Defenders of the Faith

Although Jews were readmitted to England in 1661, nearly 200 years later there was an election for Chief Rabbi where the short list of candidates were all German. Today the community takes its British spiritual leadership for granted, but the whole structure had to be created from scratch; Jews' College has played a major part in this for over 150 years. This is the story of those who did the work and fought against the general indifference of a community that so often only paid lip service to the concept. There was also the struggle between lay leaders wanting ministers to be synagogue bureaucrats, and College Principals who wanted Talmudic scholars. The Principals prevailed, educating the bedrock of ministers who grew and nurtured congregations all over Britain and abroad. The achievements of men like Louis Loewe, Michael Friedlaender, Adolph Buechler, Isidore Epstein, Kopul Kahana, Hirsch Zimmels, Nahum Rabinovitch, Irving Jacobs and Jonathan Sacks deserve recognition. Their material sacrifice and intellectual rigour demanded total commitment from their students. This is their story, and the healthy state of the Jewish community in Britain today owes a great deal to their selfless efforts.