Marble Arch synagogue to bid G’Day to Rabbi Epstein
Much -loved Western Marble Arch rabbi set for move to Melbourne
It’s bags packed and chulent on the BBQ for Rabbi Daniel and Rebbetzen Ilana Epstein of Western Marble Arch synagogue.
The popular rabbinical couple, who have been with the central London community for nearly five years, are moving to Australia where they’ve been appointed as the senior rabbinic team of the Mizrachi Community.
He will supervise six different minyanim with their associated rabbis, the largest Bnei Akiva outside of Israel (some 400 teenagers), a 1,000-student school (kindergarten through 12th grade) and hold responsibility for Kashrut Australia and the eruv.
In a statement wishing the couple of “a hearty Mazeltov”, Western Marble Arch president Stephen Factor said he made the announcement with “both sadness and congratulations” and that Rabbi Daniel had admitted they “were not looking to move but this was too big an opportunity to turn down”.
Factor added: “Rabbi Daniel and Ilana will be with us up to and including Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, so there will be plenty of opportunity for the community and individual members to thank them for their service and wish them well for the future. We are sure it will be a joyous Yom Tov season with Rabbi Daniel and Rebbetzin Ilana joined by our wonderful Chazan Eitan Freilich with wife Gabriella and Eitan’s Choir.
“The search for Rabbi Daniel’s successor has already begun. We are blessed with many great assets as a community, a rich history and a positive global image. But as many of us know we still face many challenges to assure our strong future. It is thus essential that we find the right rabbinic couple with energy, passion and the right vision for the years ahead. I am confident we will do so.”
The acccomplished rabbinical couple have been in post since March 2021, previously serving in the 1,200-member Cockfosters and New Southgate community in north London for seven years after living and working in Israel for 17 years.
In February 2024, they hosted HRH The Prince of Wales, Prince William, at his first ever visit to a synagogue in the UK, to discuss Holocaust memorial, the challenges in Israel and to the UK Jewish community, and the student unrest on campuses in the UK.
Rabbi Epstein runs adult education programmes in Torah, political, social and economic thought; teaches Holocaust education to Jewish and non-Jewish groups, and works to raise awareness of mental health challenges in the Jewish community.
He initiated the “Mental Health Awareness Shabbat” in 2017, which has now been adopted by more than 180 synagogues, universities and Jewish institutions in the UK. Involved in interfaith dialogue, he’s a regular contributor to, and guest on BBC Radio, and teaches at Christian and Muslim faith schools.
Rabbi Epstein has been the rabbinic governor of JFS, Europe’s largest Jewish high school with more than 2,000 students, since 2016. He is a lead rabbinic educator for the Holocaust Educational Trust’s “Lessons from Auschwitz” programme, which takes over 3,500 non-Jewish high school students to Poland each year on one-day trips.
He and Ilana have also, individually and as a team, led programmes for the Office of the Chief Rabbi to Ghana, India and Rwanda, educating Jewish students and uture community leaders on the challenges of Global Development, NGOs, poverty and social & political development.
A qualified French patisserie chef, Rebbetzen Ilana is an experienced educator of history and Jewish lifestyle.
Educated at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women in Art History & Judaic Studies, from 2018 to 2023, she was director of educational projects and chief learning officer at the Jewish Futures group, whilst there founding and developing the Ta’amim website, which educates about the history and heritage of Jewish culinary customs and recipes from around the world.
Ilana also devised and leads a professional development programme for the wives of over 30 European rabbis.
In 2023, the couple were individually selected (and were the first married couple) for the inaugural cohort of Sacks Scholars, a group of 26 international communal educators and leaders convened by the Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust.
Ilana, variously with Rabbi Epstein, has led educational programmes for the Office of the Chief Rabbi’s “Ben Azzai Programme” to Ghana, India and Rwanda, educating UK Jewish students and future community leaders on the challenges of Global Development, NGOs, poverty and social & political development.
Like Rabbi Epstein, she also participates in Holocaust education, leading groups to Poland with the “Holocaust Educational Trust” and “March of the Living UK” organisations since 2015.
Ilana has participated as the only female Jewish faith leader in the 18-month “In Good Faith” programme, a joint initiative between the Chief Rabbi’s Office and Lambeth Palace, the seat of the Anglican Church, under the Archbishop of Canterbury. She has also consulted at the British Ministry of Defence on Jewish voices within the Jewish Chaplaincy to the British Armed Forces.
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