Leading rabbi speaks at Dweck critic’s synagogue

THE GATESHEAD Rav, Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman, was this week due to speak at the synagogue of the strictly Orthodox Sephardi rabbi at the forefront of the campaign against Rabbi Joseph Dweck, senior rabbi of the S and P Sephardi Community (SPSC).

Rabbi Aaron Bassous, who runs the Beth Hamedrash Knesset Yehezkel in Golders Green, was the first UK rabbi to speak out after Rabbi Dweck’s controversial lecture on gay love in May.

Rabbi Zimmerman, who has said Rabbi Dweck is not fit to serve as a rabbi, is regarded as one of Britain’s most influential strictly Orthodox rabbis.

Rabbi Bassous said beforehand that he did not know whether the lecture would refer to the dispute over Rabbi Dweck, but confirmed the talk had been arranged after the controversy broke out.

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo, head of an independent Orthodox institute in Jerusalem and a supporter of Rabbi Dweck, last week called on Rabbi Zimmerman to withdraw his condemnation of the SPSC leader.

Rabbi Dweck was attacked for suggesting there had been positive aspects to greater social acceptance of homosexuality in society. But opponents say their issue with him goes deeper and concerns his lenient views more generally on religious observance.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis is pursuing efforts to find a way to bring the dispute to a “suitable conclusion”. It is understood that a panel of three dayanim convened by Rabbi Mirvis to review Rabbi Dweck’s teachings met at the Chief’s home in north-west London on Wednesday.