The United Synagogue

Beth Din Names Its New Leader

PRESS COVERAGE

London,
6th October 2006


BETH DUN NAMES ITS NEW LEADER


Dayan Menachem Gelley has been appointed senior dayan of the London Beth Din, the United Synagogue announced this week.

As predicted in the JC this spring, he will assume his new position when Rosh (head of) Beth Din Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu retires at the end of December. A highly respected scholar with many years of practical experience as a halachic authority in the community, Dayan Gelley, 48, has served on the London Beth Din since 1993 after joining as an associate dayan.

He was in the headlines last year when he was at the centre of a bitter row over the Beth Din's refusal to recognise the conversion by an Israeli Orthodox authority of North-West London mother Helen Sagal, who had applied for a place at JFS School for her son.

Dayan Gelley studied at various yeshivot in England as well as at the prestigious Ponovezh Yeshivah in Israel before concluding his qualifications at the Gateshead Kollel.

Dayan Gelley is head of North-West London's Ohr Chodosh congregation, a group of young, yeshivah-educated marrieds. He also has had a strong association with several US communities, including Hampstead Garden Suburb, Golders Green and Finchley, stepping in when each of the congregations was without a permanent rabbi.

Noting that the dayan "brings distinction to the LBD," Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks added: "It has been a privilege to work with Dayan Gelley and come to admire his wisdom and compassion no less than his erudition."

Welcoming the appointment, Federation Beth Din head Dayan Yisroel Lichtenstein foresaw "a harmonious relationship" with the LBD under its new leader.
"I think very highly of him. He's a very honourable man who combines great scholarship with great compassion," said Dayan Lichtenstein.

Mill Hill's Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, a member of the Chief Rabbi's cabinet, said: "I think rabbonim have tremendous faith and confidence in his personality and his technical abilities. We look forward to his maintaining the same strength of character that ensures the US stays on the right track."

Dayan Gelley in brief

• Dayan Gelley studied at the Ponovezh Yeshivah in Israel and at the Gateshead Kollel. He has worked with leading scholars and halachic authorities in Israel and in the USA

• He is to be senior dayan of the London Beth Din. As Av Beth Din, the Chief Rabbi is titular president of his religious court. Dayan Gelley's predecessor, Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu, uniquely held the title Rosh (head) Beth Din

• The dayan will lead a team of two full-time and one part-time dayanim


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Article Credit,, The Jewish Chronicle www.thejc.com

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