Jonathan Wittenberg (born 17 September 1957 in

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

) is a Masorti

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

, the Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism UK. He is a leading writer and thinker on

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

. He is Rabbi of the New North London Synagogue, with approximately 2400 members. He is also a member of the

Elijah Interfaith Institute Elijah Interfaith Institute is a nonprofit, international, UNESCO-sponsored interfaith organization which was founded by Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein in 1997. Headquartered in Jerusalem, Elijah has offices and representatives in different c ...

Board of World Religious Leaders. He sometimes does

Thought for the Day ''Thought for the Day'' is a daily scripted slot on the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 offering "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news", broadcast at around 7:45 each Monday to Saturday morning. Nowadays lastin ...

on the

BBC Radio Four BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

Today programme ''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is a long-running British morning news and current-affairs Radio program, radio programme on BBC Radio 4. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 6:00 am to 9:00 am, it is produced by BBC N ...

Personal life

He attended

University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_hea ...

, went to

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

and

Leo Baeck College Leo Baeck College is a privately funded rabbinical seminary and centre for the training of teachers in Jewish education. Based now at the Sternberg Centre, East End Road, Finchley, in the London Borough of Barnet, it was founded by Werner van ...

. He was taught by

Louis Jacobs Louis Jacobs (17 July 1920 – 1 July 2006) was a leading writer and theologian. He was the rabbi of the New London Synagogue in the United Kingdom. He was also the focus in the early 1960s of what became known as "The Jacobs Affair" in the ...

. He currently resides in North London. Rabbi Wittenberg is married to Nicola Solomon and they share three children.

Works

* Torah (1995) * The Three Pillars of Judaism: A Search for Faith and Values (1997) * The Laws of Life: A Guide to Traditional Jewish Practice at Times of Bereavement (1997) * The Eternal Journey: Meditations of the Jewish Year (2003) * The Silence of Dark Water: An Inner Journey (2008) * Walking with the Light: From Frankfurt to Finchley (2013) * My Dear Ones (2016) * Things My Dog has Taught Me: About being a better human (2017) * How Hassidim are at the forefront of Gender equality in Judaism

References

British Conservative rabbis 20th-century British rabbis 21st-century British rabbis British Jewish theologians 1957 births Living people People educated at University College School Scottish rabbis Alumni of Leo Baeck College {{UK-rabbi-stub