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Gateshead elects its new rabbinic leader
Rav Yisroel Mantel won almost unanimous support on Thursday
November 14, 2025 10:53
Rav Yisroel Mantel won almost unanimous support on Thursday
November 14, 2025 10:53One of the most senior strictly Orthodox positions in the UK has finally been filled after six years.
The flourishing community of Gateshead, famed for its prestigious yeshivah, has voted overwhelmingly to approve Rav Yisroel Mantel from New York as its next town rabbi.
Rav Mantel, in an election this week following his visit to the community over the weekend, won support with a 97 per cent majority.
The huge turnout – 626 votes cast with one vote per household – represented over 90 per of the community.
Rav Mantel, who was born in Antwerp, served a community in Lucerne, Switzerland before leading K’hal Adath Jeshurun in Manhattan. It is understood that he studied maths at university in Zurich.
Gateshead’s president Meir Bodner described him as a Talmud scholar of stature with “decades of experience in rabbonus and communal leadership”.
Ahead of the election, he told members, “We cannot overstate the importance of this moment for our kehillah [community]. The choice of a Rov of high calibre to guide, inspire and lead us, is a matter of great significance.”
Gateshead had tried unsuccessfully before to entice Rav Mantel but its persistence has finally paid off.
During his visit, Rav Mantel met members of the community and gave sermons and lectures.
He succeeds Rav Shraga Feivel Zimmerman, who left in 2019 to become spiritual leader of the London-based Federation of Synagogues.
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