Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis is the 11th Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He is the only 11th Chief Rabbi to take office since the office was introduced in 1704. On September 1, 2013, Chief Rabbi Mirvis was installed in a historic ceremony attended by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales - the first time a member of the royal family attended the installation ceremony of a Chief Rabbi. Chief Rabbi Mirvis was successfully inducted.
Background and Education
Chief Rabbi Mirvis was born in 1956 into a South African rabbinical family. He attended Herzlia High School in Cape Town (1968-1973), Yeshivat Kerem BeYavne (1973-1976) and Yeshivat Har Etzion (1976-1978). He received his rabbinic ordination from Machon Ariel, Jerusalem (1978-80), and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and Classical Hebrew from the University of South Africa. He was also certified by the Yaacov Herzog Teachers' College as a high school teacher in Israel.
Public Positions
Chief Rabbi Mirvis has held educational and social positions in Israel, Ireland and the United Kingdom. He was Chief Rabbi of Ireland (1984-1992), a position formerly held by Lord Jakobovits, as well as Rabbi of the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in London (1992-1996), a position formerly held by Lord Sacks. In 1996, Chief Rabbi Mirvis was appointed senior rabbi at the Finchley United Synagogue (known as Kinloss), a position he held until becoming Chief Rabbi in 2013.
Chief Rabbi Mirvis earned the distinction of being one of the most respected rabbis in British society. In Finchley, he inspired the community and established pioneering educational projects such as the Kinloss Learning Centre (KLC). He is also honorary principal and one of the founding rabbis of the Morasha Jewish Primary School in Finchley, as well as founder and president of the Kinloss Community Kollel. Chief Rabbi Mirvis transformed the Finchley community into a vibrant center of educational, social, cultural and religious activity, making it the fastest-growing synagogue Jewish community in the UK.
Faith
From 1985 to 1992, Chief Rabbi Mirvis served as president of the Council of Christians and Jews of Ireland (CCJ). He participated in dialogues with church leaders at Windsor Castle and Lambeth Palace in the UK. In 2005, he hosted a CCJ meeting with bishops of the Church of England.
Chief Rabbi Mirvis was the first United Synagogue rabbi to hold an imam conference at the Dr. Mohammed Essam El-Din Fahim synagogue. He also led a delegation of members of his community to the Finchley mosque.
Other Activities
As Chief Rabbi of Ireland from 1984 to 1992, Chief Rabbi Mirvis represented the Jewish community to the government, other faith groups and the media. As chairman of the Irish National Council for Soviet Jewry (1984-1992), he advocated for the freedom of Soviet Jews.
Chief Rabbi Mirvis currently serves as vice president of the Conference of European Rabbis. He was formerly a member of the steering committee of the Conference of European Rabbis. He was appointed to the cabinet of the Chief Rabbi in 1996 and was chairman of the rabbinical council of a synagogue (1999-2002).
In 2012, Chief Rabbi Mirvis appointed the first female halachic adviser (Yoetzet Halacha) in British history at the Finchley Synagogue.
Chief Rabbi Mirvis is interested in music and studied chazanut (the music of Jewish choral conductors) acoustics in Jerusalem. He is also a trained Mohel (circumcision practitioner) and Shochet (ritual slaughter expert).
Family
Chief Rabbi Mirvis's wife, Valerie, was a senior frontline child-protection social worker for the local authority for many years. The eldest child of the Chief Rabbi and Mrs. Mirvis, Liora Graham, died in 2011 after a long battle with cancer. They have four sons - Hillel, Daniel, Noam and Eitan - a son-in-law, Jonathan, two daughters-in-law, Melanie and Althea, and six grandchildren.