Rabbi Joseph Dweck is to be the new senior rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation after winning a massive of vote of confidence from its membership.

They voted by 270 votes to four to endorse the executive’s choice of the 37-year-old rabbi, who has heads a Sephardi congregation in New York.

Rabbi Dweck, who received his rabbinic ordination from Israel’s former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, impressed congregants during a visit to the UK last week ahead of the crucial vote.

His election will herald a new era for the community after the retirement of Rabbi Abraham Levy as its spiritual head last summer.