David Rosen (rabbi)

Rabbi David Shlomo Rosen CBE, born in 1951 in Newbury, Berkshire, England,^[1] is the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland (1979–85) and currently serves as the Director of the American Jewish Committee's Department of Interreligious Affairs and the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding. From 2005 until 2009 he headed the International Jewish Committee for Inter-religious Consultations (IJCIC), the broad based coalition of Jewish organizations and denominations that represents World Jewry in its relations with other world religions. His personal website is given below.

Before being appointed Chief Rabbi of Ireland,he was the Senior Rabbi of the largest Orthodox Jewish congregation in South Africa (The Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation, Cape Town) and served as a judge on the Cape Beth Din (rabbinic court). He is also a board member of the Brussels-based organization CEJI - A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe. Rosen is the model for Rabbi Kappelmacher in the best-selling Jewish mystery, Wedding Wipeout.^[2]

Interfaith relations

Based in Jerusalem, he also serves as the Advisor on Interreligious Affairs to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, serving on the latter's Commission for Interreligious Relations.

He is an International President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace; Honorary President of the International Council of Christians and Jews; on the board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute;^[3] and is on the Advisory Boards of the World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace; and the World Economic Forum's council of religious leaders.

Awards

In November 2005, Rabbi Rosen was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great in recognition of his contribution to Jewish-Catholic reconciliation, making the first Israeli citizen and the first Orthodox rabbi to receive this honor. In the same year he also won the Mount Zion Award for Interreligious Understanding. In December 2006, Rabbi Rosen received the Raphael Lemkin Human Rights Award from Rabbis for Human Rights – North America for having founded the organization Rabbis for Human Rights. Rosen was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.^[4]

Rabbi Rosen was appointed as the only Jewish representative on the Board of Directors of the KAICIID Dialogue Centre (interfaith centre) established in Vienna in 2012 by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia together with the governments of Austria and Spain.

Personal life

He is married to Sharon (née Rothstein), who co-directs the Jerusalem office of Search for Commion Ground (see www.sfcg.org). They have three daughters, Yakarah (married to Arik Attias), Gabriella (married to Dror Rubin) and Amirit; and five grandchildren, Imbar, Nieve, Yair (Yakarah and Arik's offspring) and Zohar and Eli-nor (Gabriella and Dror's sons).

Views

Rabbi Rosen's views on a variety of topics may be found in the Media section of his website www.rabbidavidrosen.net

Vegetarianism

Rabbi Rosen is also Honorary President of the International Jewish Vegetarian and Ecology society. He is a vigorous critic of factory farming, noting that "much of the current treatment of animals in the livestock trade makes the consumption of meat produced through such cruel conditions halachically unacceptable as the product of illegitimate means." In addition, he has argued that the waste of natural resources and the damage done to the environment by "meat production" make a compelling Jewish moral argument for adopting a vegetarian diet. He has written extensively on a wide variety of interfaith issues .

See also

• History of the Jews in Ireland
• Jewish vegetarianism

References

External links

• Official website