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his colleagues. He was successful in his relationships with people in all environments, from a graduate
of the Beth Din to extending religious atmospheres at the Jews' College where he worked in teaching
the priesthood, that work which he loved and was proud of.
His frequent travels and vast experience gave him a global character and removed the character
of isolation. This is what led him to establish the first Conference of European Hebrews in
1957, which was considered the most important measure for the restoration of religious vitality and activity
for European Jews after the Holocaust. This achievement enabled, for the first time, a principle to gather
English Jews with their brothers, the Jews of Europe, fifteen years before England entered
Europe by joining the European Common Market.
If we want to evaluate his religious teachings, we must remember that his leadership of our religious
destiny was during the stormy times of world history, especially the history of Jews and the Jews
of England.
He faced political and social changes and ethical trends characterized
by the Cold War and the permissive society that allows everything. We cite here
some examples: the effects of the Holocaust disaster on the national level and then the national
rejoicing at the establishment of the State of Israel. These are two examples on the national level. As for the
family level, he lived through the tragedy of the attack on his office and on the conference. If
there were another leader less committed to principles, he would have collapsed and been swept away by the current of changes
and loud events, and an end would have been put to the head of the Hebrews and Orthodox Jews
of England. Whereas what happened is that English Jews until now are the most
interconnected Jews in the world and the strongest Jewish communities in terms of adherence
to traditions, and all this is thanks to the achievements of Sir Israel.
In matters of religion, he followed the path of the teachings of those who preceded him in this
field under the leadership of the teachings of the Beth Din, from which Sir Israel inherited his eminence.
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and social status, and he is credited with introducing some changes to the Beth Din teachings,
the most important of which is granting privileges to female members of the synagogue.
The other change is allowing the use of Sephardic pronunciation in teaching the Hebrew
language.
His main interests were eloquent words and the articulate language he used,
which became evidence of his level. In a speech he addressed to the conference of British
Jews the last time he attended the conference in 1965, where he stepped down from
the responsibility of administration—that heavy-burdened responsibility. He said: -
As Chief Rabbi for the past seventeen years, I have been asked to preach and deliver
speeches on many occasions in this country and overseas. Some of them were
extemporaneous and others were written outlines. Upon reviewing them during the past
few weeks—for I have reached the time when I must review
and organize my papers—I noticed, without any surprise, that there are two motives, one clear
and specific and the other implicit, which have dominated the speeches I delivered
from synagogue pulpits or lecture platforms. One is the terrible bad influence
that befell our people as a result of the Nazis' actions, and the other is the establishment of the State of Israel.
These two motives dominated me throughout the past seventeen years and always appear when
I want to ⟦influence or impact⟧ people religiously, and especially the text that says that the people
of the Diaspora will live in a free land.
He continued saying:
And these two motives are what always encouraged me in my work and in the
difficult and critical moments, and they were two sources of strength and they were what enabled me to continue and call
for our people to continue following in the footsteps of the ancestors, even if that would cost them