Rabbi Elton a Great appointment
RABBI Ben Elton will be in Sydney next week to take up the role as rabbi of The Great Synagogue.
RABBI Ben Elton will be in Sydney next week to take up the role as rabbi of The Great Synagogue.
He replaces Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence, who returned to the UK last year after almost a decade in the post.
Prior to joining the rabbinate, the 34-year-old attended Cambridge University and the University of London before taking up a role with the Ministry of Justice in England, working as the Lord Chancellor’s private secretary.
“I enjoyed the civil service in Britain but then I took a year’s sabbatical and moved into the rabbinate and I have definitely found my calling.”
Rabbi Elton and his fiancee Hinda will arrive in Sydney next week and stay until August 3.
They will then return to America, where he has been a rabbinic intern at Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York, to get married before returning to Sydney permanently on September 6.
“We’ll have a wedding and the Sheva Brachot, and then we will be on the plane to Australia,” he said with excitement. “When I was in Australia recently with Hinda we had a great time, and I’m extremely excited to join The Great Synagogue,” Rabbi Elton told The AJN.
“I came to the rabbinate slightly later and I think it will make me a stronger rabbi,” he said,
“I had nine years working in the secular world, had non-Jewish colleagues and friends and I was immersed in that world.”
The rabbi said he will be able to use his experience and passion to build the congregation at The Great Synagogue.
“The shul still has hundreds of members and tremendous prestige.
“We were there for the Jewish Anzac service earlier this year, and there was only one appropriate place for that service and it was The Great Synagogue.”
Synagogue president Justice Stephen Rothman said that Rabbi Elton is young, energetic and the community is excited to welcome him.
“We would like to see The Great Synagogue become more of a community complex, not just for Shabbat and holidays,” Rothman said.
“The shul should be seen as a place for events during the week for a whole range of people who are not necessarily members of the congregation.
“Our new rabbi will be able to lead this for The Great and I think they will be extremely positive assets for the Jewish community in Sydney and The Great.”
JOSHUA LEVI
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