Shock and sadness over dayan’s sudden departure
CHIEF RABBI Ephraim Mirvis has referred to the sudden departure of Dayan Yonason Abraham as a “shameful episode” and a “painful ordeal” as the Orthodox community tried to come to terms with the events of last week.
Dayan Abraham left his role on the London Beth Din and with his synagogue after evidence emerged of what was understood to be an inappropriate association with a married woman.
In a brief memo last Wednesday, Beth Din head Dayan Menachem Gelley informed rabbis, without explanation, that Dayan Abraham was stepping down “with immediate effect”.
In his resignation from the community he co-founded, Toras Chaim in Hendon, which was sent to members shortly before Shabbat on Friday, Dayan Abraham said he had “fallen short of the standards expected of me” and was “deeply sorry that I have let you down”.
The Chief Rabbi, writing to rabbis and rebbetzins this week, did not mention the reason for Dayan Abraham’s departure but said it had “shaken us to the core”. Rabbi Mirvis said: “When one of us fails in this manner, we are all greatly diminished. A Beth Din must be unimpeachable in its embodiment of Torah values — anything less is entirely unacceptable.”
For that reason he, Dayan Gelley and the United Synagogue had dealt with the matter “so swiftly”.
He said, “This shameful episode has been met by many with disbelief and has caused great pain.
“In addition, there are innocent family members who have been directly affected and whose lives have been devastated by it. As a community, we have a responsibility to look after them, to respect their privacy and to offer appropriate support.” He said he had “great faith in the capacity of our wonderful community to come through this painful ordeal, strengthened by one another and ever more aware of our privilege to lead a life of Torah and kedushah (holiness).”
The Chief Rabbi will speak in more detail to rebbetzins at a meeting on Sunday and to rabbis the following day.
Dayan Abraham, who has left other positions including his role on the European Beth Din, is understood now to be in Israel.
He told Toras Chaim he was leaving with a “heavy heart” and had been “under exceptional strain and stress for some time, which has taken its inevitable toll. I have spent my life helping others including some wonderful friends and supporters in this kehillah (community) of which I am so proud. I now need to help myself and my family.”
Recruited to the Beth Din in 2001 at the relatively young age of 37, he had been its most outgoing dayan and was a popular speaker around the community.
One Orthodox rabbi, writing to his congregation, compared the situation to a “bereavement”.
A striking sign of the fallout this week was a letter penned to parents of a Jewish school.
Rabbi Jeremy Golker, principal of Hasmonean High School, said it was “clearly a very difficult time for all and many of our students and their families were very close to the dayan and will take this badly”. Students who
were affected by the situation should “approach us to talk about things and get the support they need”.
Rabbi Golker added, “All the Torah, chessed [kindness], support and inspiration the dayan gave so many over so many years was real. By his own admission, he has fallen short of standards expected of him and the fallout is huge but that does not negate all the good he has done.”
Senior rabbis have backed the handling of the episode by the religious authorities. One said, “In this most unfortunate and distressing incident, it has been handled in exemplary fashion by the Chief Rabbi and the United Synagogue.”
But one rabbi took a different view, saying that Dayan Gelley’s memo — which promised a “high-calibre” replacement — had been “inadequate”. He added: “It is not a question of a quick fix and everything can go on as before.”
There was concern, the rabbi said that “the appointment system [for dayanim] is so much less transparent and accountable than for a community rabbi”.
Parliamentary lawyer Daniel Greenberg was also critical of the way the issue had been dealt with. In a JC blog, he complained of “another rabbinic departure to sweep under the extraordinarily capacious carpet of Anglo Jewry”.
He said there was “no professional body that regulates the rabbis in a transparent and accountable way and investigates complaints.
“In extreme cases, I can of course complain to the Chief Rabbi — whose dedication and commitment to the community and to the quality of the rabbinate is well-known — but there is no mechanism for him to make a transparent and accountable investigation and produce publicly identifiable results.”