John Rayner

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John Desmond Rayner CBE (born May 30, 1924 in Berlin , † September 19, 2005 in London ; actually Hans Sigismund Rahmer ) was a German-British rabbi of Liberal Judaism .

Life

Hans Sigismund Rahmer was denied normal school attendance in Berlin by the Nuremberg Laws from 1935. In 1939 his parents, Ferdinand Rahmer and Charlotte Landshut, who were secular Jews , sent him to England on a Kindertransport from Nazi Germany . They did not manage to leave the country themselves, they became victims of the Holocaust .

Rahmer lived in a liberal Anglican pastor's family and attended school in Durham . He then took on a new name and was a soldier in the British Army from 1943 to 1947 , which he left with the rank of captain . In October 1947, Rayner began on a scholarship to study new languages, philosophy and Hebrew at Emmanuel College in Cambridge , the first stage of which he graduated in 1950 with a bachelor's degree. Even during his studies he worked as a Jewish lay priest. Rayner received ordination on June 21, 1953 and was initially employed in the community of the "South London Liberal Synagogue" in Streatham , which saw itself as a community of liberal Judaism. Circumcision and bar mitzvahs were not mandatory in this community, nor did they regulate marriage or issues of everyday life, such as hairstyle and clothing. Since 1955 he was married to Jane Priscilla Heilbronn, with whom he had three children. In 1957 he moved to the "St John's Wood Liberal Synagogue" as an assistant rabbi, where he became chief rabbi in 1961. In 1963 he took a two-year sabbatical to graduate from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati . He then returned to his parish in London until 1989. He became chairman of the "Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues" in the United Kingdom and an envoy for the World Union for Progressive Judaism . The Leo Baeck College developed under his influence since 1961, since 1969 as Vice President, into a reputable training center for rabbis, where he also taught liturgy and rabbinical literature. The college eventually made him honorary president.

Rayner did not limit his liberal attitude to the synagogue, but he also worked in the political life of Great Britain. For example, he publicly opposed the Conservative Party and its shadow minister Enoch Powell when, on April 20, 1968, they demanded a racially based immigration policy and received great support for it. He dealt, also in public, with Orthodox Judaism and its British chairman Jonathan Sacks .

Rayner was the author of two liberal prayer books. His writings cover topics related to the Jewish way of life, Zionism, and Judeo-Christian dialogue . Rayner also made public appearances on radio and television.

In 1993 he was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire . The Abraham Geiger College appointed him a member of the Board of Trustees in 2000 and later an Honorary Senator.

Fonts (selection)

  • The Practices of Liberal Judaism . Union of Liberal & Progressive Synagogues, London 1958.
  • Liberal Judaism today. Lecture. Association for religious-liberal Judaism, Bern 1961.
  • Guide to Jewish Marriage. Union of Liberal & Progressive Synagogues, London 1975.
  • Judaism for Today. An Ancient Faith with a Modern Message. Union of Liberal & Progressive Synagogues, London 1978, ISBN 0-354-04351-X .
  • with David J. Goldberg: The Jewish people. Their history and their religion. Viking et al., Harmondsworth et al. 1987, ISBN 0-670-81219-6 .
  • An Understanding of Judaism. Berghahn Books, Providence RI et al. 1997, ISBN 1-57181-971-1 .
  • Jewish Religious Law. A Progressive Perspective (= Progressive Judaism Today. Vol. 3). Berghahn, Providence RI et al. 1998, ISBN 1-57181-976-2 .
  • A Jewish Understanding of the World. Berghahn Books, Providence RI et al. 1998, ISBN 1-57181-973-8 .
  • Principles of Jewish Ethics. From a progressive point of view. New Jewish initiative for social justice, London 1998.
  • Signposts to the Messianic Age. Sermons and Lectures. Vallentine Mitchell, London et al. 2006, ISBN 0-85303-703-5 .

literature

  • Albert H. Friedlander : The German Influence on Progressive Judaism in Great Britain. In: Werner E. Mosse (Ed.): Second Chance. 2 Centuries of German-speaking Jews in the United Kingdom (= series of scientific treatises of the Leo-Baeck-Institut. Vol. 48). JCB Mohr, Tübingen 1991, ISBN 3-16-145741-2 , pp. 425-436.
  • David J. Goldberg, Edward Kessler (Eds.): Aspects of Liberal Judaism. Essays in honor of John D. Rayner. Vallentine Mitchell, London et al. 2004, ISBN 0-85303-593-8 .
  • Charles H. Middleburgh: A Final Interview with John D. Rayner: January – March 2005. In: European Judaism. Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2007, ISSN  0014-3006 , pp. 93-99, doi: 10.3167 / ej.2007.400106 .
  • Who's who . Black, London 2001, p. 1717.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Michael Freedland: Obituary . The Guardian , September 26, 2005.
personal data
SURNAME Rayner, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rayner, John Desmond (full name); Rahmer, Hans Sigismund (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-British rabbi of Liberal Judaism
DATE OF BIRTH May 30, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH September 19, 2005
Place of death London