The Chief Rabbi From Fifth Avenue

The chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth is one of the most prestigious posts in world Jewry. As leader of more than 820,000 Jews--450,000 of them in Britain--he is recognized by British protocol as one of the country's premier spiritual lords: at state occasions he sits with his peers, the Primate of All England and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. Vacant since the retirement of Dr. Israel Brodie in May 1965, the post will now be filled by an Orthodox rabbi from the U.S.: Immanuel Jakobovits, 45, of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue Synagogue.

Jakobovits, who accepted the $19,600-a-year post last week, will become titular chief of a Jewish community rich in both tradition and troubles. Jews emigrated to Britain from France as early as the 11th century. Driven into exile 200 years later, the Jews returned during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, have since blossomed into one of the world's wealthiest and least persecuted Judaic communities. By the 19th century, the Rothschilds, Montagus and Samuelses made Jews a force to reckon with in British finance. Today, 40 members of Parliament are Jews, as well as 61 knights and 20 peers of the realm. Although Jews are expected to congregate at their own country clubs, there is comparatively little overt anti-Semitism in Britain--one of the few nations where Jews were never forced to cluster together in ghettos.

"God's Cossacks." About 70% of British Jewry is Orthodox--a fact that is no guarantee of cohesiveness. On the far left of the community--scorned as near apostates by Jews who observe Halacha (religious law)--are the minority of Reform Jews, similar in their modernizing views to American Conservative Judaism, and the Liberals, who theologically conform roughly to the Reform movement in the U.S. Representing the mainstream of Orthodoxy --and most of the wealthy Anglo-Jewish families--is the United Synagogue, which governs 80 congregations in Greater London. Although it defends the full authority of Halacha, the United Synagogue is nonetheless suspected of liberal tendencies by the militant Federation of Synagogues, which was founded by recent emigrants from Eastern Europe, although its supporters now include many Anglo-Jewish families that have been in Britain for generations. Fearful of being absorbed by goyim culture, these Jews think of themselves as "God's Cossacks," and recognize the authority of the chief rabbi only when he is strict enough for their taste.

Within the past two years, tensions have been rising within British Judaism. One source of conflict was Dr. Louis Jacobs, sometime rabbi of London's

New West End Synagogue, who outraged his fellow Orthodox rabbis by insisting that the Bible was not infallible (TIME, May 22, 1964). Still other feuds have been created by attempts of Reform Jewish temples to join local, Orthodox-dominated synagogue conferences. Contributing to the lack of calm has been the lengthy, rumor-ridden search for a new chief rabbi, who was expected to be stern enough to placate the Cossacks, progressive enough to negotiate with Reform and Liberal Jews, less than 51 years old--and blessed with no trace of a foreign accent.

Preaching Dialogue. Jakobovits qualifies on most counts. The son of a rabbi, he was born in the former East Prussian capital of Konigsberg, educated in Britain, and served for a decade as Ireland's chief rabbi before coming to the U.S. in 1958. In Ireland, some British Jews recall, his advice on moral issues amounted to "the rabbi says you mustn't"; in the U.S., however, he is counted among the modern Orthodox leaders who seek to accommodate Halacha to contemporary issues. An expert on medical ethics, he frowns on contraception, points to the low birth rate among Jews, and fears that Judaism may some day vanish entirely. He and his wife have six children.

As Britain's chief rabbi, Jakobovits hopes to avoid much of the tiring round of weddings, bar mitzvahs and routine social engagements that go with the job, spend most of his time writing and preaching on contemporary Jewish problems. "Books to us are what armies are to others," he says. Orthodox though he is, Jakobovits thinks he can at least carry on a fruitful dialogue with Reform and Liberal Judaism, says that "the Jews of Britain are tired of conflict and yearning for a new constructive outlook."

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