Tevele Schiff

Chief Rabbi David Tevele Schiff (Hebrew: דוד טעבלי שיף‎) (died December 17, 1791) was the chief rabbi of the United Kingdom and the rabbi of the Great Synagogue of London from 1765 until his death.

He was the son of Solomon Schiff, member of a famous and learned family from Frankfurt am Main. His mother was Roesche, daughter of the quarrelsome Reb Aberle London. Tevele Schiff was educated in the schools of Rabbis Jacob Poper and Jacob Joshua Falk. He served as maggid in Vienna. He also was head of the Beth Midrash in Worms, and later dayan in Frankfurt.

After Hart Lyon left London in 1764 it was agreed that his successor should be appointed and maintained by the Great Synagogue and the Hambro' Synagogue jointly. However, they could not agree on a single name. The Great Synagogue appointed Rabbi Schiff on February 24, 1765, while the Hambro' Synagogue appointed Rabbi Israel Meshullam Zalman (who became known in England as Meshullam Solomon).

Each Rabbi claimed authority over the whole Kingdom. The problem was resolved only after a split within the community at Portsmouth. Although a dissident group of the Portsmouth Jewish population established a rival congregation recognising the authority of Meshullam Solomon, the main community formally accepted the authority of Rabbi Schiff. When in 1766 the Rabbi of the Great Synagogue began to be known by the title "The Chief Rabbi", and Meshullam Solomon returned to Hamburg in 1780, all communities accepted Tevele Schiff's authority.

Schiff carried on a detailed correspondence with his brother the Rabbi of Copenhagen, which casts an interesting light on Jewish social life in Georgian London. The economic depression following the end of the American War of Independence led to frequent calls for the reduction of his salary. In addition to this, after Rabbi Meshullam Solomon left London, Rabbi Schiff was expected to do the work of the Hambro' Synagogue as well. Overworked and underpaid, he tried unsuccessfully to obtain appointments at Rotterdam and Würzburg in 1781 and 1782 respectively.

He died on December 17, 1791, after having occupied the Rabbinate for twenty-seven years. His wife, Breinle Sinzheim, had died many years before, shortly after his appointment to London, leaving him an only son, Moses. He was in the old burial-ground in Mile End, in immediate proximity to Rabbi Aaron Hart and the founders of the congregation. His son, Moses Schiff, perpetuated his memory by arranging for the publication of his responsa, sermons, and expositions, under the title Lashon Zahav, which means the "Golden tongue".

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