At last, the two-month-old controversy over Rabbi Joseph Dweck, senior rabbi of the S & P Sephardi Community in London, may be drawing to a close.
A couple of weeks ago Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis announced he was taking steps to try to bring the matter to a “suitable conclusion”.
A meeting that is believed to have been held at the Chief Rabbi’s house yesterday suggests the attempt to resolve the crisis is now well under way.
I say “believed” because I have not had confirmation from official sources. But from what a number of people have told me, here is what I gather has happened.
The Chief Rabbi has convened a group of dayanim to review the concerns raised about Rabbi Dweck’s teachings by his critics. The group, I believe, consists of Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu, the former head of the London Beth Din, Dayan Menachem Gelley, head of the London Beth Din and Dayan Abraham David, the longest-serving member of the Sephardi Beth Din.
They are not meeting as a Beth Din as such, hence they will issue no formal ruling. They will offer an opinion on what – if anything – needs to be done to move on from this unhappy episode.
The expectation is they will come to a decision sooner than later.
But whatever the outcome, many will hope that it does not lead, one way or another, to the gagging of Rabbi Dweck.
