Immanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits 876456 216146671 2008-05-31T08:11:03Z Jonathan Cardy 4071608 webiste website and tidy up {{Infobox Rabbi | honorific-prefix = | name = Immanuel Jakobovits <br> | honorific-suffix = <small> Baron Jakobovits, [[Order of the British Empire|KBE]], [[Lambeth degree|Lambeth]] [[DD]]</small> | title = [[Chief Rabbi]] of the United Hebrew Congregations of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] | image = Immanuel Jakobovits.jpg | caption = Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits | began = 1966 | ended = 1991 | predecessor = Sir [[Israel Brodie]] | successor = Sir [[Jonathan Sacks]] | semicha = | rabbi = | rank = | other_post = [[Chief rabbi#Ireland|Chief Rabbi of Ireland]] | birth_name = | birth_date = [[8 February]], [[1921]] | birthplace = | death_date = [[31 October]], [[1999]] | deathplace = [[St John's Wood]], [[London]] | buried = [[Mount of Olives]], [[Jerusalem]] | nationality = | religion = [[Jewish]] | residence = | parents = Julius Jakobovits | spouse = Amélie Munk | children = | occupation = [[Chief Rabbi]] | profession = | employer = | alma_mater = | signature = | website = }} '''Immanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits''', [[Order of the British Empire|KBE]] ([[8 February]] [[1921]]&ndash;[[31 October]] [[1999]]) was the [[Chief Rabbi]] of the United Hebrew Congregations of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] from [[1967]] to [[1991]]. His successor is the present Chief Rabbi, [[Jonathan Sacks]]. ==Biography== '''Jakobovits''' was born in [[Königsberg]], [[East Prussia]], [[Germany]] (now [[Kaliningrad]], [[Russia]]), where his father Julius was a community rabbi. The family moved to [[Berlin]] in the 1920s, where his father became rabbinical judge on a local ''[[beth din|Beth Din]]'', but fled the country in time to escape [[Nazism|Nazi]] persecutions. In the [[United Kingdom]] he completed his higher education, including a period at the [[Etz Chaim Yeshiva (London)|Etz Chaim Yeshiva]] in London, studying under and receiving [[Semicha]] from the renowned Rabbis [[Elya Lopian]], [[Leib Gurwicz]] and [[Nachman Shlomo Greenspan]]<ref>Shashar, Michael, Lord Jakobovits in Conversation, First Edition, Vallentine Mitchell, 2000, ISBN 0-85303-377-3</ref>. He also studied in [[Jews' College]] and the [[University of London]]. He married Amélie Munk of [[Paris]], the daughter of a prominent rabbi, who would support his community work throughout his life.<ref name=obit>[http://www.chiefrabbi.org/articles/other/jacobtimes.html Obituary]</ref> They had six children. His first position was as rabbi of the [[Brondesbury]] [[synagogue]]. In 1949, at the relatively young age of 27, he was appointed Chief Rabbi of the declining Jewish community of [[Ireland]]. This was to be a stepping stone towards a greater rabbinical career, and in 1958 he assumed the rabbinate of the [[Fifth Avenue Synagogue]] in [[New York]], a position he held until 1966, when he was called to the Chief Rabbinate of the [[United Hebrew Congregations]] of the British Commonwealth. He held this position until his retirement in 1991. He was [[knight]]ed in 1981 and was created a [[life peer]] in [[1988]], as '''Baron Jakobovits''', of Regent's Park in Greater London, becoming the first rabbi to receive this honour. In 1987 he was given a [[Lambeth degree|Lambeth]] [[DD]] by the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], the first Jew to receive such a degree. In 1991 he received the [[Templeton Prize]] for Progress in Religion. In the [[House of Lords]] he became known as a campaigner for traditional morality. Lord Jakobovits aroused considerable controversy when, after the discovery of a possible genetic explanation for [[homosexuality]], he called for the eradication of this genetic variation.{{Facts|date=February 2008}} Lord Jakobovits died of a [[cerebral haemorrhage]] on the [[31 October]], [[1999]], and was buried on the [[Mount of Olives]] in [[Jerusalem]]. ==Other functions== Rabbi Jakobovits was also the president of the [[Conference of European Rabbis]], in which capacity he worked on standardising and regulating [[Ger tzedek|religious conversion]] to [[Judaism]]. ==Ideas and philosophy== Jakobovits was a firm adherent of the "German-Jewish" ''[[Torah im Derech Eretz]]'' philosophy, having a broad knowledge of religious subjects as well as secular culture and philosophy. This made him a unique spokesperson for [[Orthodox Judaism]], as he was able to transmit ideas to a wide audience which would otherwise not have achieved dissemination. Rabbi Jakobovits was the most prominent figure in 20th century Jewish [[medical ethics]], a subdiscipline in [[applied ethics]] which he virtually created, and a pioneer in religious [[bioethics]]. His speciality was the interaction between medical ethics and ''[[halakha]]''. Thanks to his academic training in Ireland, Rabbi Jakobovits approached his comprehensive volume, ''Jewish Medical Ethics'', in light of [[Catholic medical ethics]], with which he often compares Jewish ethics. Whether developing or disputing his analysis, subsequent Jewish [[Bioethics#List of notable bioethicists|bioethicists]] have utilized his work on [[abortion]], [[euthanasia]], the history of Jewish medical ethics, [[palliative care]], treatment of the sick, and professional duties. Likewise, he is credited with popularizing the claim that Judaism supports the nearly absolute [[sanctity of life]]. His political stance was conservative, and he was particularly close to [[Margaret Thatcher]]. When a [[Church of England]] report titled ''[[Faith in the City]]'' was published in December 1985 criticising Mrs. Thatcher's policies, Jakobovits responded by attacking its underlying philosophy.<ref name=obit/> Jakobovits argued that work rather than welfare should be the overriding aim of government policy: "Cheap labour is better than a free dole".<ref name=Young>(Young, 1991) p.423-4</ref> More controversially, Jakobovits contended that inner-city black people should learn from Jewish experiences in America. There, he argued, Jews had worked themselves out of poverty, educated themselves, integrated into the host culture and nurtured a "trust in and respect for the police, realising that our security as a minority depended on law and order being maintained".<ref name="Young"/> Jakobovits also took a conservative view on trade unions, criticised "Faith in the City" for not mentioning the role of [[trade unions]], arguing that "The selfishness of workers in attempting to secure better conditions at the cost of rising unemployment and immense public misery can be just as morally indefensible as the rapaciousness of the wealthy in exploiting the working class".<ref name="Young"/> Within Judaism, he held mildly [[Zionism|Zionistic]] views. He maintained that sooner or later Israel would need to negotiate the territory it conquered during the [[Six Day War]]; which made him a controversial figure, as he mentioned these views publicly. ==Footnotes== <references/> {{Morefootnotes|date=February 2008}} ==References== * [[Chaim Bermant|Bermant, Chaim]]. ''Lord Jakobovits; the Authorized Biography of the Chief Rabbi''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Limit 1990. ISBN 0-297-81142-8. * Jakobovits, Immanuel. ''Jewish medical ethics : a comparative and historical study of the Jewish religious attitude to medicine and its practice.'' New York : Bloch Pub. Co., 1959 and 1962. * __________. ''Dear Chief Rabbi: from the correspondence of Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits on matters of Jewish law, ethics, and contemporary issues, 1980-1990''. Hoboken, N.J. : KTAV Pub. House, 1995. This volume of rabbinic [[responsa]] was edited by Jeffrey M. Cohen. * Jakobovits, Immanuel. ''Journal of a Rabbi.'' NY: Living Books, 1966. *{{cite book |author=Young, Hugo |title=One of us: a biography of Margaret Thatcher |publisher=Macmillan |year=1991 |isbn=0-333-56585-1}} ==See also== *[[History of the Jews in Ireland]] ==External links== *[http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,258871,00.html Obituary], ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[1 Nov]] [[1999]] {{start box}} {{succession box|title=[[Chief rabbi#Ireland|Chief Rabbi of Ireland]]|before=[[Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog]]||after=[[Isaac Cohen]]<br></b><small></small>|years=1949&ndash;1958}} {{end box}} {{start box}} {{succession box | before = Sir [[Israel Brodie]] | title = [[Chief Rabbi]] of [[Great Britain]] and the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] | years = 1966&ndash;1991 | after = Sir [[Jonathan Sacks]]}} {{end box}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Jakobovits, Immanuel}} {{BD|1921|1999}} [[Category:Chief rabbis of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Chief rabbis of Ireland]] [[Category:Bioethicists]] [[Category:Life peers|Jakobovits]] [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:20th century rabbis]] [[Category:German Jews]] [[Category:Irish religious leaders]] [[Category:Burials at the Mount of Olives]] [[Category:Templeton Prize laureates]] [[Category:Jewish medical ethics]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of London]] [[Category:People from Königsberg]] [[Category:German refugees]] [[Category:People who emigrated to escape Nazism]] [[Category:Jewish refugees]] [[pl:Immanuel Jakobovits]]