The Montefiore College

Rabbi Ariel Abel

Rabbi Abel, the first Course Director, was brought up in Manchester. He is married with four children and last served as Rabbi of Radlett United Synagogue. Before coming to Radlett, he held similar positions in Liverpool and Waltham Forest.

Rabbi Abel has two university degrees. He attended Shehebar Bet Midrash (Midrash Sepharadi) in Jerusalem's Old City and served in the Israeli army. Rabbi Abel is a former Fellow of the Institute of Leadership Management and Member of the Chartered Management Institute.

Watch a video of a Semicha course lesson with Rabbi Abel

Rabbi Mark Daniels

Rabbi Mark Daniels, who will take over from Rabbi Abel as Course Director in December 2010, has wide-ranging religious, scholarly and intellectual interests. He has worked in publishing (science, philosophy and anthropology); and has acted as a congregational minister for a decade - first in Coventry, then in Norwich and then in Croydon for the Federation of Synagogues, where he served for over 5 years.

Mark Daniels was educated at Carmel College, at yeshivah, at the University of Warwick where he took his degree in philosophy, at Jews' College and more recently at the Montefiore College, where he was the top graduate of his year. He has applied to University College London to study for a Ph.D. on aspects of the Shulhan Aruch.

Rabbi Daniels is married to Sonia Sciama, a research psychologist.

Dayan Saadia Amor

Dayan Amor, the principal lecturer, lives in Manchester and commutes to London on a weekly basis during the term. He is Rosh Beth Din of the London Sephardi Beth Din; and his halachic authority, particularly in the fields of Kashrut and Shechita, is widely accepted.

Watch a video of a Semicha course lesson with Dayan Amor

Rabbi Dr Irving Jacobs

A former Principal of Jews' College and an inspirational teacher.

Rabbi Reuben Livingstone LL.M., M.A.

Reuben Livingstone is Rabbi of the Hampstead Garden Suburb United Synagogue. He formerly practised as a barrister and then as a solicitor and is an accredited mediator. He holds qualifications in Law, Psychology, Counselling and Jewish Studies.

Other Course Teachers

These include Rabbi Israel Elia B.A.; Lucien Gubbay M.A.(Oxon.); Marilyn Lehrer M.A.(Oxon.) LLAM; Shar Reichenstein; and Dr. Oliver Samuel.

Occasional Lecturers of Particular Distinction

These include Dayan Ezra Basri (Ab Beth Din, Jerusalem); Rabbi Dr. Abraham Levy (Hon. Principal of the Judith Lady Montefiore College and Spiritual Head of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation); and Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks, who teaches at least once a term. Watch a video of a Semicha course lesson with Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

Dayan Basri with Dayan Amor and Rabbi Abel in Jersualem