Shraga Feivel Halevy Zimmerman
is the ''
av beis din
The ''av beit din'' ( ''ʾabh bêth dîn'', "chief of the court" or "chief justice"), also spelled ''av beis din'' or ''abh beth din'' and abbreviated ABD (), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period, ...
'' of the
Federation of Synagogues The Federation of Synagogues is a British Jewish organisation with headquarters in Hendon, London. It comprises a network of 19 constituent and seven affiliated communities.
As well as looking after its member synagogues , the Federation has a be ...
in London. He accepted the position on the 30th of June 2019, but took office in January 2020. Rabbi Zimmerman succeeded Dayan Lichtenstein as head of the organisation's religious court. He took up this appointment following 11 and-a-half years serving as rabbi and ''av beis din'' of the Jewish community in
Gateshead
Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
,
where he succeeded
Bezalel Rakow
Bezalel Rakow (15 May 1927 – 20 July 2003) was a British orthodox rabbi who headed Gateshead’s Jewish community. He was the chair of the Council of Torah Sages of Agudas Yisroel of Great Britain.
Born in Frankfurt, Germany into a distinguish ...
, who died in 2003. Prior to that, he served as rabbi to Khal Adath Jeshurun, the
Haredi
Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
German Ashkenazic community in
Monsey, New York
Monsey (, yi, מאנסי, translit=Monsi) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of Airmont, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of Spring Valley. The ...
.
Overview
Zimmerman's induction in Gateshead was attended by several Haredi rabbis in England, including Rabbi
Ephraim Padwa
Rabbi Ephraim Padwa (born 1940) is a senior Haredi rabbi in London. He is rabbinical head of the Stamford Hill-based Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, succeeding his father Chanoch Dov Padwa, who died in August 2000. Padwa is an internation ...
of
UOHC and
Menachem Mendel Schneebalg of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
's
Machzikei Hadath community. One of the changes he made was to allow the opening of the
community's "first kosher restaurant" with the proviso that "to avoid unsupervised interaction between the sexes" there are
separate hours for men and women.
In January 2020 he left his Gateshead position, "taking up his appointment as av beis din of the Federation."
Early life
The New Jersey-born Zimmerman
grew up in
Borough Park, Brooklyn
Borough Park (also spelled Boro Park) is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The neighborhood is bordered by Bensonhurst to the south, Dyker Heights to the southwest, Sunset Park to the west, ...
. He is an alumnus of the
Mirrer yeshiva in
Flatbush and a close disciple of Rabbis
Shmuel Berenbaum
Shmuel Berenbaum (March 13, 1920 – January 6, 2008) was an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva of the Mir yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York.
Biography
He was born in Knyszyn, Poland and studied at '' Ohel Torah Yeshiva'' in Baranowicze, led by ...
and
Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik
Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik ( he, משולם דוד סולובייצ'יק also known as Reb Dovid or Rav Dovid; 21 October 1921 – 31 January 2021) was a Haredi rabbi and rosh yeshiva of one of the branches of the Brisk yeshivas in Jerusalem.
...
. Prior to that, he studied at Beer Shmuel in Borough Park, a yeshiva that was founded by his grandfather, Rabbi Yosef Yonah Tzvi Horowitz, rabbi of Unsdorf and Frankfurt and in Letchworth during the war years, who was also one of the rabbis of K'hal Adath Jeshurun in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
, Germany after
Joseph Breuer
Joseph Breuer, also known as Yosef Breuer (March 20, 1882 – April 19, 1980) was a rabbi and community leader in Germany and the United States. He was rabbi of one of the large Jewish synagogues founded by German-Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi opp ...
before World War II.
That grandfather had named the yeshiva after an acestor known as ''the Be'er Shmuel'', Rav Shmuel Rosenberg of Unsdorf (1842-1919).
Shailatext project
When Zimmerman arrived 2020 to his new post in London, the ''Federation'' was in the process of starting what they called their ''Shailatext project'', a people-powered technology based process for answering ''Halachic'' questions, especially for "those who have not yet found a rabbi."
[ An interviewer noted in mid-2019 that "Zimmerman estimates that he has answered 200,000 sh’eilos from all over the United Kingdom while in Gateshead — in person, over the phone, and by email and text."]
Personal
He is married to Rebbetzin Chaya Reena Zimmerman.[
]
References
Sources
Gateshead Crowns its new RovNext Stop London
External links
Rabbi Zimmerman @ Federation of Synagogues
20th-century American rabbis
21st-century English rabbis
British Orthodox rabbis
Haredi rabbis in Europe
Levites
Living people
People from Borough Park, Brooklyn
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from Gateshead
{{UK-rabbi-stub