S&P plans £100,000 ‘Office of Senior Rabbi’
LEADERS OF the S & P Sephardi Community are planning to invest £100,000 a year to enhance the role of Senior Rabbi Joseph Dweck as an ambassador and educator both in the UK and abroad.
The proposed new Office of Senior Rabbi is intended to revitalise Britain’s oldest synagogue body. Rabbi Dweck was recognised as one of the SPSC’s strengths in a recently conducted strategic review. But trustees are facing pressure to reveal more of their plans with the former chairman of the committee of its largest synagogue accusing them of a lack of transparency and calling for an emergency meeting.
According to a document seen by the JC, the SPSC is becoming “a leading and global centre for classical Sephardi Jewish life and learning. It can and should be the place to which people around the world turn for guidance and experience in Sephardi thought, spirituality, religious observance and culture.”
It said that Rabbi Dweck’s “popular and insightful socio-psychological approach and passion as an educator and orator make him perfectly placed” to represent the community nationally and internationally.
It is understood that the costs of the new office, rising from £105,000 in the first year to £115,000, have been underwritten by donations for a fiveyear period. It would mostly comprise a £75,000 salary for Rabbi Dweck with the assistance of a strategic director for £25,000 a year.
It is believed that this would top up the existing salary of Rabbi Dweck, who took a substantial pay cut from £160,000£170,000 in
2020 to
£100,000£110,000 a year as the community sought to rein in its costs during the pandemic.
The strategic review, conducted by former JFS headteacher Rachel Fink, highlighted strengths that “have not yet been capitalised upon” but also “extensive weaknesses” and “missed opportunities”.
In an interim report yet to be circulated to the membership at large, she noted: “The good news is that most of these can be easily and swiftly rectified with appropriate leadership.” However, it was clear there was a “lack of strong leadership, effective transparent decision making and very poor communication across every area of the organisation”. The congregation needed to be more confident about the “moderate halachic Judaism” it offers, which would “be attractive” to Orthodox Jews beyond the SPSC, particularly “young professionals who seek inclusivity, greater equality and a desire for a Judaism that is spiritually uplifting, engaging and enjoyable”.
But she noted that the current Sephardi Kashrut Authority team does “not reflect the traditional Sephardi halachic approach to kashrut decision-making”.
Although the community’s rules had been revised five years ago, they remained unclear, contradictory and in many cases were not followed in practice. Dissatisfaction had also led to donors and patrons not reinvesting.
Around 100 members attended a virtual “town hall” meeting on Monday with trustees which was intended to improve communication. But Gerry Temple, who resigned recently as chairman of the Lauderdale Road Synagogue committee, complained at the lack of detail given in response to questions and is now calling for an EGM.
He told the JC that around 80 people had indicated support for his stand — twice the required number to force an EGM.
He said that in an email to the president of the community, Stuart Morganstein, he had written: “I do believe that the board does have the right intentions but has no idea how to lead the S&P into the 21st century.”
Another member described the event as “a shambles”.
In a statement on behalf of the trustees, a spokesman said: “We are a community that takes itself seriously and wants to improve and evolve.”
The strategic review was “currently a work in progress but there is already a great deal of consensus as to certain actions that we plan to take based on its findings and many of these have already begun.
“As a board and a community, we strive to encourage robust and constructive conversation and see it as a strength within our democratic structure. We are building on the discussions started during the compilation of the report with a further range of consultations and a community-wide survey.”
The town hall meeting was held “to encourage members of the community to directly ask any questions or voice concerns that they may have. We are prepared to look at ourselves in a full and frank way and are taking action to ensure that we serve the needs of our community.”
According to a source within the community, one move afoot is to recruit a new dayan to the Sephardi Beth Din, Rabbi Harold Sutton, who is currently yeshivah head at the Sephardi Rabbinical College in America.
He took part in a conversation with Rabbi Dweck in a virtual event two years ago.
Rabbi Dweck has a popular approach and passion as an educator
The board has no idea how to lead the S&P into the 21st century