Community
Former UK rabbi appointed to Council of the Israeli Chief rabbinate
Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss was a rabbi in Manchester before he made aliyah
September 30, 2018 14:06
Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss was a rabbi in Manchester before he made aliyah
September 30, 2018 14:06A former UK rabbi has been appointed to the Council of the Israeli Chief rabbinate.
Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss was born and raised in Manchester and was rabbi of the Whitefield Congregation before he moved to Israel in the 1980s.
He has been Rabbi of the Kefar Haroeh community for the last 30 years, which is "considered to be the crown in the jewel of the religious Zionist world," Professor David Newman of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev said.
Prof Newman added Rabbi Weiss was the first former UK rabbi to be appointed to the council.
Rabbi Weiss stood down from this position a year ago and lives in Petach Tikva, where he has been a leading rabbincal figure in preacher in Hebrew and English.
"His election to the vacant spot was uniquely supported across the religious spectrum, including both Ashkenazi and Sephardi representatives, in what is normally a highly politicized and contested position," said Prof Newman.
Rabbi Weisz's great grandfather Rabbi Jacob Rabinowitz, who was originally from Lithuania, was Rabbi of Edinburgh at the end of the 19th century, relocating to London in 1917 where he served as Rabbi of the Montagu Road (Dalston) Beth Hamedrash until his death in 1932.
His great uncles included Rabbi Professor Louis Rabinowitz who was chief rabbi of South Africa and a leading candidate for the British Chief Rabbinate in 1965. He later became deputy mayor of Jerusalem.
Rabbi Julius (Yehuda) Newman of the Notting Hill synagogue who received his Rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Abraham Kook during the short period he was in London during WWI, and the stained glass window designer David Hillman, whose windows adorn many of London’s synagogues (whose own father Rabbi Shmuel Hillman was head of the London Beth Din in the 1920s and 1930s, and whose sister was married to Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog of Dublin and became the first Chief rabbi of Israel).
His uncle was Rabbi Isaac Newman of the Poets Road and Barnet synagogue, and another cousin was Rabbi Benny Rabinowitz of the Edgware Synagogue. Another Anglo connected cousin is Professor David Newman, formerly Dean at Ben-Gurion University and recipient of the OBE in 2013 for his work in promoting scientific and academic cooperation between British and Israeli universities.
Rabbi Weisz, who has five daughters who live in Israel. His brother Dovid Weisz owns Dovid’s Deli in Leicester Road in Salford, which serves Manchester’s strictly Orthodox community.
He will be sworn in along with the rest of the new council at the President's residence in Jerusalem in three weels.