Rabbi Mark Solomon

Rabbi Mark L. Solomon was born and brought up in Sydney, Australia, where he received a BA (Hons) in English. He studied for the rabbinate at the Lubavitcher Yeshivah Gedolah in Melbourne and Kfar Chabad in Israel, then came to Britain in 1988 to study at the modern-Orthodox seminary Jews’ College, in London, where he was ordained in 1991. He obtained an MA in Jewish Studies from Leo Baeck College, the Progressive rabbinic seminary in London, where he has worked for many years as Lecturer in Talmud, rabbinics and Jewish philosophy. He served as minister of Watford United Synagogue, then West Central Liberal Synagogue and most recently for nine years at The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John’s Wood.

In autumn 2005 he began regular visits to Edinburgh, before being appointed as Rabbi of the Edinburgh Liberal Jewish Community in late 2009. At the same time he was appointed the first Interfaith Consultant for Liberal Judaism, and has recently been appointed also as Rabbi of Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregations. He is Associate Chair of the Rabbinic Board of Liberal Judaism.

 

Beginning as a chorister, and later Deputy Cantor, at the Great Synagogue in Sydney, Rabbi Solomon has a deep love of synagogue music and Biblical cantillation and, in addition to leading services, gives concerts illustrating the different styles of Jewish music. For lighter relief he enjoys singing Gilbert and Sullivan and he sang a number of Burns songs at a lively Burns Supper held by Sukkat Shalom.

 

With a deep commitment to Interfaith dialogue, Rabbi Solomon is Co-Chair of the London Society of Jews and Christians and the Interfaith Alliance UK, Chair of the Scriptural Reasoning Society, and trustee of the Ammerdown Centre and LEAT (London Ecumenical AIDS Trust). He is a past board member and branch chairman of the Council of Christians and Jews, for whom he regularly gives talks and concerts.

 

Rabbi Solomon regularly leads services for the Jewish Gay and Lesbian Group and is the editor of Covenant of Love: Service of Commitment for Same-Sex Couples, published by Liberal Judaism in 2005 to coincide with the introduction of civil partnerships in British law – the first such liturgy published by any Jewish movement. He lives in North London.