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Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations

The Office of the Chief Rabbi is the institutional identity for the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth [UK]. Unlike in other European countries, individuals serving as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations are not formally designated by an authoritative state or civic body. Rather, the "office" is occupied by the senior rabbi of the United Synagogue, the umbrella institution for its affiliated Orthodox and Ashkenazi synagogues in the United Kingdom. The position of Chief Rabbi in the UK grew out of an 18th century desire among British Jewry for a respected representative figure comparable to the Archbishop of Canterbury for Anglican Christians. Rabbi Aaron Hart (1670–1756), rabbi of the Great Synagogue in London since 1704, was thus regarded by the 1750s as the first of the British chief rabbis. Over the next century and as British Jewry continued to grow, by the tenure of Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler (from 1845-1890) the communal leadership and halakhic authority of the position had become firmly established. When in 1870, the Great Synagogue joined with four other synagogues, and was formally recognized as the United Synagogue by an Act of Parliament, the Chief Rabbi was legally established as its head. The current chief rabbi of the UHC and senior rabbi of the United Synagogue is Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis. (The Office of the Chief Rabbi should not be mistaken for the London Beit Din, the Court of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations.)

https://chiefrabbi.org
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Prayer on the Declaration of War [against Imperial Germany], by Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations 1914)

Contributed by: Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

“Prayer Composed by the Chief Rabbi on the Declaration of War. (August 1914.),” by Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, was published in the Prayer Book for Jewish Sailors and Soldiers [of H.M. Forces] (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1914), p. 32.


📖 [Abridged] Prayer Book for Jewish Sailors and Soldiers [in H.M. Forces] (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations 1914)

Contributed by: Michael Adler, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations

A bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook for soldiers and sailors in the service of His Majesty’s army and navy during World War One


Prayer on the Jubilee of Her Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, by Rabbi Dr. Nathan Marcus Adler (21 June 1887)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Nathan Marcus Adler, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations

This prayer by chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire Nathan Marcus Adler is found in an order of service prepared for the celebration of Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1887.


תְּפִלָּה לְהַצְלָחַת חַיִל הַמַּלְכָּה בְּאֶרֶץ כּוּשׁ | A Prayer for Her Majesty’s Forces in the Sudan, by Rabbi Dr. Nathan Marcus Adler (1885)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Nathan Marcus Adler, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations

This prayer for the well-being of Her Majesty’s military forces in the Sudan, was offered by chief rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler for use by the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire in the context of British involvement in the Mahdist War, and specifically after news reached Britain of the Battle of Abu Klea in January 1885.


A Prayer Service in Thanksgiving for the military success of British over French Napoleonic forces, by Rabbi Moses Myers and David Levi (29 November 1798)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), David Levi (translation), Moses Myers, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations

This is a full transcription of a patriotic and civic prayer service offered on 29 November 1798 at the German Jews’ Synagogue in London, composed by chief Rabbi Moses Myers and translated into English by David Levi. The unique prayers by Rabbi Myers are openly anti-French and anti-Napoleonic, in alignment with British sentiment in the war against the forces of Napoleon and thrilled with the naval defeat of Napoleonic forces at the Battle of the Nile in August of that year by rear admiral Horatio Nelson.


In the aftermath of an attempted assassination, a Prayer Service of Thanksgiving for the wellbeing of King George Ⅲ — by Rabbi Moses Myers and David Levi (29 October 1795)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), David Levi (translation), Moses Myers, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations

This is a full transcription of a patriotic and civic prayer service offered on 29 October 1795 at the German Jews’ Synagogue in London, composed by chief Rabbi Moses Myers and translated into English by David Levi. The prayers on behalf of King George Ⅲ came in the aftermath of the unraveling of the “Popgun Plot,” an alleged 1794 conspiracy by three members of the London Corresponding Society to assassinate the kning by means of a poison dart fired from an airgun. Three members, Paul Thomas LeMaitre, John Smith, and George Higgins, were arrested in late 1794, and Robert Thomas Crossfield in December 1795. Ultimately, all four were acquitted of treason in May 1796, on the grounds that the chief witness against them was dead.


הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Prayer for the Royal Family and Armed Forces of King Charles Ⅲ (2022)

Contributed by: Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

This is the formula of the prayer for the government established by chief rabbi Joseph H. Hertz as introduced in 1935 for King George IV at the Royal Jubilee Service and included in his revised Authorised Prayer Book, vol. II (1942/3), p. 506-507. In 2014, this formula was amended by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis of the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth, to include a short passage in recognition of the United Kingdom’s armed forces.


הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Prayer in honour of the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ, by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations 2016)

Contributed by: Ephraim Mirvis, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

This “Prayer in honour of the Queen’s 90th birthday,” was first delivered by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis for the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth on Shabbat 11th June 2016, and shared via their website in English. Side-by-side with the English we have set the Hebrew text from the formula of the traditional prayer “haNoten Teshua” as used by the Office of the Chief Rabbi as amended in 2014.


הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Prayer for the Royal Family and Armed Forces of Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ (2014)

Contributed by: Ephraim Mirvis, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, Unknown

In 2014, the formula of “haNoten Teshua” suggested by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth, was amended by the chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, to include a short passage in recognition of the United Kingdom’s armed forces.


תהלים קמ״ב | Psalms 142, a maskil with translations in English and Arabic

Contributed by: Ephraim Mirvis, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, David ben Yishai (traditional attribution)

Psalms 142, traditionally attributed to King David, with translations in English and Arabic.



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