Hadley Wood is fired up by rabbinic couple's appointment

Hadley Wood Jewish Community has a new ministerial couple, Rabbi Akiva and Batya Rosenblatt.

Currently the assistant rabbinic couple at Woodside Park United Synagogue, they will join the North London congregation in August, their appointment having been comprehensively approved in a members’ vote this week.

The Merseyside-born rabbi (a Liverpool FC fan) was raised in North-West London and spent many years studying at prominent yeshivot. He is also a trained chazan and enjoys singing at wedding ceremonies.

Mrs Rosenblatt hails from Manchester, where she taught Jewish studies at Broughton Jewish Primary after studying at Gateshead. When the couple moved to Israel after marriage, she attended the Shelem College of Complementary Medicine in Jerusalem, qualifying as a massage therapist and reflexologist and a going on to establish a successful massage salon in the city.