The frontrunner, according to sources in the community, is Rabbi Harvey Belovski, an Oxford grad who heads Golders Green Synagogue.
By GIL STERN STERN SHEFLER, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENTRabbi Jonathan Sacks 311(photo credit: REUTERS)
COVENTRY, UK – So who are the other candidates to replace UK Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks? Several names have emerged and the playing field is relatively level.The frontrunner, according to sources in the community, is Rabbi Harvey Belovski, an Oxford grad who heads Golders Green Synagogue.RELATED:Rabbi to the stars, popular author... UK chief rabbi? He has a 3 to 1 chance, observers reckoned. Second, so far, is Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis of Finchley. His candidacy is being pushed by former United Synagogue president Peter Sheldon.
Israeli Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger, whose name was recently raised in the Israeli media, stands “no chance,” according to sources. But Rabbi Michael Malchior, the former Israeli minister, does.Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag of the Whitefield suburb of Manchester was a very strong contender until he “destroyed himself.” His “big tent” initiative, an attempt to get Anglo Jewry together to talk about Israel, turned into “a little teepee” after he excluded the Reform movement and then cozied up with groups on the far left in a bid to make amends, according to sources.Rabbi Warren Goldstein, South Africa’s chief rabbi, is also on the list, though Limmud goers dislike him for his allegedly anti-Limmud position.Ironically, the only successor to Sacks might be Sacks himself.“There’s already some talk of a five-more-years campaign because there is no obvious candidate to replace him,” said one source.
