E-Lectures Glossary
Chief Rabbi of Great Britain Immanuel JakobovitsRabbi Immanuel Jakobovits was Born in Koenigsberg, Germany - now Kalingrad, Russia – to the Orthodox rabbi of Koenigsberg. He fleeing Nazi Germany he came to London in 1936, with his family, where he enrolled in Yeshiva Etz Chaim and was eventually ordained. In the early 1950's he moved to Ireland where he was appointed Chief Rabbi and married Amelie Munk, herself the daughter of a prominent Rabbi (Elie Munk of Paris).In 1957 he became the first rabbi of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, in New York – a synagogue that came to be regarded as one of the foremost Orthodox synagogues in America. In 1967, Rav Jakobovits was appointed Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth. In 1981, he was knighted Sir Immanuel by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Rabbi Jakobovits was particularly interested in Medical ethics. His Jewish Medical Ethics was the first book to both review the diverse Jewish views and opinions of medical practice and stress the ethical and universal dimensions embedded in the rulings. He also wrote extensively on the application of traditional Jewish teachings vis-a-vis the importance of self-reliance and personal moral responsibility in the wider modern world. It was this contribution that led Margaret Thatcher in 1987 to recommend that the Queen make him the first Chief Rabbi to be a member of the House of lords. It is of particular interest to this site, that a center for the Study of Jewish Medical Ethics was established under his name at Ben Gurion Medical. Rabbi Jakobovits died in 1999.
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel |