Rebecca Birk

Rebecca Birk is an English Liberal Jewish rabbi, rabbi of Finchley Progressive Synagogue in North Finchley, London. In 2016 the Evening Standard listed her as one of "London's most influential people".[1]

Rebecca Birk
Personal
ReligionJudaism
NationalityBritish
DenominationLiberal Judaism
Alma materBristol University,
Harvard Divinity School,
Leo Baeck College
ProfessionRabbi
Jewish leader
ProfessionRabbi
Previous postWestminster Synagogue
Present postFinchley Progressive Synagogue

Life

Rebecca Birk is a grand-daughter of Alma Birk, Baroness Birk, the journalist and Labour peer, and her husband Ellis Birk, a media lawyer.[2] She grew up in Oxford. She gained a BA in theology from Bristol University and an MA from Harvard Divinity School before training to be a rabbi at Leo Baeck College.[3]

Rabbi Birk led Woodford Liberal Synagogue, and was an associate at Westminster Synagogue, before becoming the Rabbi at Finchley Progressive Synagogue (FPS) in 2010.[3]

At Finchley Progressive Synagogue she has led a successful campaign with Citizens UK to ensure that accommodation was found for refugees from the Syrian Civil War.[4] In October 2015 Barnet Council became the first Conservative-run local authority district to resettle refugees under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme,[5] agreeing to admit 50 Syrian refugees.[6] The synagogue has continued to provide support to the refugees,[7] and in October 2018 the Council pledged to continue to offer sanctuary to child refugees.[5]

Birk has also worked as a Jewish prison chaplain, holding an annual Seder celebration at Holloway Women's Prison:

We have a shortened Haggadah and I bring in food and we do it during the day. It’s truly extraordinary doing a Seder about freedom behind the bars of a prison.[8]

In May 2020 she joined other faith leaders to help hand out free meals from the Queen’s Crescent Community Centre in Kentish Town.[9]

She has been a contributor to BBC Radio 2's Pause for Thought,[10][11] and written for newspapers including Jewish News.[12]

References
  1. The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2016 – Faith Leaders, Evening Standard, 7 September 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  2. 'Baroness Birk: Labour's dynamo in the Lords', The Guardian, 31 December 1996.
  3. "Rabbi Rebecca Birk". Liberal Judaism. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  4. Urwin, Rosamund. How we can help Syrian refugees: compassionate Londoners offering asylum seekers food, shelter and spare rooms, Evening Standard, 4 September 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  5. Liberal shul helps secure Sukkot sanctuary for child refugees, Jewish News, 23 September 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  6. Doherty, Rosa (1 October 2015). "Joy for rabbi and campaigners as council agrees to take in 50 Syrians". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  7. Doherty, Rosa. How the Jewish community is helping refugees integrate in Britain, The Jewish Chronicle, 22 June 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  8. Sheinman, Anna (27 March 2013). "Revealed: the inside story of the prison rabbis". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  9. Foot, Tom. Supper for all as faith leaders help hand out free meals, Camden New Journal, 28 May 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  10. Pause For Thought: 'No man is an island.', BBC Radio 2, 17 July 2019.
  11. Pause For Thought: 'Laziness might just be overrated!', BBC Radio 2, 22 July 2019.
  12. Birk, Rebecca (16 April 2020). "Progressively Speaking: How can we relate the Exodus story to these times?". Jewish News. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
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