23 Facts About Joseph Hertz

Joseph Herman Hertz was a British Rabbi and biblical scholar.

Joseph Hertz held the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world wars and the Holocaust.

Joseph Hertz was educated at New York City College, Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Joseph Hertz stayed there until 1911, despite attempts by President Paul Kruger in 1899 to expel him for his pro-British sympathies and for advocating the removal of religious disabilities of Jews and Catholics in South Africa.

In 1913, Joseph Hertz was elected Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire; he received 298 votes against 39 for Dayan Moses Hyamson.

Joseph Hertz's tenure was affected by arguments with a wide variety of people, mainly within the Jewish community; the Dictionary of National Biography describes him as a "combative Conservative".

Joseph Hertz tried both persuasion and such force as he could muster to influence them; he added to his credibility among these immigrants by persuading Rabbi Yehezkel Abramsky to become head of the London Beth Din.

Joseph Hertz antagonised others by his strong support for Zionism in the 1920s and 1930s, when many Jews were against it, fearing that it would lead to accusations against the Jewish community of divided loyalty.

Joseph Hertz was strongly opposed to Reform and Liberal Judaism, though he did not allow this to create personal animosities, and had no objection in principle to attending the funerals of Reform Jews.

Joseph Hertz was President of the Conference of Anglo-Jewish Preachers.

Joseph Hertz was on the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Chairman of the Governing Body of its Institute of Jewish Studies.

Joseph Hertz was Vice-President of a wide variety of Jewish and non-Jewish bodies, including the Anglo-Jewish Association, the London Hospital, the League of Nations Union, the National Council of Public Morals and King George's Fund for Sailors.

In 1942, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, Joseph Hertz founded the Council of Christians and Jews to combat anti-Jewish bigotry.

From 1920 to 1921, Joseph Hertz became the first chief rabbi to undertake a pastoral tour of the British Empire.

Joseph Hertz arrived at the idea of such a tour after reading reports of the Prince of Wales' successful tour of Canada following the First World War and decided to do something similar to visit small Jewish communities in the British Dominions.

Joseph Hertz began his tour in South Africa, which had a Jewish population of 66,000, on 27 October 1920 and travelled throughout the country over a period of three months, covering 5,000 miles by railway, including stops in several smaller communities as well as the Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria, where he was greeted by Prime Minister Jan Smuts, followed by a trip to Bulawayo in neighbouring Rhodesia.

Joseph Hertz then proceeded to Australia, with 20,000 Jews, where he delivered lectures in 20 communities.

Joseph Hertz carried out many engagements in the large Jewish centres of Toronto and in what was then Canada's largest Jewish community of 40,000 in Montreal, highlighted by an address to 2,000 children in a park.

Joseph Hertz continued to Halifax, Nova Scotia before concluding with a Bible lecture in St John, New Brunswick, departing Canada on August 16,1921.

Joseph Hertz realised that this would cause problems for Jews and Christians alike in observing their Sabbaths, and mobilised worldwide religious opposition to defeat the proposal.

Joseph Hertz was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1943.

Joseph Hertz was Commander of the Order of Leopold II of Belgium and had a Columbia University medal.

Joseph Hertz edited a significant commentary on the Torah.