James Kennard

Last updated

James Kennard
Rabbi James Kennard Purim 08.jpeg
James Kennard, Australian educator, Rabbi, and local community leader
Born24 June 1964
OccupationSchool Principal
Websitewww.rabbikennard.com

Rabbi James Kennard (born 24 June 1964) is an educational leader in the Australian Jewish community. [1] He previously served as the Jewish Student Chaplain at the University of Leeds, headteacher of King Solomon High School in Barkingside, London, and has been the principal of Mount Scopus Memorial College since 2007. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Kennard was born on June 24, 1964. He attended St Paul's School in London and pursued mathematics at New College, Oxford. During his time at Oxford in 1984, he participated in the British televised quiz-show University Challenge. [3] Kennard received rabbinic ordination in Israel in 1989.

Career

From 1990 to 1992 , Kennard served as the Jewish student chaplain at the University of Leeds.

Between 1994 until 2004, he held multiple roles including founding head of Jewish Studies and head of Yavneh at the King David High School in Manchester, England. Additionally, from 1998 and 2004, he served as the headteacher of Broughton Jewish Cassel Fox Primary School in Manchester.

From September 2004 to December 2006, Kennard was the Headteacher of King Solomon High School, Barkingside, London. He then assumed the position of principal at Mount Scopus Memorial College in Melbourne, Australia, in January 2007.

Kennard has contributed articles to publications such as The Age , Jewish News , Australian Jewish News , and the London Jewish Chronicle , and has appeared on BBC radio and TV.

During his time in Australia, he was a member of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria and served on the executive, [4] through he later resigned due to his dissatisfaction with rabbinic leadership.

Public efforts

Kennard is a frequent critic of the rabbinic institutions in Australia. He called for the resignations of the heads of the Yeshiva Centre and the rabbis connected to abuse in the religious community. [5] [6] [7]

When the members of the Sydney Beth Din, including Moshe Gutnick and Yehoram Ulman, were found guilty of contempt of court, Kennard was the only high profile rabbinic figure to speak against them. He said, "I cannot remain silent when the rabbinate of Australia is prevented from fulfilling its primary task – to provide religious leadership to our community – by the refusal of its representatives to act with the highest standards of integrity, which should be the natural hallmark of any who bear the title ‘rabbi’." [8] [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomon Schechter</span> Moldavian-born rabbi and scholar (1847–1915)

Solomon Schechter was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of American Conservative Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshivah College, Australia</span> Chabad school in Victoria, Australia

Yeshivah College, officially Yeshivas Oholei Yosef Yitzchok Lubavitch, is an independent Orthodox Jewish comprehensive single-sex primary and secondary Jewish day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda East, in Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Scopus Memorial College</span> School in Australia

Mount Scopus Memorial College, commonly known as Mount Scopus, or just Scopus, is an independent Modern Orthodox Jewish comprehensive co-educational early learning, primary, and secondary day school, located in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood, Victoria, Australia. Since 2007, Rabbi James Kennard has been principal of Mount Scopus Memorial College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinchus Feldman</span>

Rabbi Pinchus FeldmanOAM is the first Chabad shaliach ("emissary") of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement in New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yitzchok Dovid Groner</span>

Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner was the most senior Chabad rabbi in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and the director of the Yeshivah Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaim Gutnick</span>

Shneur Chaim (HaKohen) Gutnick, was a prominent Orthodox Jewish Chabad rabbi in Australia. According to the Lubavitcher Rebbe he was the Chief Rabbi of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshivah Centre, Sydney</span>

The Yeshiva College, also known as the Harry O. Triguboff Centre, is a Hasidic Jewish synagogue, learning centre, and library of the Chabad-Lubavitch nusach, located at 36 Flood Street, in the Sydney suburb of Bondi, New South Wales, Australia. The Centre runs various adult and child-based educational programs.

The London School of Jewish Studies is a London-based organisation providing adult educational courses and teacher training to the wider Jewish community.

King Solomon High School is a Modern Orthodox Jewish comprehensive school located in Barkingside, Greater London, England. It was opened in 1993 by its first headmaster, Mr Alastair Falk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Apple (rabbi)</span> Australian-Israeli rabbi (1935–2024)

Raymond Apple was an Australian and Israeli rabbi who worked in England and Australia and retired to Israel. He was the Senior Rabbi of The Great Synagogue of Sydney between 1972 and 2005. In this role, he was one of Australia's highest profile rabbis and the leading spokesman for Judaism in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Cohen</span> British rabbi (1914–2007)

Isaac Cohen was a Talmudic scholar and Chief Rabbi of Ireland for 20 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Hardman</span>

Reverend Leslie Henry Hardman MBE HCF was an Orthodox Rabbi and the first Jewish British Army chaplain to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, an experience "that made him a public figure, both within his community and outside it".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Jews</span> Ethnic and religious group in Australia

Australian Jews, or Jewish Australians, are Jews who are Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia. In the 2021 census there were 99,956 people who identified Judaism as their religious affiliation and 29,113 Australians who identified as Jewish by ancestry, an increase from 97,355 and 25,716, respectively, from the 2016 census. The actual number is almost certainly higher, because being a Jew is not just about being religious, but the census data is based on religious affiliation, so secular Jews often feel it would be inaccurate to answer with "Judaism". Also, since the question is optional, many practising Holocaust survivors and Haredi Jews are believed to prefer not to disclose their religion in the census. By comparison, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz estimated a Jewish-Australian population of 120,000–150,000, while other estimates based on the death rate in the community estimate the size of the community as 250,000, which would make them 1% of the population. Based on the census data, Jewish citizens make up about 0.4% of the Australian population. The Jewish community of Australia is composed mostly of Ashkenazi Jews, though there are Jews in Australia from many other traditions and levels of religious observance and participation in the Jewish community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mordechai Gutnick</span>

Rabbi Mordechai Zev Gutnick is a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbi in Australia. Gutnick has served as a member of rabbinical courts in Melbourne and Sydney and various Australian rabbinical associations. He is associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement; he is the eldest son of the late Rabbi Chaim Gutnick.

Solomon Frank was an American–Canadian Orthodox rabbi, speaker, and civic and community leader. He served as rabbinic leader of Shaarey Zedek Synagogue of Winnipeg, Canada, from 1926 to 1947, and spiritual leader of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal from 1947 until his death. Active in interfaith affairs, he was also a chaplain for Jewish and Christian organizations and hospitals. In Montreal, he broadcast a weekly radio message on Jewish thought and practice for more than 25 years.

Moshe D. Gutnick is an Australian Orthodox rabbi, and a member of the ultra Orthodox Chabad Hasidic movement. Rabbi Gutnick is a senior member of the Beth Din in Sydney, Australia. Gutnick is currently President of the Rabbinical Council of Australia and New Zealand. Gutnick is the head of the NSW Kashrut Authority. He formerly served as the rabbi of the Bondi Mizrachi Synagogue in Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yehoram Ulman</span>

Yehoram Ulman is a rabbi in Sydney, Australia. He was born in Leningrad, USSR in 1964. He holds a number of senior positions in the Orthodox Jewish community.

Meir Shlomo Kluwgant is an ultra-Orthodox Chabad communal rabbi in Melbourne, Australia. He has held numerous posts including at Jewish Care, chaplain at Victoria Police, and has at various times held the presidency of both the Rabbinical Council of Victoria (RCV) and the Organisation of Rabbis of Australia (ORA).

Temple Ahavat Shalom Northridge is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 18200 Rinaldi Place, in Northridge, in San Fernando Valley, Southern California, in the United States. The congregation was established in 1965 and is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandra Lawson</span> American rabbi

Sandra Lawson is an American rabbi and the first director of Racial Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Reconstructing Judaism. She previously served as Associate Chaplain for Jewish Life at Elon University. Lawson became the first openly gay, female, and black rabbi in the world in 2018. She is a veteran, vegan, sociologist, personal trainer, food activist, weightlifter, author and musician.

References

  1. Who's Who in Australia
  2. . "Jewry in UK and Oz so alike, says Rabbi". Jewish Telegraph . 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  3. Rabbi Kennard on University Challenge 24 June 1984. YouTube . Archived from the original on 10 December 2021.
  4. Kleinman, Rachel; Lee, Jane (21 February 2015). "Jewish community failed over abuse". The Age. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  5. Davey, Melissa (9 February 2015). "Senior Jewish leader says Yeshivah rabbis should resign over abuse cover-up". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  6. "Jewish Community Failed over Abuse, by Rachel Kleinman, Jane Lee, The Age, February 21, 2015". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  7. "Rabbi Kennard: Glick must go". The Australian Jewish News. 7 February 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  8. "The rabbis confer". J-Wire. 27 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  9. "Rabbi Kennard: 'RCANZ has failed the community'". The Australian Jewish News. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.