British rabbi

Jonathan Anidjar Romain MBE (born 24 August 1954, in Hampstead, London, England) is a writer and broadcaster and director of Maidenhead Synagogue in Berkshire, England. He has a PhD in the history of British Jewry. He writes for The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and The Jewish Chronicle and appears on radio and television.

Contents

• 1 Professional career
• 2 Actions and views
• 3 Honours
• 4 Personal life
• 5 Publications
  • 5.1 Books
  • 5.2 Newspaper articles
• 6 Notes and references
• 7 External links

Professional career

Romain has been a full-time Tutor at Maidenhead Community Centre since 1980.

From 2007 to 2009, he chaired the Movement for Reform Judaism's *embly of Rabbis. Since January 2015 he has chaired the Movement's Beth Din.

For several years he was one of the judges for both The Times Preacher of the Year compe*ion and the BBC's Frank Gillard Awards for religious programmes.

He is chaplain to the Jewish Police *ociation, and until 2018 chaired the Accord Coalition, which he helped found as an alliance of religious and non-religious groups committed to campaigning against religious discrimination in state-funded faith schools.

In 2014 he established Inter-faith leaders for Dignity in Dying (IFDiD), an inter-faith group of clergy, now numbering 50 leaders of many religious affiliations who support the aims of Dignity in Dying. The group calls for a change in the law that would allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults the choice of an having themselves die.

Actions and views

In July 2014, Romain welcomed Lord Carey's support for the *isted Dying Bill, describing the former archbishop of Canterbury's intervention in the debate as "a breath of fresh air" and saying that Carey's change of view on the issue showed "it is possible to be both religious and in favour of *isted dying".

In 2013, he launched a campaign for recognition of Judaism in China.

His perspective on same-sex marriage is that marriage should be open to all. He argues that "anyone who takes sacred religious texts literally needs to move on with the times... The Bible is not the literal word of God, but the inspiration of God, as perceived by people of that era and subject to the limitations of the period. It, therefore, has to constantly adapt according to new knowledge and new insights."

He supports the legalisation of brothels, referring to Genesis and pointing out that "it is not for nothing that it is known as the oldest profession", adding: "It may be more messianic to want to end the sex trade altogether, but perhaps it is more religious to seek to channel it safely."

In 2014, on the issue of women becoming bishops in the Church of England he was quoted as saying: "Women have long been accepted as rabbis and have gone on to occupy positions of religious authority in both major synagogues and Jewish ins*utions. Those who thought Judaism would collapse when this happened have been proved resoundingly wrong and I am sure the same will be found in the Church."

Honours

In 2003, he was appointed MBE for his pioneering work in helping mixed-faith couples nationally, a theme covered in his book Till Faith Us Do Part (HarperCollins).

Personal life

He is married to Rabbi Sybil Sheridan. They have four adult sons together.

Publications

Books

• Signs and Wonders: a new method of teaching Hebrew, Michael Goulston Educational Foundation (1985; New edition 1992) ISBN:0907372023 ISBN:978-0907372028
• The Jews of England, Jewish Chronicle Publications (1988) ISBN:978-0-907372-04-2
• Faith and Practice: A Guide to Reform Judaism Today, Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (1991) ISBN:9780947884086
• (with Anne Kershen) Tradition and Change: A History of Reform Judaism in Britain 1840–1995, Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (1995) ISBN:0853033161 (hardback) ISBN:085303298X (paperback)
• Till Faith Us Do Part: Couples Who Fall in Love Across the Religious Divide, HarperCollins (1996) ISBN:0006279252
• Renewing the Vision, SCM Press (1996) ISBN:0334026571
• Your God Shall Be My God: religious conversion in Britain today, SCM Press (2000) ISBN:0334028094 ISBN:978-0334028093
• Reform Judaism and Modernity: A Reader, a survey of Reform theology, SCM Press (2004) ISBN:0334029481 ISBN:978-0334029489
• God, Doubt and Dawkins, Movement for Reform Judaism (2008) ISBN:978-0947884-17-8
• Really Useful Prayers, Movement for Reform Judaism (2009) ISBN:978-0-947884-20-8
• Great Reform Lives, Movement for Reform Judaism (2010) ISBN:978-0947884215
• A P*ion for Judaism, Movement for Reform Judaism (2011) ISBN:978-0947884222
• Royal Jews: A Thousand Years of Jewish Life in and Around the Royal County of Berkshire, Grenfell Publishing (2013) ISBN:978-0957698604
• (as editor) *isted Dying:– Rabbinic Responses, Movement for Reform Judaism (2014) ISBN:978-0947884246
• Confessions of a Rabbi, Biteback Publishing (2017) ISBN:978-1785901898

Newspaper articles

• Contributions to The Guardian
• Contributions to The Huffington Post
• Contributions to The Independent
• "Rabbi, I have a problem" contributions to The Jewish Chronicle

Notes and references

External links

• Books by Rabbi Jonathan Romain on Amazon.co.uk

Lay leaders

• Sir Sigmund Sternberg

Communities and synagogues in the
Movement for Reform JudaismIndependent communities and synagogues

• Westminster

Organisations

• Leo Baeck College
• Sternberg Centre