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Division over mask-wearing helped lead to fallout at Bassous shul

Beth Din judgment lays bare the tensions inside Golders Green Sephardi congregation

February 16, 2022 19:39
Beth hamedras
2 min read

The dramatic fallout between Rabbi Aharon Bassous and some of his erstwhile supporters was partly precipitated by a dispute over the wearing of masks in synagogue during the first months of the pandemic, it can be revealed.

An ad hoc Beth Din, convened a year ago to settle the conflict, finally released its findings this week, ruling in favour of the Golders Green rabbi against those who wanted him to go.

In a 36-page judgment, the panel of three Strictly Orthodox rabbis documented the increasing tension within Beth Hamedrash Knesset Yehezkel, a Sephardi congregation affiliated to the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregation.

In July 2020, the 117-member congregation opened its handsome new building on the Golders Green Road for which £5.8 million had been raised since 2017.