A leading rabbi made waves this Yom Kippur when he was asked to lead services on a cruise ship.

Rabbi Jonathan Romain, who recently retired from Maidenhead Synagogue and is now convenor of the Reform Beth Din, was invited to be a “cruise rabbi” on a trip to Greece, Italy, Croatia and Montenegro.

He told the JC: "You might think that Jews who go away for the High Holy Days are not particularly religious, but actually they still feel the call of the shofar at this time of year. It just so happens that they are on a boat at the time.

“Not only was there a minyan, but those attending came from Reform, Conservative and Orthodox synagogues, but we blended the different traditions together to create Ocean Judaism.”

Unusually, the floating congregation started the Day of Atonement in one country and ended in another, having Kol Nidre in Croatia and the Yom Kippur service in Montenegro.

During the trip, the rabbi was also tasked entertaining the other 430 passengers with a talk entitled Confessions of a Rabbi on his experiences of dealing with funerals that go wrong, weddings that are hijacked and the roller-coaster of traumas and crises a congregational rabbis can face.

As for his highlight of the trip, Rabbi Romain told the JC:" What was astonishing was that just when we were about to blow the shofar, the ship's horn sounded - what a coincidence....or maybe the captain knew!"