Tony Bayfield
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield CBE is a Reform
rabbi
and President of the Movement for Reform Judaism
.
He was born in Ilford, Essex UK in 1946. Educated at the Royal Liberty Grammar School in Romford and Magdalene College, Cambridge
. He read law, had a doctoral place at the Cambridge Institute for Criminology and then moved to the Leo Baeck College
to train as a rabbi
. He received rabbinic ordination (semicha
h) in 1972 - from Rabbis John Rayner
, Hugo Gryn
and Louis Jacobs
.
He was a congregational rabbi in Surrey for a decade, then director of the Sternberg Centre
for Judaism in Finchley
. He is was head of the Movement for Reform Judaism
from 1994 (when the organisation was known as Reform Synagogues of Great Britain) until March 2011. He is now President of the organisation.
The Reform Movement is the second largest organisation of synagogues in Britain. It is the non-conformist section of the community to Chief Rabbi Professor Sir Jonathan Sack’s majority orthodox community. Despite being on opposite sides of a passionate theological divide, Orthodox
Chief Rabbi
Sir Jonathan Sacks
and Rabbi Tony Bayfield are good friends and have been so since their Cambridge days.
Bayfield is a specialist in modern Jewish thought and contemporary Reform Judaism
. He also specialises in Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim dialogue and has published quite widely in this area.
He is a widower with three children and three grandchildren. His younger daughter, Miriam Berger, received semichah in July 2006 and is a well-respected rabbi in her own right. He is a member of North Western Reform Synagogue (Alyth Gardens). He is a passionate supporter of West Ham.
Bayfield has also written about Christian-Jewish reconciliation
.
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and President of the Movement for Reform Judaism
Movement for Reform Judaism
Movement for Reform Judaism is the main organizational body of the Jewish Reform community in Great Britain....
.
He was born in Ilford, Essex UK in 1946. Educated at the Royal Liberty Grammar School in Romford and Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
. He read law, had a doctoral place at the Cambridge Institute for Criminology and then moved to the Leo Baeck College
Leo Baeck College
Leo Baeck College is a rabbinical college and centre for Jewish education located in north London. As well as being the smallest academic college in England, it is also the largest Jewish Progressive University and Rabbinic College in Europe....
to train as a rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
. He received rabbinic ordination (semicha
Semicha
, also , or is derived from a Hebrew word which means to "rely on" or "to be authorized". It generally refers to the ordination of a rabbi within Judaism. In this sense it is the "transmission" of rabbinic authority to give advice or judgment in Jewish law...
h) in 1972 - from Rabbis John Rayner
John Rayner
Rabbi John Desmond Rayner CBE was born in Berlin as Hans Sigismund Rahmer. He left Berlin in 1939 on one of the last Kindertransports. There were about 10,000 children on the train. Both his parents were killed in the Holocaust at Riga concentration camp as the records show they were both deported...
, Hugo Gryn
Hugo Gryn
Hugo Gabriel Gryn was a British Reform rabbi who was a popular broadcaster and a leading voice in interfaith dialogue....
and Louis Jacobs
Louis Jacobs
Rabbi Dr. Louis Jacobs was a Masorti rabbi, the first leader of Masorti Judaism in the United Kingdom, and a leading writer and thinker on Judaism...
.
He was a congregational rabbi in Surrey for a decade, then director of the Sternberg Centre
Sternberg Centre
The Sternberg Centre for Judaism, in East End Road, Finchley, London, is a campus hosting a number of Jewish institutions, built around the 18th-century Finchley manor house....
for Judaism in Finchley
Finchley
Finchley is a district in Barnet in north London, England. Finchley is on high ground, about north of Charing Cross. It formed an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, becoming a municipal borough in 1933, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965...
. He is was head of the Movement for Reform Judaism
Movement for Reform Judaism
Movement for Reform Judaism is the main organizational body of the Jewish Reform community in Great Britain....
from 1994 (when the organisation was known as Reform Synagogues of Great Britain) until March 2011. He is now President of the organisation.
The Reform Movement is the second largest organisation of synagogues in Britain. It is the non-conformist section of the community to Chief Rabbi Professor Sir Jonathan Sack’s majority orthodox community. Despite being on opposite sides of a passionate theological divide, Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
Sir 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...
and Rabbi Tony Bayfield are good friends and have been so since their Cambridge days.
Bayfield is a specialist in modern Jewish thought and contemporary Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
. He also specialises in Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim dialogue and has published quite widely in this area.
He is a widower with three children and three grandchildren. His younger daughter, Miriam Berger, received semichah in July 2006 and is a well-respected rabbi in her own right. He is a member of North Western Reform Synagogue (Alyth Gardens). He is a passionate supporter of West Ham.
Bayfield has also written about Christian-Jewish reconciliation
Christian-Jewish reconciliation
Reconciliation between Christianity and Judaism refers to the efforts that are being made to improve understanding of the Jewish people and of Judaism, to do away with Christian antisemitism and Jewish anti-Christian sentiment...
.
Publications
- Prejudice - Jewish responses (Publisher: Michael Goulston Educational Foundation, Duke Street House 1973)
- Churban: The murder of the Jews of Europe (Jewish responses) ISBN 978-0907372004
- Sinai, Law and Responsible Autonomy: Reform Judaism and the Halakhic Tradition ISBN 978-0947884093
- He Kissed Him and They Wept: Towards a Theology of Partnership ISBN 978-0334028260
- Dialogue With a Difference ISBN 978-0334019800
- Islam and Global Dialogue ISBN 978-0754653073
Sources
- (Source: The Movement for Reform Judaism: http://www.reformjudaism.org.uk/profile-rabbi-tony-bayfield.html)
- (Secondary Source: The Guardian Newspaper http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tony_bayfield/profile.html)
External links
- Rabbi Bayfield's pages on the Guardian Newspaper (UK) http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tony_bayfield/index.html
- Rabbi Bayfields pages on The Movement for Reform Judaism site http://news.reformjudaism.org.uk/from-the-head-of-the-movement/current/