Rabbi Yisroel Fine was born in Swansea in 1948, and grew up in Merthyr
Tydfil where his late father was the Minister. He received his early
education there and was also Bar Mitzvah there before moving with his family
to Cardiff in 1961. After taking his A Levels, he went to Gateshead Yeshiva for 5 years and
received Semicha in 1972 at the age of 24.
The following year he married Judy Weissbraun from Stamford Hill, and
they commenced married life in Israel, where Rabbi Fine spent a year of
study at the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. That year was a very fruitful one
because, in addition to gaining a valuable acquaintance with the great
rabbinical authorities, he gained deep understanding of modern Israel
society at a pivotal time for the country as it became engulfed in the
struggles of the Yom Kippur war.
He then returned to England where he took up the position of Minister to
the United Hebrew Congregation of Newcastle. Rabbi Fine spent 7 enjoyable
years there until the end of 1981. In January 1982, he came to London as the
Rabbi for the Wembley community and was there until the end of 1986.
So in January 1987 he joined the Cockfosters & N.
Southgate Synagogue as our Rabbi and has served in that capacity for over
20
years. This year the community are celebrating his 20 years of service by a
special Shabbat on 15th December in the presence of Chief Rabbi Jonathan
Sacks.
His wife Judy plays a full part in our community life,
including entertaining in their home a wide range of members of the Shul,
together with a never-ending stream of eminent visitors to the community.
She is a fully qualified Counsellor and works for various organisations and
agencies in London specialising in marriage counselling.
There are four achievements that Rabbi Fine is particularly proud of:
-
As soon as he arrived in Southgate, he saw the
need for a Jewish primary school and he gathered a team together
which resulted in the foundation of the Wolfson Hillel School. The
school has only recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, and the
Secretary of Education, Charles Clark attended the celebration as
his first duty on taking up his new post.
-
The developing of the Minyan at Hadley Wood and
nurturing the new, pioneering group has enabled the members to
create a thriving branch of the community.
-
The Shofar newspaper that has now been going 7
years and is distributed free to all our members is quite unique in
the United Synagogue.
-
The Cockfosters Learning Centre (the CLC
programme) has now been running for over three years and takes place
at the Wolfson Hillel Primary School. It has achieved great success
with large numbers attending and a varied multi-choice learning
programme which has attracted members of the community and beyond of
all levels of religious observance and none.
