Days after resigning from London Beth Din, rabbi quits Hendon pulpit

The prominent rabbi who shocked the community by suddenly resigning from his role on the London Beth Din has now quit the shul he helped create with “immediate effect”..

Dayan Yonason Abraham told members of the Toras Chaim Synagogue in Hendon that he had “fallen short of the standards expected of me” and was “deeply sorry that I have let you down.”, though the reason for his decisions remain a mystery.

The dayan said in a letter to congregants before Shabbat he had been under “exceptional strain and stress for some time which has taken its inevitable toll. I have spent my life helping others including some wonderful friends and supporters in this kehillah (congregation) of which I am so proud. I now need to help myself and my family.” He thanked the community for kidness it had shown him and his wife and insisted it must “remain strong and united and move forward together”.

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A prominent Charedi rabbi and one of only four Beth Din members, Abraham was born in London and educated at Hasmonean before studying and working in Gateshead, Jerusalem and Australia, where he was a member of the Melbourne Beth Din. He returned to the UK in 2001 and at the age of 37 became a member of the London Beth Din. He has been a regular lecturer at the Kinloss Learning Centre and works with Tribe, which runs summer programmes for Jewish children in Years 5-13.

In 2016, he accepted a senior position at Shuvu, a network of day schools founded 1991 by Rabbi Avraham Pam.

In a statement, Abraham said: “It is with a sense of responsibility and sadness that I announce today that I will be stepping down from the London Beth Din. The Beth Din is a pillar of our community and it has been an absolute honour and privilege to serve as dayan over the past 17 years.”

Dayan Gelley, the head of the Beth Din, told rabbis on Wednesday, that work was already underway to find a “high-calibre” successor for the rabbinical court.