Rebbetzens on The Rock: Chief Rabbi's wife takes 40 female leaders to Gibraltar

Valerie Mirvis led leadership sessions to encourage rebbetzens to be more pro-active in their communities

Forty British rebbetzens have returned from a “ground-breaking” trip to Gibraltar, headed by the Chief Rabbi’s wife.

Valerie Mirvis’ group, part of the ‘Investing in Rebbetzens Series’, met with the Jewish community and politicians, discussing interfaith and leadership.

They also attended a banquet hosted by 140 local Jewish women and attended by the British principality’s tourism minister.

Elsewhere, Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo addressed the delegation in the Nafusot Yehuda Synagogue and 11 rebbetzens gave talks to contemporaries, the local community and pupils at the Gibraltar Jews’ High School and the Talmud Torah Primary School.

Mirvis said the “ground-breaking, jam-packed trip was designed to teach leadership skills in a fun, innovative and impactful way and to equip and inspire our rebbetzens to initiate new projects in their communities with the support of the Chief Rabbi’s Centre for Rabbinic Excellence.”

Participant Ilana Epstein, of Cockfosters and North Southgate Synagogue, said: “Valerie’s thought-provoking talk on managing change had more than one rebbetzen texting her husband with ideas that, I’m sure, will be coming to a neighborhood near you very soon.”