This has been an extraordinary year in the landscape of our religious leaders. 2013 has seen a massive changing of the guard at the top of three of the most significant religious communities in Britain: the Church of England, the Catholic Church and the United Synagogues. This appears to be entirely coincidental, as neither the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Pope or the Chief Rabbi is a fixed term appointment. It is unlikely we’ll ever see such an occurrence again. The latest of these is the installation of Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis as Chief Rabbi of the largest grouping of Jews in the UK, the orthodox United Synagogues, replacing Lord Jonathan Sacks. Although not a global leader in the same way as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope, and the head of a much smaller group of believers, the Chief Rabbi of the UK has for the last decades occupied a significant place on the national and occasionally global stage - not least because the United States had no equivalent. By all accounts Rabbi Mirvis is a “safe pair of hands”, experienced as a former chief Rabbi in Ireland, with a pastoral, practical bent.
As well as the timing of the appointment, there are other clear parallels to draw with the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and Pope Francis. All three men are following in the footsteps of intellectual heavyweights with mixed records in both the internal unity and the external reputation of their communities.
Jonathan Sacks and Rowan Williams have provided a decade of religious leadership based on serious scholarship and deep thought, and Pope Benedict was seen as the most intellectually able Pope in generations. However, the Catholic and Anglican churches and United Synagogues have all chosen leaders in a different mould, more straight talking and more given to action than philosophising. Keith Kahn-Harris was quoted in the Guardian as saying about Mirvis, "he's very much someone who's worked in the trenches, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have an intellectual background or intellectual heft, but he doesn't have it in the same way that Sacks did." This could easily be applied to either of Archbishop Welby or Pope Francis.
Jonathan Sacks was perhaps the best received externally of the three but, like them, he faced deep divisions internally. Although the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom only represents one grouping of British Jews, the on-going friction between Sacks and the reform and liberal movements on one side, and ultraorthodox on the other dogged his tenure.
It is notable that Mirvis has spoken strongly of the need for unity in British Jewry in his first days. This comes hard on the heels of Archbishop Welby’s recent warning that the global Anglican Communion’s feuds and factions was seriously undermining their “great vocation as a bridge builder”, and Pope Francis’ call for Christian unity in June.
It remains to be seen whether Rabbi Mirvis will echo his colleagues in other ways. He may certainly be feeling some pressure – both Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby seem to be in an extended honeymoon period, particularly in how they are perceived outside the churches. Both have spoken in gentler, if still orthodox, terms about homosexuality and emphasised a concern for the poorest, whether through living simply in solidarity with them or tackling payday lenders. Mirvis may go in a completely different direction, but he will certainly be learning the lessons of how these choices are being received. In an age of huge challenge and huge opportunity for religious communities, a focus on healing factions and speaking in ways that outsiders can understand would not be a bad place to start.
Elizabeth Oldfield
Image from commons.wikimedia.org available in the public domain.
