Louis Jacobs

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Rabbi Dr. Louis Jacobs

Dr. Louis Jacobs (b. Manchester, 17 July 1920, d. London, 1 July 2006, 5 Tammuz 5766 in the Jewish calendar), was a Masorti rabbi, the first leader of Masorti Judaism (also known as Conservative Judaism) in the United Kingdom, and a leading writer and thinker on Judaism. He also became known as the focus of events in the early 1960s that came to be known as "The Jacobs Affair".

1 Early career
2 The "Jacobs Affair"
3 The New London Synagogue
4 Selected publications
5 Louis Jacobs online
6 Sources
7 External links

[edit] Early career

Jacobs studied at Manchester Yeshivah, and later at the kolel in Gateshead. His teachers included Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, an ultra-orthodox expositor of Jewish moral and theological teachings. Jacobs was ordained as an Orthodox Jewish rabbi at Manchester Yeshivah. Later in his career he studied at University College London where he earned his PhD, on the topic of 'The Business Life of the Jews in Babylon, 200-500 BCE'. Jacobs was appointed rabbi at Manchester Central Synagogue in 1948. In 1954 he was appointed to the New West End Synagogue in London.

He became Moral Tutor at Jews' College, London, where he taught Talmud and homiletics during the last years of Rabbi Isidore Epstein's tenure as principal. By this time Jacobs had drifted away from the very rigid traditional approach to Jewish theology that had marked his formative years. Instead he struggled to find a synthesis that would accommodate Orthodox Jewish theology and modern day higher biblical criticism. Jacobs was especially concerned with how to reconcile modern day Orthodox Jewish faith with the documentary hypothesis. His ideas about the subject were published in a book entitled We Have Reason to Believe, published in 1957. The book was originally written to record the essence of discussions held on its title's subject at weekly classes given by Jacobs at the New West End Synagogue and was the subject at the time of some mild criticism, but not of any major censure.

[edit] The "Jacobs Affair"

It had been widely assumed that after Epstein's retirement as principal of Jews' College he would be succeeded by Jacobs. When this assumption was translated into a definite invitation by the College's Board of Trustees in 1961, the then Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Israel Brodie, interdicted the appointment "because of his [Jacobs's] published views". This was a reference to We Have Reason to Believe.

The British journal, The Jewish Chronicle, took up the issue and turned it into a cause celebre which was reported in the national press, including The Times. When Jacobs wished to return to his pulpit at the New West End Synagogue Brodie vetoed his appointment. A number of members then left the New West End Synagogue to found the New London Synagogue.

Public interest in Dr. Jacobs's differences with the Anglo-Jewish establishment is also demonstrated by the television interview of Dr. Jacobs of 1966 conducted by Bernard Levin.

[edit] The New London Synagogue

The defecting congregation purchased the old St. John's Wood synagogue building, and installed Jacobs as its rabbi — a post which he held until 1995 and to which he returned in 2005. This congregation, The New London Synagogue, [1] became the "parent" of the Masorti movement in the United Kingdom, which now numbers several congregations.

While holding the position of Rabbi at the New London Synagogue, Dr. Jacobs was also for many years Lecturer in Talmud and Zohar at the Leo Baeck College, a rabbinical college preparing students to serve as Conservative, Reform and Liberal rabbis in the UK and Europe. Rabbi Jacobs served as Chairman of the Academic Committee for some years.

Since the founding of the New London Synagogue, Jacobs and the Masorti movement were subject to consistent hostility from more Orthodox British Jewish institutions. On occasions this has appeared petty; on his 83rd birthday, in the Bournemouth (Orthodox) synagogue on the sabbath before his granddaughter's wedding, Jacobs was not provided the honour of an aliyah customarily given to the father of the bride, which gave rise to heated correspondence in the Jewish press.

In December 2005, however, a poll by the Jewish Chronicle of its subscribers, in which 2000 readers made their nominations, voted Jacobs the 'greatest British Jew' in the community's 350-year history in England. Jacobs commented 'I feel greatly honoured - and rather daft.'

[edit] Selected publications

Jewish Prayer
We Have Reason to Believe (1957)
Jewish Values
Jewish Thought Today (Chain of Tradition Series, Vol. 3)
Studies in Talmudic Logic (and Methodology) (1961)
A Jewish Theology
Jewish Ethics, Philosophy and Mysticism
The Book of Jewish Belief
What does Judaism say about ...? (The New York times Library of Jewish knowledge)
The Jewish Religion: A Companion, (1995), OUP, ISBN 0-19-826463-1