Community
'Much loved' Edgware minister dies at 61, days before planned aliyah
Rabbi Jeremy Collick served Masorti and Reform communities
February 28, 2019 15:59
Rabbi Jeremy Collick served Masorti and Reform communities
February 28, 2019 15:59Former Edgware Masorti minister Rabbi Jeremy Collick has died, aged 61, after being admitted to hospital just four days before he and his wife Cindy were due to make aliyah.
He had struggled with ill health for some years, telling the JC he was “devastated” when it forced his retirement in 2014 after more than 30 years in the pulpit. But Mrs Collick said it had been a shock when her husband was diagnosed with stage-four liver cancer in hospital in January, shortly before their planned relocation to Israel, where they maintained a flat in Ashkelon.
After serving at Edgware and District Reform Synagogue and Brighton Reform, Rabbi Collick switched to Masorti in 2000. He joined the congregation at a difficult time following the split that led to the breakaway Kol Nefesh Synagogue. But he was able to consolidate the Edgware shul.
Rabbi Collick left communities “bigger than when he started”, said Joel, the elder of his two sons, who lives in Jerusalem. His father’s main motivation had been to “bring joy, comfort and God into people’s lives. ‘Privilege’ was the word he used.”
Rabbi Collick was an active campaigner for Soviet Jewry and during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 volunteered in Israel to help with the orange harvest.
He maintained a keen interest in Jewish history, his son added. “If he had gone back in time, he would have chosen to spend it just before the destruction of the Second Temple at the time of the emergence of the rabbis. That was his favourite period.”
Paying tribute, a Masorti official said he had been “a much loved and respected leader who served his community with passion and distinction”.
Masorti’s senior rabbi, Jonathan Wittenberg, said that “Rabbi Collick radiated irresistible warmth. He had a deep love of traditional Judaism and was profoundly connected to Israel. Through the many years he was unwell, he showed a plucky and persistent courage, often expressed, sometimes wickedly, in his brave sense of humour.”
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