequality, economic justice issues in the United Kingdom. It is unique in its conception as a clerical, cross-communal, campaignin ...

, a cross-communal clerical activist organisation campaigning on broad social issues such as the UK government's response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis.

Writings

Rothschild has written extensively on ethical issues, as well as on prayer and on new

liturgies Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a community, communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, ...

. She is known for her creation of a large number of new rituals and prayers for life events, mainly though not exclusively to mark events in women's lives. She has also written liturgies to help with end of life experiences. She answered questions on the website of TotallyJewish.com for some years, has been one of the contributors to the ''

Parashat haShavua The term ''parashah'', ''parasha'' or ''parashat'' ( ''Pārāšâ'', "portion", Tiberian , Sephardi , plural: ''parashot'' or ''parashiyot'', also called ''parsha'') formally means a section of a biblical book in the Masoretic Text of the Tana ...

'' column for ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The Jewish Chronicle'' (''The JC'') is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor () is Daniel Schwammenthal. The newspaper is published every Fri ...

'' and frequently contributes to ''

Jewish News The ''Jewish News'' is a free weekly newspaper, established in 1997, that serves the Jewish communities of Greater London – specifically Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Essex. In 2002, it won the ''Press Gazette'' free newspaper of the year. In ...

''.

Personal life

She is married and has three children.

Bibliography

Books

* Sylvia Rothschild and Sybil Sheridan (eds.): ''Taking Up the Timbrel: The Challenge of Creating Ritual for Jewish Women Today''. London:

SCM Press SCM Press is a British publisher of theology, originally linked to the Student Christian Movement. The company was purchased by Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1997. In 2018, ''Church Times'' reported that 100 titles from SCM Press and Canterbury ...

, 2000. Includes Sylvia Rothschild: "Terminating a Pregnancy", "After the Termination of a Pregnancy" and "Beginning a Religious Response to Mastectomy"

Articles

* Sylvia Rothschild: "Why women should be able to pray in peace", ''

'', 22 April 2010 * Sylvia Rothschild: "Why I held a funeral for a stillborn child", ''

'', 27 October 2011 * Sylvia Rothschild: "The JNF must go back to its roots", ''

'', 24 May 2012 * Sylvia Rothschild: "Sweet voices and sour fanatics", ''

'', 5 November 2012 * Sylvia Rothschild: "Reform Judaism and organ donation", ''

'', 18 July 2013 * Sylvia Rothschild: "Progressively Speaking: Responding to domestic abuse", ''

Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

'', 16 March 2017 * Sylvia Rothschild: "Trump's Jerusalem decision may extinguish hope in the Middle East", ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'', 6 December 2017 * Sylvia Rothschild: "It's Hannukah: why have one day when you can have eight?", ''

The Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

'', 12 December 2017 * Sylvia Rothschild
"Does religion encourage or help to prevent the use of violence?"
''

'', 3 January 2019

Book reviews

* Sylvia Rothschild: "A wise choice for Bible readers" book review of

Robert Alter Robert Bernard Alter (born 1935) is an American professor emeritus of Hebrew language, Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967. He has published two dozen books, including an aw ...

: ''The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes: a translation with commentary'',

W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly '' The Norton ...

, ''

'', 12 May 2011 * Sylvia Rothschild: "What does the Bible say?" book review of

Richard Elliott Friedman Richard Elliott Friedman (born May 5, 1946) is an American biblical scholar, theologian, and translator who currently serves as the Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia. Life and career Friedman was born in ...

and Shawna Dolansky: ''The Bible Now'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, ''

'', 6 July 2012 * Sylvia Rothschild: "Meeting points for Abraham's children" book review of

Tony Bayfield Anthony Michael "Tony" Bayfield is a Reform Judaism, Reform rabbi and former President of the Movement for Reform Judaism, the second largest organisation of synagogues in Britain. Early life and education Bayfield was born in 1946 in Ilford ...

, Alan Race and Ataullah Siddiqui (eds.): ''Beyond the Dysfunctional Family – Jews, Christians and Muslims in Dialogue with Muslims in Dialogue with Each Other and With Britain'', The Manor House Abrahamic Dialogue Group, ''

'', 30 November 2012 * Sylvia Rothschild: "Little room for Europe" book review of Judith R. Baskin (ed.): ''The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, ''

'', 27 December 2012

References

External links

Official blog
* Einat Ramon: "Taking Up the Timbrel: The Challenge of Creating Ritual for Jewish Women Today (review)", ''Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues'', Number 7, Spring 2004, pp. 236–239
BBC Radio 4: ''One to One'' – Emma Barnett talks to Rabbi Sylvia Rothschild, broadcast 11 March 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothschild, Sylvia 1957 births Living people 20th-century English rabbis 21st-century English rabbis Alumni of Leo Baeck College Alumni of the University of Manchester British Reform rabbis Clergy from Bradford English people of German-Jewish descent People from Bromley Reform women rabbis