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.
In addition to his duties at CNSS, Rabbi Fine served as Chairman of the
Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue from 1996 until 1999.
He was appointed to the Chief Rabbi’s Cabinet in 1987and currently holds
the portfolio for Jewish Schools. He has been the Hon. Principal of the
Wolfson Hillel Primary School since its opening in 1992.
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.
Rabbi & Mrs. Fine take great pride in their four children
and eleven (at present) grandchildren. Danny, Hindy and Adina all live in
London and their daughter Shoshanna together with her husband Ezer live in
Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel.
Having grown up in a Rabbinical home Rabbi Fine explains that this
experience has inspired him to wish to contribute fully to Jewish communal
life. His later experience in the wider community has enabled him to
identify with Jews of all levels of observance.
His focus therefore is to provide pastoral support to families and
individuals in every aspect of their life. Having been in our community for
over 15 years Rabbi Fine has been able to build relationships with the
members, which means that people know him well enough to turn to him
whenever they need help.
As an educator, Rabbi Fine more than most appreciates the importance of
Education, as in his words, “the cement of the community – both children and
adults need an understanding of Jewish knowledge to give full meaning to
one’s expression of Judaism.”
For the future, Rabbi Fine has a number of ambitions for our community and
very much wants to share with all the members his view of the direction that
he wishes it to take:
Education, where he wants the maximum number of people to be involved,
both with children and with adults. There is a large number of people
already who do participate, but Rabbi Fine would like to expand that number.
In order to do so, he wants to try and interest a broader cross-section of
the community and at all levels. As our Website readers will see from the
Events and Education pages, a wide range of educational activities has been
organised, but what is needed is more ACTIVE involvement by our members,
rather than just passive, listening involvement. In other words, stand up
and do the lectures and the talks.
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The community is embarking on a particularly
active, exciting and enterprising phase with our plans to construct
a multi-purpose extension at the rear of the Synagogue which will
serve as a modern Succah and as an educational and youth facility.
As part of this development we are also planning to construct an
underground Mikveh which is very much needed in this area of London
and will serve to make our community a focal point and attraction
for young orthodox families who wish to settle to the north of
Hendon and Golders Green.
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Drawing the link closer between the School and
the Shul. This means following the American communal model, in which
the community closely identifies with the school, with far more
joint activities that bring families and children together.
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Reinvigoration of the Youth leadership is
absolutely vital to the continuity of our community – without
leadership, our children and youth will go elsewhere.
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Membership recruitment – a vigorous campaign is
needed to attract more members. And this means more people to help
in the work.
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Geographical diversity – simultaneously a problem
and a challenge. Because of the relatively large distances over
which our members are scattered, it is very important to strengthen
and develop the regional activities whilst at the same time
retaining the sense of community by providing events and functions
centrally that are supported by all. In Rabbi Fine’s words, “Our
community should be like a wheel in which there is a hub at the
centre but where the spokes provide the support to the rim.”
