Leo Baeck College
Leo Baeck College | |
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Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide in London
Leo Baeck College is a privately funded United Jewish Israel Appeal.[1] It is named after the inspirational 20th-century German Liberal rabbi Leo Baeck .
Jewish day schools , supports the development of community leaders, and provides access to Jewish learning for all through interfaith work.
HistoryBefore Leo Baeck College was founded there was no institution for training Reform rabbis in Britain. All ministers had either received their training in the Jews' College who had later switched allegiance and served Reform synagogues.[2] The college was founded in 1956 as the Jewish Theological College of London for the training of Liberal and Reform rabbis[2] and was seen as a successor organisation to the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums[3] in Berlin and the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau.[2] It was renamed Leo Baeck College shortly afterwards[2] at van der Zyl's suggestion[4] in honour of his teacher, Dr Leo Baeck , the inspirational 20th-century German Liberal rabbi.
LocationThe college was originally housed at The Sternberg Centre) in North Finchley, along with other institutions within the progressive Jewish movements. This in turn led to a major growth in its activities, especially its extramural department, which provided a wide range of day-time and evening activities for the wider public. Its teachers training department also expanded and eventually formed a separate education department that served both the Reform and Liberal movements, later being known as the Centre for Jewish Education (CJE).[2] In 2001 CJE integrated with the old Leo Baeck College to become Leo Baeck College–Centre for Jewish Education (LBC-CJE).[1]
AlumniThe college's first two students were Lionel Blue and Michael Leigh, both of whom became distinguished rabbis.[2][6] Female students had been admitted from the outset, although none graduated as rabbis until Jacqueline Tabick in 1975.[7][8] Among Leo Baeck's other alumni are: Rabbi Alexandra Wright, the first female senior rabbi in England.[15]
StaffIn the first few years almost all the faculty members were refugees from John D Rayner, who jointly supervised the college's affairs after his retirement. In 1972 Rabbi Albert Friedlander became Director and during his tenure the student body grew in size.[2] Faculty members have also included Rabbi Louis Jacobs[11] and Karen Armstrong .
In 1985 Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet became the first full-time Principal,[1] a position he held for 20 years, retiring in 2005.[2] He was succeeded by Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein in the following year, when the combined new college adopted the name Leo Baeck College. Saperstein completed his term of office in July 2011 and continues to teach at the college as Professor of Jewish History and Homiletics.[1] The current Principal (since September 2011)[1] is Rabbi Deborah Kahn-Harris, a graduate of Leo Baeck College and one of the first woman rabbis to lead a mainstream rabbinic seminary.[16] LibraryThe college's library has 60,000 books, including donations of books from the former Hochschule library and many rare editions.[2] CoursesThroughout its history, Leo Baeck College has had a number of collaborations with different academic bodies. Its awards have been validated amongst others by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA), the Open University Validation Services (OUVS), the Institute of Education (IOE) and the University of Winchester (UoW). From 2015 to 2016 Leo Baeck College formed a new partnership arrangement with Middlesex University which validates all the Jewish Studies and Jewish Education awards, with the exception of the research awards. The degrees carry the imprimatur of Middlesex University. See also
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