The British Chief Rabbinate: A Model for Leadership or Decline?

A striking feature of the debates associated with appointing a new chief rabbi in Britain at the end of the term of Emeritus Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was a clear sense of the contribution the role makes to Jewish life both in Britain and more broadly. This was widely noted, also, in the specific praise and reflection on the achievements of the outgoing chief rabbi which accompanied his retirement. On both a national and international plane, the British chief rabbinate is perceived to have acquired a wide-ranging voice and influence. The reach of the office is seen to extend both to Jewish communities outside Britain and in a British context to the wider society beyond the Jewish community. The possibility of abolishing the post and replacing it with some sort of body that could serve in its place was given only the most cursory consideration.¹ This was despite the fact that it is a role that has its origins in nineteenth-century Victorian Britain, when it was designed under Anglican influences to serve a very different community with markedly different needs.² The instinct to retain the post in its current form also ignores the fact that the chief rabbinate itself has rather limited real powers, a product of its evolutionary development rather than being a particularly clearly thought out office from the outset. Moreover, the reality of the British chief rabbinate is that notwithstanding the varied types of “success,” however we may choose to define this notion, that different chief rabbis have enjoyed in Britain, it has also consistently been a cause of division and disagreement—as much a source of controversy as it has been a source for leadership and representation.

At the time of Jonathan, now Lord, Sacks’ appointment to the British chief rabbinate genuine hope was invested in him and his potential to exert an influence.³ This showed considerable optimism considering the controversies and growing religious polarization that had characterized British Jewry during the chief rabbinates of his two predecessors, Immanuel Jakobovits and Israel Brodie.⁴ Somehow there appeared in some quarters to be a genuine belief that the new incumbent possibly could be an individual gifted with the ability to invigorate the post. Someone who could bring real leadership to the community, and revitalize British Jewry. In the buzzwords of the time, it was felt that he had the tools to ensure ‘Jewish Continuity’ and the means of securing Jewish grandchildren.⁵ The intention of this article is not to assess the success or otherwise of Sacks’ incumbency.⁶ The goal, rather, is to consider in broader terms the role of the British chief rabbinate in offering a successful model for religious leadership. The primary question to be addressed is whether a chief rabbinate enhances or detracts from an incumbent’s ability to transmit a religious and moral message?

From considering the hope invested in Jonathan Sacks at the beginning of his term in office, in retirement it is evident that he has subsequently come to enjoy a significant and considerable prestige and authority. Feted in Israel, the Guardian of Zion award that he received in June 2014 from Bar Ilan University, and the Canterbury Medal for religious liberty bestowed by the American based Becket Fund that he received the previous month in the U.S., are just two examples of the honors with which he is being showered. He has been appointed Professor of Law, Ethics, and Bible at King’s College London, the alma mater where he studied for his doctorate. He has also accepted two academic positions in the U.S., serving as Professor of Jewish Thought at both Yeshiva University and New York University.⁷ The Covenant & Conversation Trust, named after the weekly Torah commentaries he has previously and continues to produce, was also established at the end of his chief rabbinate as a body that could: “promote ‘inspirational leadership,’ develop educational material, and support interfaith understanding.”⁸ At the end of his term in office he was honored with a formal Tribute dinner with the Prince of Wales in...