Rodney Mariner, beloved former rabbi of Belsize Square Synagogue and convener of the Beit Din, dies aged 83

Rabbi Rodney Mariner, a respected Rabbi and former Convener of the Beit Din of the Movement for Reform Judaism, has died at the age of 83.

Having led the independent Belsize Square Synagogue for 29 years from 1982 to 2011, Rabbi Rodney was the longest serving rabbi in the congregation’s history and is warmly remembered for breathing fresh life into a community whose membership was falling. With characteristic humour and congeniality, Rabbi Rodney also made contributions to interfaith dialogue and community outreach, helping to create a more inclusive Progressive Jewish community.

Born in Australia in 1941, Rabbi Rodney did not begin life with the intention of pursuing a rabbinical career. After leaving school at 15, he worked for seven years as an engineer and then pursued a BA in English Literature and European History at Monash University in Melbourne. He taught English at a secondary school for three years before being granted a five-year scholarship, which he put towards studying for the rabbinate.

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Rabbi Rodney commenced his spiritual education at the Hebrew Union College and School of Biblical Archaeology in Jerusalem and concluded in London at Leo Baeck College, where he was granted his semichah (ordination) in 1976.

He then served at Alyth and Edgware & District Reform Synagogues before beginning his tenure at Belsize Square Synagogue and simultaneously spent 22 years as the Convenor of the Rabbinical Court of the Movement for Reform Judaism and Convener of Beit Din for the European Region of the WUPJ (now EUPJ) until his retirement in 2022.

Speaking on behalf of the EUPJ, Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein said Rabbi Rodney ran the Beit Din “with efficiency and, most importantly, with compassion.”

Rabbi Dr Jackie Tabick, who took over the Beit Din after Rabbi Rodney, added that he was “full of integrity and compassion for those who came before the Beit Din,” but noted that Rabbi Rodney was “not there just for the candidates, he also supported his colleagues and was there for them if any difficulties arose.”

“He always managed not just to write, but craft, ten absolutely inspiring and thoughtful sermons for the High Holy Days while the rest of the world was enjoying their summer break. His memory will truly be a blessing to the hundreds of people he served as a rabbi, convenor of the court, and friend and colleague. We will miss his wisdom,” Rabbi Tabick said.

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, current convenor of the Reform Beit Din, added: “He was a model of common sense and good humour, two religious qualities whose importance are often under-estimated; as a congregational rabbi who often brought status cases to him, I learnt much from him both on Jewish procedures and, just as crucially, menschlichkeit (humanity).”

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah, Rabbi Emeritus of Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue, fondly remembers learning Hebrew with Rabbi Rodney when he taught at the evening Institute at the Montagu Centre, adding: “He was also very helpful to the Jewish Lesbian and Gay Group, and did his rabbinic thesis on ‘homosexuality’.”

With his wife Sue, Rabbi Rodney edited and translated Belsize Square Synagogue’s own prayer books for Shabbat, the High Holidays and the Festivals. The pair also organised and led youth trips abroad.

As Rabbi Rodney said himself around the synagogue’s 60th anniversary: “The synagogue became my family too. It is everything. It houses my collegial group. It is my place for laughing and weeping. It stimulates my ideas. Other than some pals back in Australia, my entire circle of friends come from or are associated with this congregation.”