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Schochet Drops Out, Says Britain Won’t Accept Lubavitcher Chief Rabbi

Jewish Chronicle

Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet

One of the United Synagogue’s most high-profile rabbis, Yitzchak Schochet, says he has not applied to be chief rabbi, claiming that the United Synagogue of Great Britain would not accept a Lubavitch candidate.

The Mill Hill Synagogue minister, in an article in today’s JC, doubted whether he would even have got his present job today because of his Lubavitch background.

Rabbi Schochet questioned whether Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks would have been overlooked for the job if he had been “black” – a shorthand way of identifying Lubavitch followers.

“By virtue of my Chabad [Lubavitch] identity, a badge I wear with honour, I am black,” he wrote. “Having served as chairman of the Rabbinical Council for three years, and vice-chair for three years prior, I am very aware of a definite bias against Chabad, both from within the Beth Din as well as the lay leadership.”

A non-Chabad colleague had commented to him about the lack of Chabad candidates being selected for United Synagogue congregations in the past few years, he said. “I’ve been told it’s because there has not been anyone of substance forthcoming. I know that not to be true. I maintain it’s because we’re ‘black.’”

Rabbi Schochet, who also argued that the establishment considered him too outspoken, has backed Finchley Synagogue’s Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis to be the successor to Lord Sacks next year.

The deadline for applications for chief rabbi closed last week, with the first list of interviewees due to be drawn up by the end of the month. The chief executive of the United Synagogue, Jeremy Jacobs, has recently visited Israel and the USA to encourage rabbinical recruitment – although he would not say if he met any potential candidates for chief rabbi.

In 1994, the then president of the US, Seymour Saideman, acknowledged that there was concern within US ranks about the number of Lubavitchers entering the pulpit, saying that recruits from outside the Chasidic group were necessary for a more balanced rabbinate.

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26 Comments

  • umm

    has nothing to do with them not accepting a lubavitcher. it has to do with shochet does not have the yechoiles to be a chief rabbi. period.

  • good for him

    they will beg him to be the next chief rabbi!
    and whoever they choose will not work out

  • British

    I think Rabbi Schochat knows the establishment well and understands British Jewry at that level, to be what it is.
    Rabbi you will do a better job not being Chief Rabbi – your accomplishment will continue to shine (accomplishments known to the world and the many achievements unbeknown to many.

  • CR

    This inferiority complex is just unseemly! Blaming “the system” for rejecting you simply because you are [insert name of undesirable descriptor] has been a staple of failed identity groups for generations. It make a great excuse for one’s own failures; it sure beats taking personal responsibility for losing a competition. At any rate, this unprofessional tantrum does little to burnish his credentials for the Chief Rabbi position.

  • chaim

    In all due respect, why should Great Britain want a Rabbi without a Secular education? If the British people, including secular Jews, want an educated Chief Rabbi, they don’t need a Lubavitcher. You need to understand the dynamics and different communities a Chief Rabbi represents, even in the house of commons. Let Rabbi Shochet stick to his business of being a shliach and pulpit Rabbi, this will do more for yiddishkiet than being the British Chief Rabbi.

  • to Chaim #8

    and you say that Rabbi Schochet has no secular education???? and you know that from????

  • That is odd!

    Yitzchak Schochet claims he wears the Chabad [Lubavitch] badge with honor, yet he hides it very well in his public bio:

    http://www.shul.co.uk/readA…
    http://www.huffingtonpost.c…

    He also claims that he is “black”, a term I find offensively racist, unless of course he means that he is a “black hatter”, which is ironic since at all his photo-ops I never spotted him wearing a hat, black or otherwise.

  • mark

    Rabbi Yitzchok Schochet is concerned about the United Synagogue taking on Chabad Rabbis and puts it down to “anti-black” (chareidi) prejudice.

    However Rabbi Schochet neglects to mention another dimension of this discussion which is the dual role of the Chabad Rabbi as a “Chabad Shaliach” and US pulpit Rabbi.

    What happens when Chabad Lubavitch UK has a policy which contravenes the local US policy, or is unhappy about a paritcular Rabbi taking a position without their approval as has happened in a number of congregations? Who calls the shots, the directors of Chabad Lubavitch UK or the Rabbi’s employer?

    And when Rabbi Schochet attends the Chabad convention in New York in what capacity is he there?

    Doubtless the Chabad Rabbis will dismiss this concern by professing loyalty to their employers but it is a valid question: Chabad Lubavitch UK demands loyalty to its own hierarchy from its adherents, for example applicants for a US position are expected to obtain permission from the nearest local Chabad Rabbi or from directors at a national level. This clearly presents a conflict of interest and the US shuls have every right to be concerned about where the loyalties lie. Especially with the growths of organisations such as Chabad on Campus which are in direct competition to the establishment.

    Rabbi Schochet has actually done us all a favour in bringing this issue to light. It is reasonable for a congregation or movement to expect full loyalty from their Rabbi and the concerns about Chabad rabbis are not prejudicial but simply based on their own organisation’s policies and beliefs.

  • WHAT A SHAME - HE WOULD HAVE BEEN THE BE

    actually his bio says he has a Masters Degree so I guess that means a secular education. He writes for a lot of the national press and appears regularly on BBC TV. Again that would mean he has the intellectual ability required. Not an Oholei Torah product.

    But what you should read is the full op-ed not just the story. Maybe crownheights can publish it in full. I read it elsewhere and it reads well.

  • Umm No 2

    how do you define yichoiles? Beryl Lazar? Or all the other chief rabbis we have in chabad? I’m guessing you know him. Maybe you can enlighten us Jews in crown heights wha he is lacking especially where so many in chabad and in the uk were believing he could do it. You know something they don’t know? Or you’re some jelous competition in the uk yourself. I think you know the answer to that one.

    A Shochet fan!

  • A local fan

    I just read the full article in the Jewish Chronicle. The religion editor of The London Times gave Shochet an endorsement I listened to the interview from his web page Shul.co.uk/rabbi in the media. Looks like the British establishment were really behind him. So why did he drop out?

    chaval al deavdin

  • To #15

    Once there was a very frum school yet NOT ONE STUDENT r“l wore a yarmulkah…before you say oy vay because it sounds real bad, I should add a ”minor“ fact, that the school is called Bais Rivkah.

    In response to #15:

    Indeed in that picture ”he is of the very few wearing a hat“. Of the 12 people there: three are women (wearing sheitels), two are a doctor and a professor without beards. That leaves 7 possible hat-wearers. Of these remaining 7, at least 3 are wearing hats.

    Based on my calculation, he is NOT ”one of the very few wearing a hat”! But I concede that having him wear this headdress is an anomaly (oddity) and cause to bless she’chiyanu.

  • To #15

    Once there was a very frum school yet NOT ONE STUDENT r“l wore a yarmulkah…before you say oy vay because it sounds real bad, I should add a ”minor“ fact, that the school is called Bais Rivkah.

    In response to #15:

    Indeed in that picture ”he is of the very few wearing a hat“. Of the 12 people there: three are women (wearing sheitels), two are a doctor and a professor without beards. That leaves 7 possible hat-wearers. Of these remaining 7, at least 3 are wearing hats.

    Based on my calculation, he is NOT ”one of the very few wearing a hat”! But I concede that having him wear this headdress is an anomaly (oddity) and cause to bless she’chiyanu.

    One thing is certain, from all the 12 people featured, Schochat is the ONLY one who hides his connection/affiliation to Chabad!!

  • A Black-Jewish-Lubavitcher

    I am a Black-Jewish Lubavitcher.

    Rabbi Schochet wrote, “By virtue of my Chabad [Lubavitch] identity, a badge I wear with honour, I am black.”

    Rabbi, I welcome you to my race even though you do look a bit pale. However, I find most members of Chabad-Lubavitch are actually white, not black. (They merely dress in black).

    The black people have suffered repression, discrimination and second-class treatment by the white man. Apparently too you “feel” like the black man in this regard as you are suppressed from a career advancement.

    I share in solidarity with your trauma. Hopefully it allows for your growth and sensitivity to the fate of the real black people. We should judge the individual, rather than finding guilt by association or affiliation.

    You are announcing your martyrdom, as you are sacrificing Chief Rabbi-hood in the name of Lubavitch, and that we recognize and salute.

    May your suffering not be in vain!

  • SEE OP-ED ON THIS SITE

    Shochet has been mentioned as a serious contender for a very long time. For years people were saying he would be the next chief rabbi. Even in the secular world the media said he was only one of two real contenders in the UK. He never said yes or no. He never ‘tried for it’ because you don’t ‘try’ for the job. You also don’t get approached from the job. You have to apply. To me it seems silly for such a position. Imagine Rabbon Gamliel having to apply to become Chief Rabbi of Israel. Only now when it comes down to the wire Shochet comes out and says he did not apply and explains why. Makes sense. I think he would be a better advocate for yiddishkiet in the freedom of his position.

  • TO NUMBER 10

    so you say he hides it in his bio. I have looked at many Chabad bios it is not something you put into a bio, assmuing you know what a bio is. He doesn’t write that he is white, so why write that he is Chabad. Why is that relevant to the bio it is part of who he is.

    Besides, you have to be pretty stupid to say he “hides” being Chabad when he just wrote such a public article to the contrary.Then again I’m thinking that is what you are.

  • twitter.com/rabbiyys

    this guys tweets are hilarious! you can follow him on twitter @rabbiyys
    twitter.com/rabbiyys

  • To Black-Jewish-Lubavitcher

    Your understated sarcasm was much appreciated. You don’t find too many commenters who know how to use dry humor. Kudos on the deadpan. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You should comment more often.

  • To Black-Jewish-Lubavitcher

    Your understated sarcasm was much appreciated. You don’t find too many commenters who know how to use dry humor. Kudos on the deadpan. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You should comment more often.

  • adam

    now he for sure won’t be cheif rabbi… he never dropped out – he was never in – you had to apply it’s not an election – either he applied or not… straw man argument

  • TRUTH BE TOLD

    he was the one name mentioned for so many years and he would have got the job probably five years ago but there is a new regime in the UK that is blocking chabad rabbis in general and therefore blocking him as well. He took a good opportunity to throw that out there and good for him.

  • Nechama

    Kind of irrelevant. And late. But to the comments: I think he actually does mean “black hatter.” Just saw him this past Shabbos…I’m assuming he only wears it for Shabbos and yontif, hence not too many pictures of him wearing it.