Chief Rabbi’s father, Rabbi Dr Lionel Mirvis dies

The Chief Rabbi’s father, Rabbi Dr Lionel Mirvis, has died in South Africa.

In recent weeks Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis travelled to the country, where he was born, to visit his father during a period of ill-health.

Rabbi Dr Mirvis was a well-known community rabbi in South Africa, serving as the minister of the Claremont and Wynberg Hebrew Congregations in Cape Town.

He was also noted for his preaching against South African apartheid, according to the South African Jewish Report, and for his frequent visits to political prisoners held at Robben Island.