Ephraim Mirvis
| Ephraim Mirvis link Website (Rabbi) | |
|---|---|
| File:Ephraim Mirvis.png | |
| Born | 7 September 1956 Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Alma mater | University of South Africa |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Children | 5 |
Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth since 2013 | |
Ephraim Mirvis is an Orthodox Jew who became Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth in September 2013.[1]
Rabbi Mirvis leads a body of Orthodox congregations not only in Britain but across the Commonwealth. In Britain, those synagogues accounted for little over half of total synagogue membership in 2010.[2]
"Immensely popular"
Ephraim Mirvis was named the successor to Jonathan Sacks on 17 December 2012 and took office on 1 September 2013.
His appointment was described by Jeremy Newmark, disgraced former CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council and former National Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, as “immensely popular.”[3]
Breaking rabbinical convention
On 26 November 2019, Britain’s Chief Rabbi chastised the Labour Party for its handling of anti-Semitism and, breaking rabbinical convention by getting involved in party politics, cautioned people against supporting the party in the UK/2019 General Election.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, reacted robustly by refusing to apologise in a BBC interview with Andrew Neil for his party’s response and defending the slow pace of some investigations into anti-Semitic remarks by party members.
Ephraim Mirvis, an Orthodox rabbi who used to lead a North London synagogue, suggested in an article in The Times[4] that Mr Corbyn was “unfit for office."
- “The way in which the leadership has dealt with anti-Jewish racism is incompatible with the British values of which we are so proud — of dignity and respect for all people,” he wrote.
Later in the article, he called it a “mendacious fiction” that Labour was doing everything it could to stamp out anti-Semitism in the party. “A new poison — sanctioned from the top — has taken root in the Labour Party,” he wrote, adding that in the election next month, “the very soul of our nation is at stake.”[5]
Taken to task
On talkRADIO, Eamonn Holmes hosted a debate between journalist Richard Ferrer of Jewish News, activist at Jews Against Boris, Rivkah Brown, and political commentator David Kogan.[6]
Send him back to SA
On 31 August 2026, Jonathan Cook wrote:
Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis: "We have seen repeatedly that when rhetoric towards Israel escalates, hostility towards Jews is never far behind."
For two reasons:
1. Israel apologists like Mirvis – whose son participated in the Gaza genocide – keep intentionally conflating Jews and Israel, leading others into confusion. He constantly bemoans a phenomenon he has wilfully, and cynically, helped engineer.
2. The "rhetoric" he speaks of never leads to any change in policy. Why? Because prominent Jewish figures like Rabbi Mirvis accuse anyone who suggests Israel should be penalised for its atrocities of antisemitism.
Ed Miliband, who witnessed the pile-on when Corbyn tried to highlight Israel's crimes, will as a consequence listen to Mirvis far more carefully than the views of the British public, most of whom are appalled by Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Israel's impunity – and the all-too-visible role British Jewish community leaders play in using the stick of antisemitism to intimidate and silence Israel's critics – has led to frustration and deep resentment.
The hostility isn't towards Jews. It's towards serial weaponisers of antisemitism like Mirvis and our utterly complicit political class.
Citing Cook's article, Hugh Jaeger posted on Facebook on 1 September 2026:
Ephraim Mirvis is South African.
Were he an imam, the UK would deport him for supporting extremism and terrorism.
The UK should send him back to SA, where he can be tried and jailed.[7]
References
- ↑ "New UK chief rabbi installed"
- ↑ "Synagogue Membership in the United Kingdom in 2010"
- ↑ "UK Jewry names its next chief rabbi"
- ↑ "Ephraim Mirvis: What will become of Jews in Britain if Labour forms the next government?"
- ↑ "UK Chief Rabbi Denounces Labour Party on Anti-Semitism"
- ↑ "Chief Rabbi criticises Labour's anti-semitism record"
- ↑ "Send him back to SA, where he can be tried and jailed"
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