Ephraim Mirvis, Britain’s New Chief Rabbi, Will Attend Limmud
Image by getty images
Great Britain’s new chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, announced on Monday that he would be attending Limmud, Britain’s largest and oldest festival of Jewish learning and culture. Rabbi Mirvis’ announcement may have been expected, but it is still significant for the future of Britain’s rapidly fracturing Jewish community.
Mirvis’ predecessor, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, had been an early supporter of Limmud back in the day when it was mainly an educators’ conference, but during his 22 years as chief rabbi, he bowed to pressure from his ultra-Orthodox colleagues and did not appear at the Limmud conference.
In a statement put out by his office, Mirvis, who was inaugurated as chief rabbi only two weeks ago, said that for him, speaking at Limmud fulfills “one of my primary functions as teacher of the community. I see Limmud as an opportunity to teach Torah to large numbers of people who want to learn.”
Mirvis had indicated in recent months that he planned to reverse Sacks’ policy, but it wasn’t clear whether he would attend this year’s main Limmud conference, which is scheduled to take place in late December. The five-day event of more than a thousand lectures, workshops, debates and performances at the University of Warwick is expected to draw around 2,500 participants.
For more go to Haaretz
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
