King Charles scheduled a multifaith meeting on Friday at Buckingham Palace but its scheduled time of after 6 p.m. was too late for Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis to attend and return home in time for Shabbos.
But King Charles was determined that Rabbi Mirvis would attend and had the palace change the schedule so the event could begin at 5:30 p.m.
Rabbi Mirvis told the story on BBC on Sunday morning. “When the king entered, he first spoke, and then said: ‘Chief Rabbi, you can now leave,'” Rabbi Mirvis said.
“But I said, no, no. I will respect protocol. I will only leave after His Majesty leaves.”
“He said: ‘No, no, no you can go now. You have to go home for the Sabbath.'”
“But I still stayed since the time was made earlier,” Rabbi Mirvis continued. “But this showed his deep concern for other faiths, his respect for other faiths. It’s great – he’s now the head of the church but at the same time, he’s the champion of other faiths.”
A source told the Jewish Chronicle: “Of all the things the royal staff have to consider, with the crazy schedule the King has at the moment, to move things around out of respect for the Chief Rabbi and Shabbat is quite a gesture.
“It wasn’t like the Chief Rabbi’s office told them Shabbat would be an issue. The Palace took the initiative and phoned up and said, don’t worry about it, we have realized it will clash with Shabbat so we will move it for you.
“It was absolutely wonderful of them, and characteristic of the King.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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19 Responses
I am so curious how he actually made it back home. Can you pls share that with the readers? Did he have a helicopter take him? Shkia was just before 7 pm on Friday in London.
The British royal family since the reign of Victoria has been very friendly towards Jews (whereas the government on several occasions has not, e.g. holocaust, Palestine mandate), with the sole exception of Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) who was forced to abdicate and sent into exile in large part for his pro-Nazi views.
He”s NO Rabbi Multifaith clergy- fa
Pikech Nefesh to Machallel shabbos, Fa fa (2022 clergy )
He tinks King will magaar , shame
By the way his fore fathers have a lot of blood on there hands Hy d
Yeah.
He took a ride home on the Dan-L’Kaf-Zchus mobile and made it home in time.
Curiosity quelled?
Great.
Shkia was at 7.15
Basesther, most certainly he stayed somewhere closer to the Palace. He could not have possibly gotten home indeed. I’m sort of surprised by the whole story because the king, nor his mom before him, had any real special liking for Jews. Respect, yes, but I think that that’s where it ended. Buckingham Palace has never really done anything for Jews nor has the Palace stood up for the Jews amid the terror that Jews has endured in Israel and, if I may add, IN LONDON. Respect yet – protocol, but no significant love.
BASESTHER : Great observation , however from my personal experiences from visits to London I learned that the majority of the Tzibur brings in Shabbos at Z’man Rabbeinu Tam .
With a police escort the drive home can take 15 to 20 mins
Had shabbos come in he could easily have walked home- it wouldn’t take more than two hours- Golders Green/Hendon Finchley is max 11 km from Buckingham palace. So up until before shkiah he could have taken a taxi and then walked the rest…..
The King respects Shabbos more than Mirvis’ does. Unsurprising.
Banshak, whoever you follow, you can’t bring in Shabbos later than shkia.
So, the gentile king showed more respect for Shabbos than did the “Chief Rabbi” (even if he could get home before Shabbos while staying later beyond when the King told him to go home for Shabbos)? How sad.
You don’t know Rabbi Mirvis and you don’t know London. The Rav is a frum yid who would never ever be mechalel Shabbos. Those of you who thought he was, need to get mechilla from him.
London is not so huge.
Whether he stayed nearby, got a police escort etc is all possible. The trip wouldnt have taken that long.
והיו מלכים אמוניך
This “Chief Rabbi” does not represent the frum community. So I don’t see why we should make a whole story of this.
‘banshak’: the majority brings in shabbos 15min before the shekia.
The Chief Rabbi enjoys a very respected position in England and various undercover police escort him everywhere, so he would have been ferried home in time for Shabbos most efficiently without any delay or any speeding tickets!
I know for a fact that he received a police escort as he left the palace. For those that are saying derogatory things about the Chief Rabbi of the UK need to be ashamed of themselves, especially a week before Rosh Hashanah. He is a remarkable person who does a lot for British Jewrey…
Rabbi Mirvis is a learned man who learned in Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh and Gush. He also has certifications in millah and shechitah and is a trained chazzan. I admire him for holding the line against female rabbis in the Orthodox world and for calling out the anti-Semite Jeremy Corbyn in the press. Rabbi Mirvis has not condemned the current Sephardic chief rabbi of England Joseph Dweck whom the Charedi world has disqualified as a religious leader for his pro-LGBT and anti-Torah she-Be’Al Peh comments. Actually, it is a wonder that Dweck still occupies his position.
As a rule, do not confuse the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of England with an accomplished talmid chacham. The last truly great Torah scholar to occupy that office was R’ Nathan Marcus ha-Kohen Adler (d. 1890), author of Sefer Netina La-Ger on Targum Onkelos. Adler had been a rosh yeshiva in Germany. Two other ge’onim who held that august office were Chief Rabbi Hirschel Levin, a.k.a. “Hart Lyon” (d. 1800) and Chief Rabbi David Tevele Schiff (d. 1791). Schiff had been a talmid of the P’nei Yehoshua.
Giants among men. Angels among mortals.
@justasec
That’s not necessarily true. If you live in a community that keeps ר”ת across the board you most certainly can use Shkia of ר”ת.