The London Beth Din is the Ashkenazi Beth Din

Beth din

A beth din, bet din, beit din or beis din is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel...

 of the United Synagogue

United Synagogue

United Synagogue is an organisation of London Jews that was founded with the sanction of an Act of Parliament, in 1870. , it remains the largest religious grouping within the British Jewish community and indeed in Europe, covering 62 Orthodox Jewish communities...

, the largest Ashkenazi synagogal body in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. In its capacity as Court of the Chief Rabbi, it is historically the supreme halakhic Authority for Mitnagdim Ashkenazim several Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 countries and additionally is consulted by Batei Din throughout Europe.

Scope

The range of questions with which the Beth Din deals is vast and covers all areas of Jewish law. Some of the specialist areas covered by the Beth Din are:

• halakhic authority for the Kashrut Division (KLBD)
• the authorisation and supervision of mohel
  Mohel
  A mohel is a Jewish person trained in the practice of brit milah "covenant of circumcision."-Etymology of the Hebrew and Aramaic term:...
  
  im
• the supervision of mikvehs
• the supervision of Orthodox conversions
• construction, supervision and maintenance of the North West London and the Borehamwood Eruv
  Eruv
  An Eruv is a ritual enclosure around most Orthodox Jewish and Conservative Jewish homes or communities. In such communities, an Eruv is seen to enable the carrying of objects out of doors on the Jewish Sabbath that would otherwise be forbidden by Torah law...
  
  
• questions relating to burial and mourning
• supervising the activity of the Marriage Education programme
• advising on legislation which may have an impact on Jewish religious practice
• dealing with a wide range of halakhic problems posed by the rabbanim of the United Synagogue and provincial communities
• the examination of Shochetim and the control of the shechita
  Shechita
  Shechita is the ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws...
  
   Inspectors

The London Beth Din retains a Research Unit which employs the services of a professional genealogist in order to assist in enquiries as to whether a person is Jewish.

Membership

The present membership (2007) of the London Beth Din is:

• Av Beth Din - the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Jonathan Sacks
  Jonathan Sacks
  Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks, Kt is the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. His Hebrew name is Yaakov Zvi...
  
  
• Rosh Beth Din - Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu
  Chanoch Ehrentreu
  Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu served for many years as the head of the United Synagogue's Beth Din. He retired from the post in December 2006.-Early life:...
  
  
• Dayan Yonason Abraham
• Dayan M Gelley -senior dayan
• Dayan Ivan Binstock
• Dayan S Simons
• Dayan I Berger (Consultant)
• Rabbi Jeremy Conway -Kashrut Instigator

Former dayonim of the London Beth Din

• Dayan Yechezkel Abramsky
• Dayan Grossnass
• Dayan Dr Isidor Grunfeld (famed for his translations of the writings of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
  Samson Raphael Hirsch
  Samson Raphael Hirsch was a German rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism...
  
  )
• Dayan Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman
  Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman
  Rabbi Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman was a renowned Orthodox Jewish Talmudic scholar, Posek and rabbi and served as a Dayan of the London Beth Din....
  
  
• Dayan Casriel Dovid Kaplin
  Casriel Dovid Kaplin
  Casriel Dovid Kaplin, , was a rabbi and a dayan in the London Beth Din. He lived for much of his life in London, England. He published three volumes of his responsa as well as numerous scholarly articles, besides having many unpublished writings....
  
  
• Dayan Lazarus
• Dayan Dr. Myer S. Lew