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BRITISH Commonwealth Chief Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks (pictured) will visit Australia later this year to join in celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of Melbourne's Yeshiva Gedola Centre.
He will also honour the third yahrzeit of the centre's founding Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Chaim Gutnick, veteran president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria and rav of the Elwood Hebrew Congregation.
The Commonwealth chief rabbi is being brought to Australia by Melbourne Chabad leader and businessman Rabbi Joseph Gutnick, in honour of his late father.
Rabbi Dr Sacks will pay tribute to Rabbi Chaim Gutnick and the Yeshiva Gedola in an address to be given at Melbourne's Grand Hyatt Hotel on October 18.
His itinerary will include visits to schools and synagogues in Melbourne and Sydney.
Rabbi Gutnick, who has been Yeshiva Gedola's president for 20 years, told the AJN he remembers the profound impact the Yeshiva made on Jewish communal life in Melbourne in the 1960s.
"The world of black hats and jackets was unknown in Australia and the standards of learning were light years behind those in the United States but the Yeshiva began to change all that," he said.
Rabbi Gutnick was a student of the Yeshiva's pioneer Rabbi Zalman Serebryanski, who opened "a new world for myself and my classmates."
Some time later, a board of management was set up under the auspices of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York, comprising Rabbi Serebryanski, Rabbi Chaim Gutnick, Rabbi Sholem Gutnick, David Feiglin, and Rabbi Yitzchok Groner from the United States.
Rabbi Gutnick said old collegians are being contacted about the anniversary and a video is being made, for screening on the night.
Rabbi Dr Sacks is the third international rabbinic luminary he has brought to Australia to honour his father, following visits by Israel's Emeritus Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau and Chief Rabbi of Efrat Shlomo Riskin.
As chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth since 1991, Rabbi Dr Sacks is the sixth incumbent since the post was established in 1845.
Born in London in 1948, Rabbi Dr Sacks is a father of three and a grandfather, and is noted as a gifted communicator, who was awarded a knighthood in last year's Queen's Birthday honours list.
At his installation as Chief Rabbi in 1991, he launched his Decade of Jewish Renewal, which reflected his vision of a reinvigorated Anglo-Jewry, ushering in a series of community initiatives.
Among these has been Jewish Continuity, a British foundation that funds programs in Jewish education and outreach, the Association of Jewish Business Ethics, the Chief Rabbinate Awards for Excellence, the Chief Rabbinate Bursaries, and Community Development, a national program in the United Kingdom to strengthen Jewish community life.
In 1995, Rabbi Dr Sacks was honoured with the Jerusalem Prize for his contribution to diaspora Jewish life. In 2001, the Chief Rabbi began his second decade in office with a call to "Jewish responsibility" and a renewed commitment to the ethical dimension of Judaism.
He is the author of a long list of books, including Tradition In An Untraditional Age and To Heal A Fractured World, which was published last year.
BRITISH Commonwealth Chief Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks (pictured) will visit Australia later this year to join in celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of Melbourne's Yeshiva Gedola Centre.
He will also honour the third yahrzeit of the centre's founding Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Chaim Gutnick, veteran president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria and rav of the Elwood Hebrew Congregation.
The Commonwealth chief rabbi is being brought to Australia by Melbourne Chabad leader and businessman Rabbi Joseph Gutnick, in honour of his late father.
Rabbi Dr Sacks will pay tribute to Rabbi Chaim Gutnick and the Yeshiva Gedola in an address to be given at Melbourne's Grand Hyatt Hotel on October 18.
His itinerary will include visits to schools and synagogues in Melbourne and Sydney.
Rabbi Gutnick, who has been Yeshiva Gedola's president for 20 years, told the AJN he remembers the profound impact the Yeshiva made on Jewish communal life in Melbourne in the 1960s.
"The world of black hats and jackets was unknown in Australia and the standards of learning were light years behind those in the United States but the Yeshiva began to change all that," he said.
Rabbi Gutnick was a student of the Yeshiva's pioneer Rabbi Zalman Serebryanski, who opened "a new world for myself and my classmates."
Some time later, a board of management was set up under the auspices of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York, comprising Rabbi Serebryanski, Rabbi Chaim Gutnick, Rabbi Sholem Gutnick, David Feiglin, and Rabbi Yitzchok Groner from the United States.
Rabbi Gutnick said old collegians are being contacted about the anniversary and a video is being made, for screening on the night.
Rabbi Dr Sacks is the third international rabbinic luminary he has brought to Australia to honour his father, following visits by Israel's Emeritus Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau and Chief Rabbi of Efrat Shlomo Riskin.
As chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth since 1991, Rabbi Dr Sacks is the sixth incumbent since the post was established in 1845.
Born in London in 1948, Rabbi Dr Sacks is a father of three and a grandfather, and is noted as a gifted communicator, who was awarded a knighthood in last year's Queen's Birthday honours list.
At his installation as Chief Rabbi in 1991, he launched his Decade of Jewish Renewal, which reflected his vision of a reinvigorated Anglo-Jewry, ushering in a series of community initiatives.
Among these has been Jewish Continuity, a British foundation that funds programs in Jewish education and outreach, the Association of Jewish Business Ethics, the Chief Rabbinate Awards for Excellence, the Chief Rabbinate Bursaries, and Community Development, a national program in the United Kingdom to strengthen Jewish community life.
In 1995, Rabbi Dr Sacks was honoured with the Jerusalem Prize for his contribution to diaspora Jewish life. In 2001, the Chief Rabbi began his second decade in office with a call to "Jewish responsibility" and a renewed commitment to the ethical dimension of Judaism.
He is the author of a long list of books, including Tradition In An Untraditional Age and To Heal A Fractured World, which was published last year.
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