Hats in the Ring
Choosing Britain's Chief Rabbis from Adler to Sacks
Published on 18. January 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
340 pages
978-1-61811-269-9 (ISBN)
Description
Prior to the latest Chief Rabbinical selection process, seven eminent rabbis were appointed to British Jewry's highest ecclesiastical post. In the end, only six were installed to see out their terms of office. The manner of these appointments was invariably colored by intrigue, in-fighting, and a host of other competing influences. Not the least was an increasingly potent input by the dayanim of the London Beth Din, themselves not immune to strategic self-interest. Persoff's scholarly yet accessible account of these seven appointments draws on a profusion of hitherto unavailable and unpublished material, and on the personal stories of many of the protagonists involved. Including, in fascinating detail, those who by means fair and foul, failed to gain (or chose to reject) the coveted prize.
Reviews / Votes
Historians sharply focused on Anglo-Jewry will have reason to be grateful to Dr Persoff for the choice fare that he has here set before them. Whatever their views, and however they understand the personalities and interpret the events, they will find themselves in his debt for having drawn attention to such a wealth of source material and for having made available to them many items that were hitherto unknown or inadequately exploited."-Stefan C. Reif, Emeritus Professor of Medieval Hebrew and Fellow of St John's College, University of CambridgeMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Brighton
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
616 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61811-269-9 (9781618112699)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Now a freelance writer and editor, Meir Persoff edited the London Jewish Chronicle's news, features, arts, Judaism, letters and obituaries sections during a distinguished 40-year career on the paper. He has written extensively on Jewish topics - notably Jewish art and Judaica - and served on the Jewish Book Council and as president of the Israel-Judaica Philatelic Society. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, he holds a London University MA (with distinction) in Hebrew and Jewish Studies, having specialised in modern Jewish history and the history of anti-Semitism, and earned his PhD from Middlesex University, London, for his research into the British Chief Rabbinate's relationship with the non-Orthodox movements. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the Middlesex Commission Area in 2001.