__NOTOC__ Rabbi Professor Anthony Michael "Tony" Bayfield is a

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

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 ...

and former President of the

Movement for Reform Judaism Reform Judaism (formally the Movement for Reform Judaism and known as Reform Synagogues of Great Britain until 2005) is one of the two World Union for Progressive Judaism–affiliated denominations in the United Kingdom. Reform is relatively ...

, the second largest organisation of synagogues in Britain.

Early life and education

Bayfield was born in 1946 in Ilford, Essex (now in

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), the elder son of Sheila (née Mann) and Ron Bayfield, a head teacher. He was educated at the Royal Liberty Grammar School in

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

and

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

. He studied law and had a doctoral place at the

Cambridge Institute of Criminology The Institute of Criminology is the criminological research institute within the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. The institute is one of the oldest criminological research institutes in Europe, and has exerted a strong influence ...

and then moved to the

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 ...

to train as a rabbi. He received rabbinic ordination (''

semicha Semikhah ( he, סמיכה) is the traditional Jewish name for rabbinic ordination. The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 C ...

h'') in 1972 from rabbis

John Rayner Rabbi John Desmond Rayner (30 May 1924 – 19 September 2005) was born in Berlin as Hans Sigismund Rahmer. He left Berlin in 1939 on one of the last Kindertransports. There were about 10,000 children on the train. Both his parents, Ferdinand Rahm ...

Hugo Gryn Hugo Gabriel Gryn (pronouned ''green'') (25 June 1930 – 18 August 1996) was a British Reform rabbi, a national broadcaster and a leading voice in interfaith dialogue. Hugo Gryn was born into a prosperous Jewish family in the market town of Be ...

and

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 ...

Career

After ten years as a congregational rabbi at

North West Surrey Synagogue North West Surrey Synagogue is a Reform Jewish community whose synagogue is on Oatlands Drive in Weybridge, Surrey, England. The community, which now consists of 300 families, was founded in 1956 and is affiliated to the Movement for Reform Juda ...

, Bayfield became director of the

Sternberg Centre The Sternberg Centre for Judaism, in East End Road, Finchley, London, is a campus hosting a number of Jewish institutions, built around the 18th-century Finchley manor house. It was founded to facilitate a number of Reform and Liberal Jewish ...

for Judaism in

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...

in 1985. He was head of the

from 1994 (when the organisation was known as Reform Synagogues of Great Britain) until 2011. From 2011 to 2016 he was President of the organisation.

Honours and awards

Bayfield was awarded a CBE in the 2011 New Year Honours List for services to

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...

. London's National Portrait Gallery holds a photographic portrait of him by

Don McCullin Sir Donald McCullin (born 9 October 1935) is a British photojournalist, particularly recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialised in examining the underside of society, and hi ...

Personal life

Tony Bayfield married Linda Rose, a teacher and Jewish educator in 1969; she died in 2003. In 2011, he met Jacqueline Fisher, whom he married in a small ceremony in June 2021. Bayfield has three children and six grandchildren. His younger daughter,

Miriam Berger Miriam Berger (née Bayfield) is a British Reform rabbi, and Senior Rabbi of Finchley Reform Synagogue (until she steps down in 2024)in London. Berger grew up in London, the younger daughter of Rabbi Tony Bayfield, former chief executive and, ...

, received ''semichah'' in July 2006 and is a respected rabbi in her own right. Bayfield is a member of

Finchley Reform Synagogue Finchley Reform Synagogue, a member of the Movement for Reform Judaism, is a synagogue in North Finchley in the London Borough of Barnet. Its clergy are Senior Rabbi Miriam Berger, Cantor Zöe Jacobs, Rabbi Deborah Blausten, Rabbi Howard Cooper ...

(FRS).

Publications

Bayfield is a specialist in modern Jewish thought and contemporary

. He also specialises in Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim dialogue and has published quite widely in this area. Bayfield has also written about

Christian–Jewish reconciliation Christian−Jewish reconciliation refers to the efforts that are being made to improve understanding and acceptance between Christians and Jews. There has been significant progress in reconciliation in recent years, in particular by the Catholic C ...

Works

*''Prejudice (Jewish responses)'' (1973). London: Michael Goulston Educational Foundation *''Churban: The murder of the Jews of Europe (Jewish responses)'' (1981). London: Michael Goulston Educational Foundation *''Sinai, Law and Responsible Autonomy: Reform Judaism and the Halakhic Tradition'' (1993). London:

Reform Synagogues of Great Britain Reform Judaism (formally the Movement for Reform Judaism and known as Reform Synagogues of Great Britain until 2005) is one of the two World Union for Progressive Judaism–affiliated denominations in the United Kingdom. Reform is relatively ...

* (with Sidney Brichto and Eugene Fisher) ''He Kissed Him and They Wept: Towards a Theology of Jewish-Catholic Partnership'' (2001). London:

SCM Press SCM Press is a British publisher of theology, originally linked to the Student Christian Movement. The company was purchased by Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1997. In 2018 ''Church Times'' reported that 100 titles from SCM Press and Canterbury ...

* (with Tony Brayfield and Marcus Braybrooke) ''Dialogue With a Difference: Manor House Group Experience'' (1992). London:

*"September 11: The Case Against Us All" in Roger Boase (ed.) ''Islam and Global Dialogue – Religious Pluralism and the Pursuit of Peace'' (2005),

Farnham, Surrey Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tribu ...

Ashgate Publishing Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham ( Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office i ...

* (with Alan Race and Abdullah Siddiqui, eds.) ''Beyond the Dysfunctional Family: Jews, Christians and Muslims in Dialogue With Each Other and With Britain'' (2012) London:

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*''Being Jewish Today – Confronting the Real Issues'' (2019). London:

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

Sources

*The

* ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayfield, Tony 1946 births Living people 20th-century British rabbis 21st-century British rabbis Alumni of Leo Baeck College Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge British Reform rabbis Christian and Jewish interfaith dialogue Christian–Islamic–Jewish interfaith dialogue Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English Jewish writers People educated at the Royal Liberty Grammar School People from Ilford 20th-century English writers 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English writers