Jeremy Rosen
The Trials of Being a Rabbi

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen defines himself as a rebel and an outlier. Born into a rabbinical family and raised in London, Rosen sought independent positions both inside and outside the rabbinate. His father Kopul Rosen founded Carmel College, a Jewish boarding school in London. Kopul Rosen’s vision was to combine the best of secular culture with the practice of Jewish religious life and traditions. The elder Rosen passed this on to his son in the image of a grandfather clock - by combining the best secular education with the best religious education, like the swinging pendulum of the clock, one can walk a path with time in the middle.

Jeremy followed this path by obtaining both a rigorous secular education and a strong Orthodox education. Studying philosophy at Cambridge University, he obtained a degree in Moral Sciences and attended Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Rosen became a practicing rabbi in Bulawyo, Zimbabwe and later in Glasgow, Scotland, and later in London and New York City. Acting as a revolutionary rabbi in these roles, he shortened traditionally lengthy services and modernized them, showing how the practice of Judaism can be reconciled with modern life. Rabbi Rosen values connection with individual people rather than rigid loyalty to institutions, maintaining flexibility in his understanding of Jewish law and practice. At age 29, he became the headmaster of Carmel College, continuing his father’s educational vision.

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen shows that by centering one’s commitment to Jewish life and then passing that experience on to the next generation, it is possible to live a life that balances the Jewish religious experience with the demands of contemporary life.