Tony Bayfield
British Reform rabbi (born 1946)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anthony Michael "Tony" Bayfield[3] CBE (born 1946) is a Reform rabbi and former President of the Movement for Reform Judaism,[4] the second largest organisation of synagogues in Britain.
1946 (age 79–80)
President of the Movement for Reform Judaism 2011–16
Rabbi Tony Bayfield | |
|---|---|
| Born | Anthony Michael Bayfield 1946 (age 79–80) Ilford, Essex (now in Greater London), UK |
| Education | Royal Liberty Grammar School, Romford |
| Alma mater | Magdalene College, Cambridge and Leo Baeck College, London |
| Occupations | Reform rabbi President of the Movement for Reform Judaism 2011–16 |
| Spouse | Linda Rose (died 2003)[1] Jacqueline Fisher (m. 2021) |
| Children | Three children, including Rabbi Miriam Berger[1][2] |
Early life and education
Bayfield was born in 1946[3] in Ilford, Essex (now in Greater London), the elder son of Sheila (née Mann) and Ron Bayfield, a head teacher.
He was educated at the Royal Liberty Grammar School in Romford and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He studied law and had a doctoral place at the Cambridge Institute of Criminology and then moved to the Leo Baeck College to train as a rabbi. He received rabbinic ordination (semichah) in 1972[2] from rabbis John Rayner, Hugo Gryn and Louis Jacobs.
Career
After ten years as a congregational rabbi at North West Surrey Synagogue, Bayfield became director of the Sternberg Centre for Judaism in Finchley in 1985.[2] He was head of the Movement for Reform Judaism from 1994 (when the organisation was known as Reform Synagogues of Great Britain) until 2011.[4] From 2011 to 2016 he was President of the organisation.[4][5]
Honours
Bayfield was appointed CBE in the 2011 New Year Honours List for services to Reform Judaism. London's National Portrait Gallery holds a photographic portrait of him by Don McCullin.[3]
Personal life
Tony Bayfield married Linda Rose, a teacher and Jewish educator in 1969; she died in 2003. In 2011, he met Jacqueline Fisher, whom he married in a small ceremony in June 2021.
Bayfield has three children[1] including a son, Daniel, and an elder daughter, Lucy.[6][7][8] His younger daughter, Miriam Berger, received semichah in July 2006 and is a respected rabbi in her own right.[9]
Bayfield is a member of Finchley Reform Synagogue (FRS).
Publications
Bayfield is a specialist in modern Jewish thought and contemporary Reform Judaism. He also specialises in Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim dialogue and has published quite widely in this area. Bayfield has also written about Christian–Jewish reconciliation.[10]
Works
- Prejudice (Jewish responses) (1973). London: Michael Goulston Educational Foundation
- Churban: The murder of the Jews of Europe (Jewish responses) (1981). London: Michael Goulston Educational Foundation ISBN 978-0-907372-00-4
- Sinai, Law and Responsible Autonomy: Reform Judaism and the Halakhic Tradition (1993). London: Reform Synagogues of Great Britain ISBN 978-0-947884-09-3
- (with Sidney Brichto and Eugene Fisher) He Kissed Him and They Wept: Towards a Theology of Jewish-Catholic Partnership (2001). London: SCM Press ISBN 978-0-334-02826-0
- (with Tony Brayfield and Marcus Braybrooke) Dialogue With a Difference: Manor House Group Experience (1992). London: SCM Press ISBN 978-0-334-01980-0
- "September 11: The Case Against Us All" in Roger Boase (ed.) Islam and Global Dialogue – Religious Pluralism and the Pursuit of Peace (2005), Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing ISBN 978-075465307-3
- (with Alan Race and Abdullah Siddiqui, eds.) Beyond the Dysfunctional Family: Jews, Christians and Muslims in Dialogue With Each Other and With Britain (2012) London: CreateSpace ISBN 978-1-468-16747-4
- Being Jewish Today – Confronting the Real Issues (2019). London: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 978-1-472962-08-9